THE HOLIDAY KEYNESIAN: POLITICAL BOOKS!

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I did a bit of this last year, and folks seemed to like it, and the economy will collapse if you all don't spend some money, so this week, I'm going to offer a few Christmas gift recommendation posts. The links here will route through my Amazon associates account, meaning that whatever you buy through them, be it the recommended books or a new TV, will also go to support this blog (you'll only pay the normal Amazon price, of course). And if that weirds you out, you can find this stuff on Powell's and a variety of other fine internet retail establishments as well. Today's edition, in no particular order, are the best political books I read this year: • The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power

by Gene Healy: One of the big themes of this blog is the importance of legislative politics and the need for reformers to have a clearer conception of the limitations of the executive. Healy's book fits neatly into that. But it's more than just a guide to why you shouldn't expect too much from the executive: It's a history of how we've come to view the president as central to not only our politics but our national conception of self. Its emphasis on the limitations of the president are as relevant to those who seek to make the state work better as to those who seek to imprison it. Moreover, Healy is a graceful, funny, and fluid writer. It was, by far, the best political book I read this year, and just as it proved a welcome antidote to the mania of the campaign season, I imagine it will be a useful counterweight to the soaring hopes of its aftermath. • The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s

by G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot: But don't let the Healy book get you down. The Liberal Hour is an awed and somewhat elegiac examination of the incredible legislative achievements of the 60s. This was, arguably, the most important decade in recent American history. The bills enacted -- Medicare and the Civil Rights Act and the Clean Air Act, among others -- are fundamental features of our current legislative architecture. Realizing that our society managed to overcome its basic preference for stasis and do so much in so little time is exhilarating. The failures and missteps are sobering. The Sack of Rome: Media + Money + Celebrity = Power = Silvio Berlusconi

by Alexander Stille: Simply a great read. And because it's about Italy, it's also a fun read. Our politics has its problems. But they're in a madhouse. Berlusconi, too, is a particularly interesting figure: We talk about politicians who manipulate the press, but he's a politician who literally controlled the press, not to mention some of the most powerful symbols of Italian pride (AC Milan). He had, in other words, an autocrat's assets in a democratic country. And the book is pretty good about showing how those autocratic assets part rendered the democratic part pretty meaningless. Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats

by Matthew Yglesias: I really liked Matt's book. Also, I have a personal stake in books by young political bloggers selling millions and millions of copies. The American Prospect: Less a book than a magazine, obviously. And the one I write for, no less. But unlike a book, a magazine changes every month! And unlike a blog, the articles go deep, and benefit from editing and substantial reporting and lots of collaboration! Frankly, it's a much better deal than some heavy tome you'll only read half of. And it's about the same price. Plus, you'll be supporting a great progressive institution. Folks complain all the time about wingnut welfare and the heterodoxies of The New Republic, but the antidote to that is the success of places like TAP, whose fortunes demonstrate the market for progressive commentary, and whose existence ensures a place where progressives can find a paying gig that lets them simultaneously make rent and argue for things that rich people often don't like.