Books like Common Sense
12 books with a reading profile close to Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Outward-looking and clear-cut; a moderate read.
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1
Silent Spring
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
Rachel Carson examines the environmental consequences of indiscriminate pesticide use, specifically focusing on synthetic chemical compounds like DDT.
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2
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3
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
by Jane Mayer
Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, analytical
Jane Mayer tracks the decades-long evolution of a coordinated political network funded by ultraconservative billionaires, most notably Charles and David Koch.
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4
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
Christopher Hitchens argues that organized religion is a human invention that harms social progress and intellectual honesty.
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5
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
Jared Diamond argues that the uneven distribution of wealth and power across different continents stems from environmental and geographical factors rather than biological superiority.
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6
Nexus
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
Nexus examines the historical relationship between information networks and the survival of social structures.
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7
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
Nancy Isenberg dismantles the myth of American class mobility by tracing the persistent existence of a marginalized white underclass from the colonial era to the present.
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8
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
by Chris Miller
Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, analytical
Chris Miller explains how semiconductors became the backbone of modern civilization, determining both economic success and military dominance.
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9
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, analytical
Niall Ferguson traces the evolution of global finance through the development of credit, banking, bond markets, and insurance.
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10
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, analytical
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that modern democracies rarely collapse through violent military coups but instead erode from within through the legal subversion of institutions.
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11
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
Also outward-looking · history, analytical
John M.
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12
REGIME CHANGE
by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, analytical
Two White House correspondents for The New York Times delve into the first year of President Trump's second term.
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