Books like

Books like The Shock of the New

12 books with a reading profile close to The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes. Deep and outward-looking; a moderate read.

1

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Also deep · history, analytical

In this collection of essays originally written for The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates examines the intersection of the Obama presidency and the enduring structure of white supremacy in the United States.
2

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement

by Angela Y. Davis

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

Angela Davis connects disparate liberation efforts through a framework of intersectional internationalism.
3

History of Beauty

by Umberto Eco

Also outward-looking · history, analytical

Umberto Eco examines the shifting definitions of aesthetics in Western civilization from ancient Greece to the dawn of the twenty-first century.
4

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

by Jared Diamond

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

Jared Diamond examines why some civilizations vanish while others endure by applying a five-point framework of environmental collapse.
5

Scenes from Deep Time

by M. J. S. Rudwick

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

In Scenes from Deep Time, M.
6

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

by Richard Rothstein

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

Richard Rothstein identifies the specific local, state, and federal policies that created and enforced residential segregation across the United States.
7

Art Under Control in North Korea

by Jane Portal

Also outward-looking · history, analytical

Jane Portal examines the institutional mechanisms through which the North Korean state dictates artistic production.
8

Powers and Prospects

by Noam Chomsky

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

In this collection of essays and lectures, Noam Chomsky analyzes the intersection of international relations, geopolitical power, and elite control over economic policy.
9

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Renaissance

by Gordon Campbell

Also outward-looking · history, analytical

Gordon Campbell coordinates a chronological survey that expands the Renaissance beyond its traditional fifteenth-century Tuscan borders.
10

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

Michelle Alexander argues that the American legal system functions as a contemporary mechanism of racial control, effectively relegating millions of Black men to a permanent second-class status.
11

Women, Race & Class

by Angela Y. Davis

Also deep · history, analytical

Angela Davis maps the historical intersection of abolitionism and the early women’s suffrage movement to demonstrate how the priorities of middle-class white women often excluded the needs of Black women.
12

Leonardo da Vinci

by Martin Kemp

Also deep and outward-looking · history, analytical

Martin Kemp presents a cohesive analysis of Leonardo da Vinci’s career by linking his artistic output to his scientific inquiries.

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