Best Books on American Democracy and Life
Have you read any great books this year that helped you understand where we are and where we’re going in this wild, amazing journey of America?
Sadly, one of the most timely and important books of the year is from my friend, Adam Winkler. We know that we must now, at long last, figure out the relationship of the Second Amendment to sensible public policy in a democracy. No book is better grounding for that than Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, Adam Winkler (Norton).
What recently published book (or poem, essay or article) that relates to our American Republic would you recommend? Fiction or non-fiction, so long as it tells the story of where we are, where we’re going, and/or what paths we might take . . . Here’s an excerpt from my list, in addition to Gunfight, and not in any particular order (and more to come):
It All Turns on Affection: The Jefferson Lecture & Other Essays, Wendell Barry (Counterpoint 2012)
The Shareholder Value Myth, Lynn Stout (Berrett-Koehler 2012)
Republic Lost, Lawrence Lessig (Twelve Books 2012)
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebees, Farm Fields & the Dinner Table, Tracie McMillan (Scribner 2012)
Brandishing the First Amendment, Tamara Piety (Univ. Mich. Press 2012)
Private Empire: ExxonMobil & American Power, Steve Coll (The Penguin Press 2012)
And, of course, don’t forget Corporations Are Not People (Berrett-Koehler 2012).
Let me know if you have other suggestions, or a comment on the books you see posted here. If you send me an email at jclements@freespeechforpeople.org with your suggestions or comment along with your mailing address (not retained or shared, I assure you) I’ll be happy to send you a copy of that short but perennial “best book”,
The United States Constitution (along with the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address). It is a convenient pocket-sized edition (see image).
Looking forward to hearing (and reading) your suggestions.
Best wishes for the holidays, and a peaceful new year.
- Jeff Clements
About Jeff Clements
Jeff Clements, an attorney and author, is the president and co-founder of Free Speech for People, a national, non-partisan campaign to challenge the creation of Constitutional rights for corporations, overturn Citizens United v. FEC, and strengthen American democracy and republican self-government. He is the author of the Corporations Are Not People (Berrett-Koehler, 2012). Mr. Clements, an attorney, has represented and advocated for people, businesses and the public interest since 1988.
Mr. Clements served as Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office from early 2007 to 2009. As Bureau Chief, he led more than 100 attorneys and staff in law enforcement and litigation in the areas of civil rights, environmental protection, healthcare, insurance and financial services, antitrust and consumer protection. Mr. Clements also served as an Assistant Attorney General in Massachusetts from 1996 to 2000, where he worked on litigation against the tobacco industry and handled a wide range of other investigations and litigation to enforce unfair trade practice, consumer protection and antitrust laws.
In private practice, Mr. Clements has been a partner in the Boston law firms of Clements & Clements, LLP and Mintz Levin. He also has practiced in Maine, where he has represented clients in a variety of appeals and litigation, and in investigations and prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Maine Attorney General’s Office.
In the 1990s, Mr. Clements was elected as a Trustee and President of the Board of Trustees of the Portland Water District, a public agency responsible for protecting and delivering safe drinking water and ensuring proper treatment of wastewater for 160,000 people in Portland and South Portland, Maine and several surrounding communities. He was a co-founder, officer, and director of Friends of Casco Bay, an environmental advocacy organization focused on protection and stewardship of Maine’s Casco Bay. He also has served as a Trustee and President of the Board of The Waldorf School in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Mr. Clements graduated with distinction in History and Government from Colby College in 1984, and magna cum laude with a concentration in Public Law from the Cornell Law School in 1988. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts with his wife and three children.
Christopher Phillips’ Constitution Cafe is a great read and an excellent exploration of our Constitution as a living document. – Erin Brasell, Illahee Lecture Series
James C. Scott’s “Seeing Like a State, How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Failed,” is an astute analysis of high-minded state planning from “collectivization in Russia, the building of Brasilia, compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania and others.” Did you know that the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 designed to encourage more dryland farming was one of the major factors leading to the Dust Bowl of the 1930′s?
John, Wizened Web Wizard Wannabe
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” — Albert Einstein