Preparing for the 2020 election has been about tuning into debates and trying to educate ourselves on the candidates and the issues. There is also the added challenge of sifting through all of the news, and, especially in 2020, this can get very exhausting. With less than a month until the election, here are some books to read to re-inspire you and get you ready to vote!
Books About The Candidates
If you want to get to know the presidential candidates better before you cast your ballot, why not read their own books?
From Joe Biden, check out Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics, which recounts his political career.
Kamala Harris’s own memoir “The Truths We Hold” maps her early life, political career, and 2020 campaign platform.
If you want to learn more about Donald Trump’s political career, you may have to turn to a secondary source, as most of his own books talk about his business career. Here is a great summary of all the books published by people within the Trump administration instead.
Books About the Issues
Sometimes, figuring out which candidate to vote for comes down to figuring out who aligns the most with your views. And while there may not be one person who you feel represents you completely, oftentimes it comes down to just trying to find the best fit based on the issues you care most about.
Here are some books to read if you want to learn more about the issues that have been brought up in this election.
On the climate crisis, read Naomi Klein’s books This Changes Everything or On Fire.
On systemic racism, read one of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste or The Warmth of Other Suns. On racial justice, read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Also, check out Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
On the Supreme Court, read The Most Dangerous Branch by David A. Kaplan or The Nine by Jeffery Toobin.
On American foreign policy, read Blowout by Rachel Maddow and Stealth War by Robert Spalding.
Finally, read The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner and Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright to understand just what is at stake.
Books About the Future
If you are wondering what the future could look like, check out these dystopian novels that can both warn us and inspire us.
If you like the classics, make sure that you have read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Giver by Lowis Lowry, 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
If you are feeling revolutionary, you can read (or re-read) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Legend by Marie Lu, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
And finally, if you are just fed up with all of the negative news and the stress of 2020 and you are dreaming of a different world, make sure to read Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.
The election is just around the corner. Make sure that you are registered and have a plan to vote. And once you have done that, pick up a book and buckle up. Election day will be here before you know it!
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