The dog days of summer provide the perfect opportunity not only to rest and recharge but also to catch up on the reading, watching, and listening that were missed amid busy schedules during the academic year. Three Princeton SPIA faculty members — Julian Zelizer, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs, Anastasia Mann, lecturer and founding director of SPIA in NJ, and Kim Lane Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values — provide their recommended books, television shows, and podcasts to splurge on during the summer months.
Books
- “Erin Osmon's ‘Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America’ was a terrific look back at a fantastic group of musicians, some of my favorites, who crafted songs about working-class and rural America that provided a very different story than what was coming out of the Reagan White House.” — Zelizer
- “Ada Ferrer’s ‘Keeper of My Kin’ and Arundhati Roy’s ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me.’ I came of age as an intellectual being in the 1990s, inspired by the idea that the personal is political. Back in the day, this insight snapped so many inchoate observations into focus. Ferrer’s and Roy’s books bring that notion into the policy realm, mingling personal narrative and memoir with policy history to illuminating effect. As the struggle against authoritarianism shapes up in the U.S., I’m drawing courage and inspiration from both of these books.” — Mann
- “Sinclair Lewis’s ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ and Hannah Arendt’s ‘Origins of Totalitarianism.’ Now’s the time to read the classics that tell us what authoritarianism is like. Sometimes it’s easier to understand what is happening to us now if we can see ourselves in history’s mirror.” — Scheppele
Television
- “‘Borgen’ is Denmark’s version of ‘The West Wing.’ Season 4 will tell you why Trump wants Greenland. ‘Occupied’ is about a soft takeover of Norway by Russia and the rise of the Free Norway movement. ‘Cunk on Earth,’ featuring Diane Morgan, is hilarious. It is world history told by someone who doesn’t know much. ‘After Life’ is a wistful and beautifully funny series written and starring Ricky Gervais about how to come to grips with mourning; and for something truly diverting and hilarious, there is ‘Gok Wan’s Easy Asian’ in which a style maven teaches you how to cook Asian food.” — Scheppele
- “‘The Bear,’ final season. Although this brilliant show lost its way during the past two seasons, the series ends with a bang, capturing the magic from when this show first came on the air.” — Zelizer
Podcasts
- “John Stewart's ‘The Weekly Show’ podcast. This is an impressive show. Stewart focuses on big picture political stories that often escape media attention and conducts superb interviews with a wide range of political experts and policymakers.” — Zelizer
- “I’m a great believer in learning the law through podcasts, so here are the best ones I know that break down complex legal developments so that anyone can understand what is happening — at a moment when the lower courts are the most effective bulwark against the threat of autocracy in the U.S. For matters of the Justice Department, ‘Strict Scrutiny;’ for justice department and legal developments in the administration, ‘Main Justice;’ and on the courts, ‘Amicus.’” — Scheppele