100 Books Like On Call

I met Anne Braden at an anti-racism conference in the 80s. 

When I heard this older white woman with a thick Southern accent began to speak about the Civil Rights Movement as the second American revolution, I began to cry. 

I was feeling very alone as a white woman in Women’s Studies trying to bring race to the center of the discipline as well as my activism. I was both relieved to know that Braden existed and pained that I had never heard of her.

The book is a memoir of what happened to Anne and her husband Carl when they agreed to Andrew Wade’s request to buy a house and sell it to him, not as a political act but because he and his wife wanted a house in a new development that was segregated and the Wades were Black. 

The Bradens were indicted by the state of Kentucky… show more.

Anderson’s book is based on prodigious research, but is written for a general audience. 

She argues that when Black people make any gains, whites respond by working, mostly successfully, to deny those advances through local, state, and federal legislation and violence. 

The book begins by documenting the thorough destruction of the rights Black people gained through the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and brings her analysis forward to the present. This book gives you the historical background to understand what is happening now.

After reading it you will no longer be surprised by what the right wing has been doing since the gains of the civil rights movement to undo those rights won through struggle and incredible courage, the rights every American deserves. 

This book is hard to read, but its rewards are great. 

I was literally shaking when reading it because it described my life as a child of survivors and victims of the Armenian genocide in a way that I had not experienced before, illuminating new aspects of the genocide story I have been excavating for most of my adult life.  

Focusing on mass murder, colonialism, South African Apartheid, and U.S. slavery and white supremacy, Schwab addresses the trauma of the generation experiencing these atrocities as well as the way it is passed through to their progeny. 

She also explores the damage done to the perpetrators of violence into her analysis, weaving her own experience as a German growing up in the wake of WW II and the holocaust and as a white person living in the U.S. Schwab also goes beyond exploring trauma to address the necessity of perpetrators’ taking… show more.

A mere 172 pages, this book examines the brutality of European colonialism in the 19th century, uncovering genocides I had never heard of that were perpetrated by so-called “civilized people” on so-called “primitive people.” 

The justification for this barbarism was that they for the benefit of the people annihilated because they could not live in the modern world. 

That justification is the same one often used on this side of the ocean for the genocide or “removal” of Indigenous people from their ancient lands and for the enslavement of African people who were “improved” by being around white people. 

Part travelogue, part history, part literary analysis – Lindqvist focuses on Joseph Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness – the book cannot be easily categorized and when reading it I often wondered what he was doing. 

But my understanding of both colonialism and what the Europeans did when they came to… show more.

Laffer, Moore, and Tanous cut through the noise of party politics and examine the economic policies of past administrations.

They argue that Nixon (R) was the worst president by promulgating a weak dollar and instituting price controls. Kennedy (D) was one of the best presidents highlighting his optimism and achieving economic growth by cutting taxes.

And, of course, Ronald Reagen, whose low tax, low regulation, and pro-growth policies lifted this country from its deep morass, saved it from stagflation, and led to the eventual downfall of the USSR.

They also suggest where we go from here, arguing that low taxes and a stable dollar lead to economic prosperity.

Another forgotten book, Where’s the Rest of Me? covered Reagan’s early life and set him up for his post-Hollywood pivot. Reagan was always more literary than his opponents understood, and in this book he managed to define his sunny political image several years before his famous political aides showed up to help. I discovered this after finding a set of letters no other Reagan biographer had seen, but you could also see it just by reading his book’s opening, which is far too strange and memorable to get past a good flack:

The story begins with the close-up of a bottom in a small town called Tampico in Illinois, on February 6, 1911. My face was blue from screaming, my bottom was red from whacking, and my father claimed afterward that he was white.

The punch line: “Ever since my birth,” Reagan wrote, “I have been particularly fond of the… show more.

Paul Kengor provides a steady, detailed analysis of Reagan’s successful attempt to end the Cold War by driving the USSR to economic collapse. From technological embargoes, economic warfare and disinformation that the Soviets believed were intelligence successes to driving the price of oil down to $10 per barrel, Reagan’s policies were disastrous for Soviet interests. In just one year, the USSR moved from a $700 million trade surplus with the West to a $1.4 billion deficit, which tripled during the following year. “In my view,” wrote Gorbachev in the end, “the 40th President of the United States will go down in history for his rare perception.”

Why do I recommend a book on speechwriting? For the same reasons my book covers spoken communication. Good speeches base on the written word and in turn, yield many lessons for all writers. For example, “sayability” is a hallmark of writing that works, and a good way to check yourself. Noonan’s book also reminds us of what matters most: Deciding what you want to say—the substance. Fancy language never camouflages empty thought. Rather than trying to manipulate people, reach them with sincerity and specific language that’s “simple, unadorned, direct, declarative.” Noonan recommends appealing to the brain with logic. Psychologists, meanwhile, stress that we make most decisions based on emotion—but I think both are right: Persuasive writing reaches both heart and mind. 

This book is written by, IMO, the best chef ever to have served at the White House. I was fortunate to have been Chef Haller’s boss during my time at the White House. Henry retired after 21 years of flawless service and worked in the Johnston, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan White Houses. An incredible talent with a positive, pleasant temperament, everyone loved Chef Haller.

Karen Tumulty has written the definitive biography of Nancy Reagan. Readers will come away with a far deeper appreciation of the woman who was President Reagan’s fiercest defender and who helped shape his life and political ascent. I was especially drawn to the book by the insights Karen Tumulty provides about the Sacramento during Reagan’s time as governor, and about the Reagan’s California years before and after the presidency. Karen Tumulty’s description of Nancy Reagan’s years after Ronald Reagan’s death is especially compelling.