100 Books Like The Plot to Seize the White House

Accusations of ballot fraud, election challenges, dueling slates of electors, threats of political violence—even a new civil war. It sounds eerily like the 2020 presidential election, but it happened in 1876. The legitimate winner that year was Democrat Samuel Tilden. His rival, Rutherford B. Hayes, who eventually ascended to the presidency, and Tilden both, according to Morris, went to bed on election night, believing Tilden was the winner. The fraud, this time, was initiated, not by the candidate himself, but by Republican operatives behind closed doors who worked to propel Hayes to the top, in exchange for an end to Reconstruction—which led inexorably to the Jim Crow era. 

The bitter battle left Tilden and the country with grievous losses. The country is still recovering.

Dwight D. Eisenhower served two terms as United States president, from 1952-1960. His administration is widely remembered for rapid economic growth and adept international diplomacy. Yet the pubic face of much of that growth and diplomacy masked Ike’s vehement prosecution of a brutal cold war—acts of attrition and deceit overseas that vastly expanded the US empire around the globe.

The brothers John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s secretary of state, and Allen Dulles, who was head of the Central Intelligence Agency, led the American rise to international preeminence. The Devil’s Chessboard focuses largely on Allen Dulles, who waged secret wars across the planet in service of American imperial objectives. Prior to World War Two, Dulles worked for an investment firm that had direct ties to Hitler’s Third Reich—Allen Dulles met with Hitler in 1933. During the war, Dulles joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, and was… show more.

It’s quite a trick to overthrow a government without firing a shot. It’s an even better trick to do it without most people noticing what you’ve done. Dark Money shows how a cadre of American oligarchs, who believed the US had gone too far in reining in people like them, poured barrels of cash into undermining the average American’s economic, labor, and civil rights progress. They created think tanks. They bankrolled TV pundits. They funded departments at top universities—and micro-managed the curriculum—intent on influencing new generations of politicians, economists, and judges. In the end, they completely reshaped American thought and jurisprudence.

Ever wonder how the US of FDR and JFK could have taken such a sharp turn to the extreme right? I recommend you read Dark Money.

The Steal documents what happened in the weeks between the 2020 presidential election and January 6th in swing states that Biden won, where Trump persuaded local loyalists that the election had been rigged. Avid Trump supporters embraced every wild conspiracy theory Trump World tossed their way—imagining minor glitches to be bulletproof evidence of massive fraud. 

As the author of another narrative about the collateral damage wrought by purveyors of the Big Lie, I had obvious reasons to be drawn to The Steal. It deftly see-saws between besieged election workers and officials trying to do their jobs in the face of unrelenting pressure, and those who—truth, law, and logic be damned—applied that pressure. The Steal fascinates, both as a commentary on human nature and a ground-level account of an attempted coup.  

I think Fellman’s book is hands down the best work on the history of terrorism in the United States, even though he only covers the period from John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry to the American suppression of the Philippine Insurgency in 1899-1902.

The book is scrupulously sourced like an academic work, but the writing is clear, fluid, and utterly compelling. I found myself putting the book down every few pages to ruminate on the illuminating connections Fellman draws between past and present.

This book allowed me to see all too clearly the ways in which terrorism is not something experienced just “over there,” but rather something baked intrinsically into the American experience.

This is a rather early effort to examine the implications of the ease of crossing national borders inherent in globalization.

It explores the ability of malicious actors–in particular terrorists, narcotraffickers, arms dealers, human smugglers, pathogens, etc.–to take advantage of a globalized world to disrupt normal life. It reminds us of the dark underbelly of globalization.

I love every book Barbara Kingsover writes, but this one is special for me because of its deeply personal account of key 20th-century political events.

Leon Trotsky and Frida Kahlo are at the centre of a story that juxtaposes Trotsky’s humanistic vision against the inhumanism of Stalin’s Soviet Union and McCarthyism in the United States. All of this is built around the character-driven narrative of a protagonist unwittingly caught up in the political churn of the times. 

This is a lively and shocking book, exposing countless Nazi wartime spies and sympathisers in Britain, with their stories and photos of them. One of them was Major General John F. C. Fuller.

When I was very young, I knew several people who knew him and spoke of him warmly. He was greatly admired for his book on Alexander the Great. These friends often said they were hoping to introduce me to him, but it never happened. They thought I would find him interesting because of his knowledge of ancient Greece.

None of them appeared to be aware that Fuller was a fanatical anti-Semite and fascist who had supported Hitler. So easily did he survive the War and retain some admirers into the 1960s. Fuller was famous as a genius of modern armored warfare and had countless admirers in the Army. He had written 45 books. He died in 1966.… show more.

I doubt there has ever been a more controversial book written about an espionage case than Perjury! For decades, Professor Weinstein’s 1978 book on the Alger Hiss case generated heated arguments between Hiss’s supporters and detractors. I was a participant in that battle and I tell you, it was brutal. Both sides took no prisoners when arguing over the legitimacy of the author’s interpretation of evidence and conclusions. For over 25 years, Hiss cheered his supporters on and went to his grave, still proclaiming his innocence. 

The historian’s task is to separate historical fact from fantasy. I recommend Weinstein’s expanded second edition version because in its pages, he does just that, plus he integrated the provocative evidence from Russian archives that emerged after the first edition was published. 

Bottom line, this book provides the most objective and convincing account of the drama that led to Hiss’s conviction.  

What if a society blessed one form of magic use while all but criminalizing the other? Marnie Becker was born a witch in this world, which puts her forever at the margins. She tries to stay (mostly) out of trouble—until it finds her in a big way.

I absolutely love that magic here has a scent, from a hint of maple syrup to a reek of burnt meat. And that her love interest, Bran, declares, “You are never more beautiful to me than when you fix my math.” And that Marnie starts to believe she could help change her country for the better.