My 2 Favorite Books of 2023

As a member of the editorial board of The American Purpose, I was asked to recommend my favorite book from 2023. I could not decide on one, so I recommended two. Read below what I published there.

The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900–1941 by Robert Kagan, and Prequel: An American Fight against Fascism by Rachel Maddow

Recommended by Michael McFaul

These days I am writing my own book on lessons from the Cold War for dealing with China and Russia today, so I rarely read entire books, but just skim the parts that pertain to my research. But this year I read two fantastic books cover to cover: Bob Kagan’s The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941 and Rachel Maddow’s Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism. The books are complementary. Kagan details the isolationist tendencies in the United States in the 1930s that helped to create the permissive conditions for World War II. Maddow chronicles the rise of fascist politicians and movements in the United States at the same time, a history that I honestly did not know and wonder if we repress on purpose. There are scary echoes today of both stories, as the title of Maddow’s book implies. Let’s learn these lessons of our past so we don’t repeat them now. 

And for the full list of “Our Favorite Reads in 2023” from the Editorial Board of The American Purpose, click here: https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/our-favorite-reads-in-2023/