THREAD: Inspired by others, each day I’ll tweet two of the books that I recommend on specific topics. Mostly national security, politics, intelligence, history, and world affairs, but with some twists thrown in.

Today’s topic: How the Cold War ended.

“The United States and the End of the Cold War” by John Lewis Gaddis

“The End of the Cold War, 1985-1991” by Robert Service

Today’s topic: The value of science, reason, and critical thinking:

“The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark” by Carl Sagan

“Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye” by Michael Shermer

Today’s topic: Camp David.

“Inside Camp David: The Private World of the Presidential Retreat” by Michael Giorgione

“The President is at Camp David” by W. Dale Nelson

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic: Catastrophic endings.

“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond

“The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses” by Peter Brannen

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic: Herbert Hoover.

“Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency” by Charles Rappleye

“The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, 1920-1933: The Cabinet and the Presidency” by Herbert Hoover

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic: the ethics of the intelligence business.

“Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional” edited by Jan Goldman

“Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying” by Jim Olson

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—John Quincy Adams:

“John Quincy Adams: American Visionary” by Fred Kaplan

“The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transfirmation of American Politics” by William J. Cooper

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—intelligence in World War II:

“Destination Casablanca: Exile, Espionage, and the Battle for North Africa in World War II” by Meredith Hindley

“OSS Operation Black Mail: One Woman’s Covert War Against the Imperial Japanese Army” by Ann Todd

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the political and social history of central Arabia:

“Politics in an Arabian Oasis: The Radishis of Saudi Arabia” by Madawi al Rasheed

“Arabian Oasis City: The Transformation of ‘Unayzah” by Soraya Altorki and Donald P. Cole

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—close presidential elections:

“The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election” by Zachary Karabell

“Deadlock: The Inside Story of America’s Closest Election” by the political staff of the Washington Post

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—in memory of Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart:

“Ghost Rider: Travels in the Healing Road” by Neil Peart

“Clockwork Angels: The Novel” by Kevin Anderson from a story and lyrics by Neil Peart

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—attempts to kill Franklin Roosevelt:

“The Five Weeks of Giuseppe Zangara: The Man Who Would Assassinate FDR” by Blaise Picchi

“Operation Long Jump: Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill, and the Greatest Assassination Plot in History” by Bill Yenne

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the brilliant writing of one of my favorite authors:

“The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce”

“The Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—espionage and atomic weapons during/after WWII:

“Spies in the Congo: America's Atomic Mission in World War II” by Susan Williams

“The Nuclear Spies: America's Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin”
by Vince Houghton

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—attempts to kill presidents in the 1900s:

“American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill President Truman—and the Shoot-out That Stopped It” by Stephen Hunter & John Bainbridge, Jr.

“Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan” by Del Wilber

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—ancient stoicism:

“The Handbook of Epictetus”

“Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the (fictional) end of civilization as we know it:

“Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke

“Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the intriguing Adams-Jefferson relationship:

“Adams vs. Jefferson” by John Ferling

“Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” by Gordon Wood

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the US constitutional convention:

“Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution” by Richard Beeman

“The Framer’s Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution” by Michael Klarman

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—that feeling of “knowing” you’re correct, and why it’s OK when you are *not* right:

“On Being Certain: Believing You are Right Even When You’re Not” by Robert A. Burton

“Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” by Kathryn Schulz

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—allied deception operations in World War II:

“Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory” by Ben Macintyre

“Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign” by Roger Hesketh

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the classics on oil and politics:

“The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power” by Daniel Yergin

“Arabia, the Gulf and the West” by J.B. Kelly

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—why alliances are hard:

“Knowing Your Friends: Intelligence Inside Alliances and Coalitions from 1914 to the Cold War” ed. by Martin Alexander

“Arguing about Alliances: The Art of Agreement in Military-Pact Negotiations” by Paul Poast

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—a man who wrote like he was running out of time:

“Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow

“Washington & Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America” by Stephen F. Knott and Tony Williams

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—fired by Trump:

“Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law” by Preet Bharara

“A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership” by Jim Comey

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—works by one underappreciated president:

“Have Faith in Massachusetts” by Calvin Coolidge

“The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge”

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—classic @BradThor thrillers:

“The Lions of Lucerne”

“Path of the Assassin”

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—presidential depression and mental illness:

“The Mortal Presidency: Illness and Anguish in the White House” by Robert Gilbert

“When Life Strikes the President: Scandal, Death, and Illness in the White House” by Jeffrey Engel and Thomas Knock

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—real map collections from fantasy worlds:

“The Atlas of the Land” by Karen Wynn Fonstad

“The Lands of Ice and Fire: Maps from King's Landing to Across the Narrow Sea” by George R. R. Martin

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—Buchanan:

“Worst. President. Ever: James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents” by Robert Strauss

“Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King” by Thomas Balcerski

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—media and public opinion in the first Gulf War:

“Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War” by John Mueller

“Triumph Of The Image: The Media's War In The Persian Gulf, A Global Perspective” ed. by Hamid Mowlana et al.

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—Harry Truman’s memoirs

“Year of Decisions” by Harry Truman

“Years of Trial and Hope, 1946-1952” by Harry Truman

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—20th century Speakers of the House of Representatives:

“Sam Rayburn: A Biography,” by Alfred Steinberg

“Little Giant: The Life and Times of Speaker Carl Albert,” by Carl Albert with Danney Goble

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—the tumultuous political year of 1968:

“The Making of the President 1968” by Theodore White

“Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics” by Lawrence O’Donnell

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic—Kuwait before and just after the Gulf War:

“Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar” by Jill Crystal

“Kuwait 1945-1996: An Anglo-American Perspective” by Miriam Joyce

Today’s 2 books are on the moral compass of our 16th president:

“Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography” by William Lee Miller

“Lincoln’s Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War” by Todd Brewster

Today’s 2 books on one topic—how presidents have normally interacted with the intelligence community:

“For the President's Eyes Only” by Christopher Andrew

“The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents” by David Priess

Today’s 2 books on one topic—the 38th president of the United States:

“Time and Chance: Gerald Ford’s Appointmemt with History” by James Cannon

“31 Days: Gerald Ford, the Nixon Pardon, and a Government in Crisis” by Barry Werth

Today’s 2 books on one topic—lessons on the value of experience and expertise from a life in intel:

“Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror” by @GenMhayden

“The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies” by @GenMhayden

Today’s 2 books on one topic—written by controversial attorneys general:

“With Reagan: The Inside Story” by Ed Meese

“Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice” by John Ashcroft

Today’s 2 books on one topic—the November 1999 antiglobalization protests in Seattle that turned violent:

“The Battle in Seattle: The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations” by Janet Thomas

“5 Days that Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond” by Alexander Cockburn et al.

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic: the 18th president of the United States.

“Grant” by Jean Edward Smith

“Grant” by Ron Chernow

Today’s 2 books on a specific topic: the constitutional method for removing a disabled president.

“The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Its Complete History and Applications” by John Feerick

“Unable: The Law, Politics, and Limits of Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment” by Brian Kalt

Today’s 2 books on one specific topic: the deep roots of today’s hyper-partisanship.

“The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era” by Sam Rosenfeld

“The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism” by Steve Kornacki

Today’s 2 books on one specific topic: great presidents managing the egos around them.

“The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution” by Lindsay Chervinsky

“Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Today’s 2 books on one specific topic: the rise of, and changes within, the international state system.

“The Sovereign State and Its Competitors” by Hendrik Spruyt

“The Military Revolution and Political Change” by Brian Downing

Today’s 2 books on one specific topic: nonfiction thrillers by Mark Bowden *not* called Black Hawk Down.

“Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw”

“Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam”

Today’s 2 books: My collection’s oldest originally bound works.

“A Manual of the Ancient History of the East to the Commencement of the Median Wars” by François Lenormant and E. Chevalier (2 vol., 1871)

“A Complete History of the Trial of Guiteau” by H.G. and C.J. Hayes (1882)

Today’s 2 books on one topic: the 22nd (and 24th) president.

“Grover Cleveland: A Man Four-Square” by Denis Tilden Lynch

“Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage” by Allan Nevins

Today’s 2 books on one topic: works on Arabia, written more than 50 years ago.

“Arabian Sands” by Wilfred Thesiger

“Saudi Arabia in the Nineteenth Century” by R. Bayly Winder

Today’s 2 books on one topic: the 11th president of the United States.

“A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent” by Robert Merry

“Met His Every Goal? James K. Polk and the Legends of Manifest Destiny” by Tom Chaffin

Today’s 2 books on one topic: fictional accounts of ancient history.

“Roma Eterna” by Robert Silverberg

“Throne of Darius: The Fight Against Alexander the Great” by Mark McLaughlin

Today’s 2 books on one topic: the 25th President of the United States.

“President McKinley: Architect of the American Century” by Robert Merry

“The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century” by Scott Miller

Today’s 2 books on one topic: my two favorite published works by Carl Sagan.

“Contact”

“The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”

Today’s 2 books on one topic: vice presidents suddenly thrust into the presidency.

“Seven By Chance: The Accidental Presidents” by Peter Levin

“Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America” by Jared Cohen

Today’s 2 books on one topic: the political thought of Reinhold Niebuhr.

“The Irony of American History”

“Moral Man and Immoral Society”