During the past two weeks, it has been all but impossible to avoid hearing the constant stream of news that is coming out of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. We’ve been inundated by political speeches, pundits and polls. Has it all helped you decide for whom to cast your ballot in November?
As a political science geek, I am fascinated by the complex factors that determine people’s political leanings: socioeconomic status, religion, age, gender, race and so on. And this just in: your reading tastes may influence for whom you vote. But can a candidate or a president’s taste in books tell you anything about how he or she will lead and govern?
Many of our past presidents have been confirmed bibliophiles. President George W. Bush had an ongoing competition with advisor Karl Rove to see who could read the most books each year. Some of the titles President Bush enjoyed during these read-a-thons include Time of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. According to Rove, the President especially enjoys history and biographies and often read current event books on the Middle East while in office. His fiction picks tended to be in the suspense or mystery genres: Next by Michael Crichton, the Travis McGee novels by John MacDonald, and Executive Power by Vince Flynn.
President Obama has often released to the public the names of the books he is bringing on vacation. Last summer, he dove into Washington: A Life by by Ron Chernow and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. In January his vacation reading list included Purity by Jonathan Franzen, The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, The Wright Brothers by David McCollough.
When asked recently about his taste in reading material Republican nominee Donald Trump told reporters he was currently reading Unlikeable: The Problem with Hillary by Ed Klein and an unspecified biography of Richard Nixon. When on the stump, Mr. Trump often references his own book, The Art of the Deal. He has also stated that his favorite book is All Quiet on the West Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
In the many years she has been in the public eye, Hillary Clinton has answered questions about her reading interests quite a few times. She has mentioned Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son as particularly influential. She has also expressed a fondness for mysteries written by Jacqueline Winspear and Donna Leon and books by Maya Angelou, Alice Monroe and Barbara Kingsolver.
The recently named vice presidential candidates have, according to my searches, not yet had their reading tastes scrutinized by the public. But never fear, dear readers. My political and bibliographic nerdiness knows no bounds, so I have contacted both Governor Pence and Senator Kaine to ask them for their book suggestions. Should they reply to me, you will be among the first to know. In the meantime, if the contentious election proves to be too much for you, feel free to try one of the books mentioned in this post. You can always claim you’re just doing research on the candidates.