Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2024-04-16
Books mentioned on A $1.7 Million Toilet and Liberalism's Failure to Build
Jerusalem Demsas recommended Don't Blame Us by Lily Geismer, The Bulldozer in the Countryside by Adam Rome, and A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Don't Blame Us
Don't Blame Us by Lily Geismer is a political history focusing closely on the suburbs of Boston to trace the policy shifts, cultural developments, and citizen opposition that contributed significantly to modern regulatory sclerosis.
Recommended“the first is by Lily gismer it's called don't blame us and it's a book uh that looks very closely at the Boston suburbs to see the changes that led to a lot of the regulations and opposition that is causing a lot of the sclerosis we see today”
Where to get it
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The Bulldozer in the Countryside
The Bulldozer in the Countryside by Adam Rome is an environmental history examining how the modern American environmental movement emerged largely as a grassroots reaction against the sweeping post-war transformation of the urban core and natural landscapes.
Recommended“and then there's bulldozer in the Countryside by Adam Rome it's another really great book about environmentalism and really kind of situates environmentalism in the United States as coming up as a reaction to changes in the urban core”
Where to get it
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A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders is a critically acclaimed book in which the celebrated author and teacher analyzes classic Russian short stories by writers like Chekhov and Tolstoy to explore both the craft of writing and the nature of human thought.
Recommended“this final book I always like to recommend a um a fiction book on this so well it's not really fiction but George saunders's book a swim in the pond in the rain is a book on writing but all really great books about writing are actually great books about thinking”
Where to get it
