Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-10-02
Books mentioned on Is the World Getting Uglier?
President Trump and the modern right have a theory of beauty. You see it in Trump’s gilded Oval Office, his imagined arch and his executive order requiring classical and traditional styles for certain federal buildings.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Voice That Is Great Within Us
The Voice That Is Great Within Us is an expansive and celebrated anthology of twentieth-century American poetry compiled and edited by Hayden Carruth.
Recommended“number one it's a book of poetry called The Voice That Is Great Within Us it's by Hayden Carruth and it is a remarkable collection of 20th century poetry that's where I first became aware of my favorite poem of all time which is a poem by Charles Olson called Maximus to himself P.S. I name my dog Maximus that's”
Where to get it
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Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez is a celebrated novel that explores lifelong devotion, aging, and the many facets of romance across decades in a Caribbean setting.
Recommended“number two is what I think is one of the greatest love stories of all time it's a book written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez called Love in the time of cholera which has the greatest last line of all time in a book and so you have to read it all the way through before you get to that”
Where to get it
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Ulysses
Ulysses by James Joyce is a landmark modernist novel that chronicles a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mirroring the structure of Homer's epic.
Recommended“and then my third book is a book that I hope one day to be able to do a visual version of I fell in love with this book in college it's James Joyce's Ulysses I even went to Ireland for Blooms Day which is the day that the day in the life of Leopold Bloom that James Joyce wrote”
Where to get it
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Hunger
Hunger is a powerful and deeply personal memoir by Roxane Gay that explores body image, trauma, food, and self-acceptance in a society that marginalizes those who do not fit conventional physical standards.
Recommended“but more recently in 2017 I started reading a book called Hunger by Roxane Gay and when I read that book I fell in love with the author sight unseen just reading her words so much so that I reached out to her I wanted to get her on my podcast she said no I tried to stay in touch”
Where to get it
