Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2025-05-16
Books mentioned on Is Trump Losing? A Debate | The Ezra Klein Show
Ezra Klein recommended The Reactionary Spirit by Zack Beauchamp, and discussed The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn. Andrew Morance recommended Melting point by Patrick Califia, and discussed How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and others. Zack Beauchamp recommended Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt and A World after Liberalism by Matthew Rose, and discussed Political Liberalism by John Rawls.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Reactionary Spirit
The Reactionary Spirit by Zack Beauchamp is a probing political and cultural examination of modern conservatism and the forces shaping global democratic backsliding.
Recommended“His book the reactionary spirit is great on the international perspective for this.”
Where to get it
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How Democracies Die
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt is a political science book that examines how elected leaders can gradually dismantle democratic institutions from within.
Discussed“So, Steven Levitzky who was one of the co-authors of how democracies die, he also was a co-author of this really seinal paper where he defined he invented the term competitive authoritarianism.”
Where to get it
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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S.
Discussed“the structure of scientific revolutions where we get paradigm shift from. It's not like is it the book by Thomas [ __ ] that coins the term paradigm shift the philosopher of science”
Where to get it
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Political Liberalism
Political Liberalism by John Rawls is a foundational work of political philosophy that examines how a stable and just society can persist amidst reasonable pluralism and diverse comprehensive doctrines.
Discussed“So, my political load star is John RS in his book political liberalism, right? And RS has this idea of an overlapping consensus.”
Where to get it
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Eichmann in Jerusalem
Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt is a profound and controversial work of political philosophy and journalistic reporting that examines the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Jerusalem.
Recommended“Um I think uh another book which I I just started rereading Tanar's Iikman in Jerusalem not because it's sort of answers these big picture questions about what political systems are like but because it's a character portrait of one man's role in uh a vast machinery of of horrifying political outcomes.”
Where to get it
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A World after Liberalism
A World after Liberalism by Matthew Rose is a political science book that investigates contemporary critiques of liberal democracy, exploring the intellectual foundations of post-liberal, traditionalist, and right-wing political thought.
Recommended“Um, and I think for a third book, Matthew Rose is a world after liberalism, right? To give you a sense of what the the capacity for a post-liberal imaginary is like, what a world looks like when liberalism no longer is functioning, has been replaced, or what it could be, what people want it to be in the future,”
Where to get it
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Melting point
Melting Point by Patrick Califia is a historical book that compiles primary source documents to explore the early history of Zionism.
Recommended“It's called Melting Point. Um, and it's a fascinating book and it's all primary sources and it just sets you down in the middle of history. In this case, it's the history of the early days of Zionism.”
Where to get it
