Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-01-27
Books mentioned on The Truth About American Hegemony | The Ezra Klein Show
Ezra Klein discussed Underground Empire by Henry Farrell. Henry Farrell recommended Private Truths, Public Lies by Timur Kuran, Dollars and Dominion by Mary Bridges, and The Score by Elle Kennedy, and discussed Red Plenty by Francis Spufford.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Underground Empire
Discussed“It's in their book, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy.”
Where to get it
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Private Truths, Public Lies
Private Truths, Public Lies by Timur Kuran is a social science book that explores how people conceal their true beliefs due to social pressures, introducing the concepts of preference falsification and preference cascades.
Recommended“It's a book by a guy called Timmer Kuran who's a somewhat conservative libertarian professor in Duke called private truths public lies.”
Where to get it
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Dollars and Dominion
Dollars and Dominion by Mary Bridges is a historical work investigating the complex mechanisms of American financial power and global hegemony.
Recommended“It's by a woman a historian called Mary Bridges called dollars and Dominion.”
Where to get it
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Red Plenty
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford is a celebrated novel that offers a fictionalized account of Soviet economic history and industrial planning during the Khrushchev era.
Discussed“Spuffford wrote this incredible book called Red Plenty, which really I and Abe took as one of our models for how do you write a complicate a book about complicated structures”
Where to get it
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The Score
The Score by Elle Kennedy is a contemporary romance novel that follows college hockey players navigating love, ambition, and personal growth.
Recommended“And the final book is a book by Tinuan which has just come out called the score.”
Where to get it
