Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-01-06
Books mentioned on What Trump Wants in Venezuela | The Ezra Klein Show
Jonathan Blitzer recommended What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché, The Known World by Edward P. Jones, and The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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What You Have Heard Is True
What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché is a haunting and powerful memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing experiences in El Salvador at the onset of the Salvadoran civil war when she was just twenty-seven years old.
Recommended“Um my second recommendation is a memoir by Carolyn Forche called What You Have Heard Is True. Um when she was 27, she was living in El Salvador at the start of what became the Salvadorian civil war. And it's sort of a reflection on what that period was like for her. It's incredibly haunting and beautiful.”
Where to get it
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The Known World
The Known World by Edward P.
Recommended“Uh my first would be uh a novel called The Known World by Edward P. Jones uh about Auntie Billum Virginia. One of the most astonishing novels I've ever read. Uh one of my favorite American novels. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
Where to get it
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The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a gripping nonfiction narrative chronicling the real-life exploits of Oleg Gordievsky, a high-ranking KGB officer who operated as a double agent for British intelligence during the Cold War.
Recommended“Uh and my last recommendation would be The Spy and the Trader by Ben McIntyre from several years back uh about a Soviet uh double agent uh who was uh you know working for the KGB but became a double agent for uh British intelligence during the Cold War. Absolutely astonishing true story that reads like fiction.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
“He's also the author of the excellent book, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, [music] The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis.”