Person
Jeffrey Sachs's book recommendations
Key facts
- Jeffrey Sachs has recommended or discussed 8 books on podcasts, as of June 1, 2026.
- Jeffrey Sachs has talked about books on 5 podcasts, as of June 1, 2026.
- Those books came up in 9 episodes, as of June 1, 2026.
- The 3 books Jeffrey Sachs has mentioned in the most episodes, as of June 1, 2026: The Grand Chessboard, The Book Of Joshua and Gambling with Armageddon.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Jeffrey Sachs aired on June 1, 2026.
Updated
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Jeffrey Sachs appears on, in one place, not just one.
Jeffrey Sachs’s most mentioned books
- The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski
- The Book Of Joshua by Josh Talbert
- Gambling with Armageddon by Martin J. Sherwin
- Clean Break by Val McDermid
- Deadly Betrayal by Dennis Fritz
- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
- The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John J. Mearsheimer
Jeffrey Sachs is an American economist and public policy analyst. He is a professor at Columbia University, at which he was formerly director of The Earth Institute and currently director of the Center for Sustainable Development. On podcasts, Sachs recommended Martin J. Sherwin's book Gambling with Armageddon to readers wanting a detailed look at the Cuban Missile Crisis and nuclear proximity. He also discussed several other works, including Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto to illustrate how historical technological revolutions and worker misery led to political texts, and Val McDermid's Clean Break to explain Benjamin Netanyahu's historical Middle East strategy. Additionally, Sachs mentioned John J. Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics regarding inevitable conflict between rising powers, Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard to critique American geopolitical strategies, Dennis Fritz's Deadly Betrayal to support arguments about Pentagon war plans, and the Book of Joshua while addressing religious zealotry and territorial claims.
Books Jeffrey Sachs recommended or discussed
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The Grand Chessboard
Discussed“and like so many learned volumes, I must say his book, The Grand Chessboard, is very well written and fundamentally wrong.”
Where to get it
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The Book Of Joshua
Discussed“then there are religious zealots I would use even stronger terms who uh use uh the Book of Joshua which is uh 2,700 years ago that said well God gave us everything from uh from uh the river in Egypt meaning the Nile to the Euphrates”
Where to get it
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Gambling with Armageddon
Recommended“if people want to read about it in detail the most remarkable book about this is a book by the late historian Martin Sherwin called gambling with Armageddon which is a absolutely phenomenal work”
Where to get it
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Clean Break
Discussed“Netanyahu back in 1996 with American political adviserss actually came up with a a document called Clean Break. Clean break is a very strange but very clear statement of what has trapped the United States for nearly 30 years.”
Where to get it
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Deadly Betrayal
Discussed“a an Air Force commander named Dennis Fritz who wrote a very important book called Deadly Betrayal in 2024 telling the same story in essence”
Where to get it
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The Communist Manifesto
Discussed“All of that went away with mechanization. uh they ended up as degraded uh workers and it was exactly that uh what we call miserization becoming more miserable that led Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles to issue the communist manifesto uh in uh the 18 late 1840s.”
Where to get it
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The End of Poverty
Discussed“And so, when I wrote the book, The End of Poverty, in 2005, I used the metaphor of the ladder of development, and I said that it is often crucial to help the poorest of the poor get onto the ladder.”
Where to get it
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The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
Discussed“one of my dear friends with whom I somewhat disagree on some things and agree viferously on other things John Mirshimer the the great political scientist wrote a a famous book called uh the tragedy of great power politics.”
Where to get it
Books by Jeffrey Sachs
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Economies in transition
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The End of Poverty
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Common Wealth
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Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, Volume 1
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Macroeconomics in the global economy [Book]
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Macroeconomics in the global economy
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Economic convergence and economic policies
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Economic reform and the process of global integration
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Financial crises in emerging markets
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Understanding China's economic performance
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UN Millennium Development Library
Appearances
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Then there are religious zealots, I would use even stronger terms, who use the Book of Joshua, which is 2700 years ago, that said, well, God gave us everything from the river in Egypt, meaning the Nile to the Euphrates.”