Person
Every book Jon Lovett recommended on podcasts
Jon Lovett’s most recommended books
- Rise and kill first by Ronen Bergman
- When We're in Charge by Amanda Litman
- Why Nothing Works by Marc J. Dunkelman
- 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Forward by Andrew Yang
- The Trump Indictments by Melissa Murray
- The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
- Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis
- The Day After by Brian Tyler Cohen
- The Land and Its Peoples by David Sedaris
Jon Lovett is a political commentator, podcast host, and former speechwriter. He is best known as one of the co-hosts of the political podcast Pod Save America and as a former writer for President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Throughout his appearances on Pod Save America, Lovett frequently highlighted and recommended various non-fiction and political books to his listeners at the conclusion of his interviews. He recommended Brian Tyler Cohen's book The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World as a release coming out on the day of the show. He plugged David Sedaris's latest collection of essays, The Land and Its People, and praised Marc J. Dunkelman's book Why Nothing Works, Who Killed Progress and How to Bring It Back, telling listeners he genuinely enjoyed it. Additionally, Lovett strongly recommended Andrew Ross Sorkin's 1929 as fascinating and relevant to the current moment. He promoted Amanda Litman's When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership, describing it as a manual for leadership on one's own terms and explaining its purpose as a practical guide for young leaders. Lovett also mentioned The Trump Indictments, featuring historic charging documents with commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann, and plugged Andrew Yang's book Forward during the announcements and closing segments of his podcast episodes.
Books recommended by Jon Lovett
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Rise and kill first
Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman is an exhaustive investigative history detailing the targeted assassinations and covert operations carried out by Israel's intelligence services.
Discussed“I was talking about how I was reading them book ryzen kill first about about the about the um uh the early days of Israel and the Massad days too”
Where to get it
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When We're in Charge
When We're in Charge by Amanda Litman is a practical leadership manual designed for the next generation of changemakers.
Recommended“Our friend Amanda Litman's great new book, When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership, is out now from Crooked Media Reads. Uh, the book is a manual for leadership on Your Own Terms. No fluff, no gatekeeping, no losing yourself in the process, just real tools, honest lessons, and the kind of clarity that younger leaders actually”
Where to get it
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Why Nothing Works
Why Nothing Works by Marc J.
Discussed“I spoke to Mark Dunkelman. He wrote a book called Why Nothing Works.”
Where to get it
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1929
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin is a comprehensive historical account examining the catastrophic stock market crash and the profound ways it shattered the American nation.
Discussed“So uh the book is 1929 inside the greatest crash in history and how it shattered a nation.”
Where to get it
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Forward
Forward by Andrew Yang is part memoir and part campaign trail exposé that examines the state of modern American politics and media dysfunction.
Discussed“and i talked about this in the book which which you clearly have read through”
Where to get it
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The Trump Indictments
The Trump Indictments by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann is a legal commentary and collection of historic charging documents detailing the various criminal cases involving Donald Trump.
Discussed“uh with these charging documents you have a new book the Trump indictments the historic charging documents with commentary”
Where to get it
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The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis's The Fifth Risk is a non-fiction account examining the vital, often unseen roles and responsibilities carried out by the federal government and civil service agencies.
Discussed“And and I and I think that comes back to like kind of a a problem from both directions which is you catalog in this is in the premonition. in in the fifth risk and and and and and you and your fellow writers in in this book”
Where to get it
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Who Is Government?
Discussed“Michael's most recent book, Who is Government? Showcases the thankless, unglamorous work of doctors and engineers and civil servants inside the government at a time when the government is under attack.”
Where to get it
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The Day After
The Day After by Brian Tyler Cohen is a political commentary book that explores governance and the exercise of power in a changing political landscape.
Recommended“The book is The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World. It is out today.”
Where to get it
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The Land and Its Peoples
The Land and Its Peoples is a contemporary collection of essays by renowned American writer David Sedaris.
Recommended“David Sedaris, thank you so much for being here. Everybody, latest collection of essays, David Sedaris, The Land and Its People.”
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“didn't realize there's a book called the spy and the traitor by Ben MacIntyre it's about it's an incredible Cold War spy story about this”
Where to get it
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A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss and Marlon Bundo is a satirical picture book that follows a male rabbit falling in love despite protests.
Discussed“two boy rabbits fall in love despite protests and plan to go on a bunny moon after getting married is that the bible i'm gonna say that's uh mouse yep it's from uh jill twisted a day in the life of marlon bundo and we must keep it from the children”
Where to get it
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Confidence Man
Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman is a biography of Donald Trump that examines his career as a real estate developer in New York and his subsequent political trajectory.
Discussed“Maggie Haberman that's a new Trump book coming out confidence man that's another name we can talk about how dare Maggie report what she hears she stopped doing that she previewed the book in the Atlantic today by recounting a conversation she had with Trump about January 6th”
Where to get it
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Flash Boys
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis is an incredible nonfiction narrative examining high-frequency trading, market reform, and the daring efforts of Wall Street rebels to make financial markets work better.
Discussed“and what whether it's Flash Boys or Going Infinite leads you to wonder about what these companies are doing.”
Where to get it
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Going Infinite
Going Infinite by Michael Lewis is a non-fiction book that explores the meteoric rise and subsequent collapse of cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried and his company, FTX.
Discussed“and what whether it's Flash Boys or Going Infinite leads you to wonder about what these companies are doing.”
Where to get it
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Liar's Poker
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis and Blanca Ribera de Madariaga is a semi-autobiographical exposé detailing the author's chaotic experiences as a bond salesman on Wall Street during the reckless financial boom of the 1980s.
Discussed“And I was think about how much the ability to report on powerful figures has changed since you wrote say Liars Poker, right?”
Where to get it
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a controversial historical novel that tells the tragic story of the Holocaust through the naive perspective of a young German boy living near a concentration camp.
Discussed“so instead of mouse kids read john boyne's the boy in the striped pajamas a safer version from the point of view of a german boy rather than a jewish boy who sees the horror first hand because inevitably if you remove something that teaches history in a way that's difficult you're left with something that is uh uh less”
Where to get it
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The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" imagines a totalitarian society where individual liberties are stripped away and women's bodies are heavily controlled.
Discussed“a woman is forced to become a handmaiden to bear children for her mistress's husband oh definitely the bible oh is that the bible yes handmaid's still you're both right yeah that's right”
Where to get it
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The Magic Fish
Discussed“john a young vietnamese boy who loves fairy tales uses one to tell his immigrant parents that he's gay not the bible it's not the bible it's from the magic fish strongly in and i don't know how to say something that's from the magic fish uh not the bible”
Where to get it
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The Ministry for the Future
The Ministry for the Future is a speculative fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson that explores the challenges and societal impacts of near-future climate change.
Discussed“and then I'm reading the ministry for the future by Kim Stanley Robinson I love Kim Stanley Robinson uh I've I've just wrote a book by him I think it's called Aurora”
Where to get it
The other 1 book Jon Lovett recommended or discussed, ranked
- The Premonition by Michael Lewis
Books Jon Lovett wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (34: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“Joining us now, he's progressive host and author of the new book The Day After, How to wield power in a post-Trump world, which is out today, YouTube's best boy, Ryan Tyler Cohen, welcome to the show.”
“Life of Pi. Anyway, we'll come back to this.”
“I just wrapped a great conversation with the writer David Sedaris who's out with a new collection of essays called The Land and Its People.”
“Is that someone involved in of Emily in Paris. I don't I've actually never I'll be honest, I've never seen Emily in Paris. And I just thought it'd be I just couldn't think of a show I thought what I I'll tell you to be honest, if you want to get behind the scenes, Mhm. I thought Me too. I”
“In In the game of Risk, Greenland is a key point to access Europe. If you can hold Greenland, you can put a lot of your troops into Greenland so that even under withering assault from the European continent they'd have to roll six after six after six to be able to reduce the number of of troops you have”
“He also has a new book that's actually really great uh called 1929 about the stock market crash and great depression and a lot of really fascinating and relevant stories from that era.”
“Talk about hard choices by Hillary Clinton.”
“Um we got a new book from Crooked Media Reads. Our friend Amanda Litman has written When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership. Uh it drops next week, May 13th.”
“It's called WinW We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership by our pal Amanda Litman. She's been on the pod many times. Uh it's out May 13th. Amanda's co-founder of Run for Something.”
“One aspect of trust in a society is journalism. And I was think about how much the ability to report on powerful figures has changed since you wrote say Liars Poker, right?”
“And what happens is, you know, it's the equivalent of what is that Timothy Snyder line about uh the guy who wrote on tyranny, anticipatory obedience.”
“and what whether it's Flash Boys or Going Infinite uh leads you to wonder about what these companies are doing.”
“and what whether it's Flash Boys or Going Infinite uh leads you to wonder about what these companies are doing.”
“you know what I don't love it but better than that Tom Ford book everybody has random boring architecture”
“we are officially less than three weeks away from the publication of our book democracy or else how to save America in 10 easy steps”
“and if you're not in New York or Boston you can still pre-order your copy of democracy or else wherever you get your books”
“and then you have some sort of like there's some other pieces of this bill that are bad politics Twilight if you vote against it Twilight yeah Twilight I get it now Cullen Brothers I don't know which cull name another famous vampire”
“how to save America how a democracy or else how to save America in 10 easy steps”
“do you guys know that we talked about what desantis's book that's coming out I think in February is called the oh the courage to the courage to be female”
“that's because the courage to be free rollout tour has yet to begin make sure you pre-order”
“even like The Talented Mr Ripley stuff I'm like Yeah The Talented kind of yeah”
“well I'm I'm still slowly making my way through the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan after I read the candy house by Jennifer Egan over the Fourth of July six months ago and I I went through the candy house in like three days on vacation”
“well I'm I'm still slowly making my way through the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan after I read the candy house by Jennifer Egan over the Fourth of July six months ago and I I went through the candy house in like three days on vacation and then I've been back to reality and getting I got I got stuck”
“I got I got stuck in a licare I was in The Honorable Schoolboy for months and months and months is quite long”
“I love Kim Stanley Robinson uh I've I've just wrote a book by him I think it's called Aurora and I was and I read a um uh uh project Hail Mary a while ago and it got me on a science fiction kick”
“and I read a um uh uh project Hail Mary a while ago and it got me on a science fiction kick so I'm reading this”
“What would happen if a radish was brought to life by a genie that had just read Mein Kampf?”
“I really like this politics that appears to be based on the book The Wind in the Willows.”
“i think you're like one step away from having a copy of beloved”
“did you guys know that he wrote a book called dreams from our founding fathers”