Person
Tommy Vietor's book recommendations
Tommy Vietor’s most recommended books
- Original Sin by Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson
- Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance
- Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein
- Mobility by Lydia Kiesling
- Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman
- Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
- On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson
- Prequel by Rachel Maddow
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Win Every Argument by Mehdi Hasan
Thomas Frederick Vietor IV is an American political commentator and podcaster. He was a spokesman for President Barack Obama and the United States National Security Council from 2011 to 2012. He is a co-founder of Crooked Media with fellow former Obama staffers Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, and co-hosts the podcasts Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. Throughout his work on Pod Save America, Vietor frequently highlights and recommends various books by guests and fellow authors. Towards the end of interviews and episodes, he has recommended Colin Kaepernick's The Perilous Fight, reminded listeners about Jessica Tarlov's I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, and promoted Brian Tyler Cohen's book The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World. He also introduced guest Roger Bennett and promoted his New York Times bestseller We Are the World Cup, urged listeners to pick up Jake Tapper's Race Against Terror, and recommended Seth Harp's The Fort Bragg Cartel as a unique window into the Delta Force community. Finally, Vietor mentioned finishing and praising Erik Larson's historical book Dead Wake.
Books recommended by Tommy Vietor
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Original Sin
Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson is a political nonfiction book that investigates the final years of Joe Biden's presidency, his cognitive decline, and the internal party discussions surrounding his reelection campaign.
Discussed“Your last book original sin which you wrote with Alex Thompson from Axios made a lot of waves.”
Where to get it
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Hillbilly Elegy
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D.
Discussed“he had a bestselling book but not that many people read it you know you know who knows about that Elite podcasters yes exactly he had a had a movie was made of his of his book almost no one watched it”
Where to get it
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Why We're Polarized
Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein is a deep dive into the structural forces driving American political division.
Discussed“it is just like basically an escrow client podcast but in ezra client's book why we're polarized he talks about how the remember those buzzfeed quizzes”
Where to get it
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Mobility
Mobility by Lydia Kiesling is a coming-of-age novel following a corporate worker navigating a world shaped by geopolitical shifts and corporate greed.
Recommended“everyone go buy Mobility uh crooked.com Mobility or wherever books are sold”
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.
Recommended“joining us now to talk about her new book confidence man the Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist”
Where to get it
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Fear: Trump in the White House
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward is a bestselling investigative work examining the inner workings, chaos, and decision-making processes of the Donald Trump administration.
Discussed“this hotbed comes as Trump is losing his mind over Bob Woodward's new book it's called fear Dan you've dealt with Woodward on to books”
Where to get it
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On the Other Side of Freedom
On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson is a compelling book exploring civil rights, activism, and the persistent pursuit of hope in modern America.
Recommended“a reminder that DeRay McKesson the host of POD save the people has a new book out that you can get right now at der a calm it's called the other side of freedom”
Where to get it
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Prequel
Prequel by Rachel Maddow is a historical nonfiction work that uncovers the fascist movements, right-wing extremist plots, and anti-Semitic propaganda operating within the United States during the era of World War II.
Recommended“if you're listening you haven't already you should go listen to uh Rachel's podcast Ultra or read uh prequel both of which tell the story of a fascist movement in 1930s America”
Where to get it
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Say Nothing
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is a true story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland that investigates political violence, justice, and the heavy personal cost of what individuals kill and die for.
Recommended“I'm very excited to watch uh say nothing Patrick Ren Keefe's book that's been adapted I think it's on Hulu right now”
Where to get it
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Win Every Argument
Win Every Argument by Mehdi Hasan is a comprehensive guide to the art of debating, persuading, and public speaking, written by a prominent journalist and broadcaster.
Recommended“and everyone should buy your book win every argument because then you can just you know beat everyone in your family over holidays or whatever debate you need to do”
Where to get it
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A Promised Land
A Promised Land by Barack Obama is the presidential memoir by the 44th President of the United States, offering a detailed and reflective look into his early life, political rise, and the first term of his historic presidency.
Discussed“we're talking to a uh president former president obama later today uh about his memoir but specifically ben and i are going to focus on all the uh foreign policy parts of the book his record”
Where to get it
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The World as It Is
The World as It Is is a political memoir by Ben Rhodes that explores the author's experiences inside the Obama administration and serves as the central theme for deep dives into foreign policy and modern governance.
Discussed“Ben Rhodess wrote in his book that you once jokingly referred to him as Hamas. Uh people on the left have taken this anecdote and interpreted as showing that you didn't care about Palestinian rights.”
Where to get it
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107 Days
107 Days is a political memoir by Kamala Harris that offers an insider account of her high-profile campaign and political career.
Discussed“He also has an in-depth accounting of Kla Harris's VP vetting process. Which Shapiro apparently found to be quite contentious. He writes that the vetting team asked him at one point if he had ever quote communicated with an undercover agent of Israel or if he ever was himself an agent for Israel. Um, that news comes after Harris wrote”
Where to get it
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Peril
Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa is a political nonfiction book examining the final days of the Donald Trump administration and the early months of the Biden presidency.
Discussed“one important source for the recent details about the trump coup attempt is bob woodward's most recent book and that got me thinking about how every bob woodward book has three core elements one juicy insider details two sort of an omniscient voice that makes it impossible to verify said details three a histrionic title you bet the most reason”
Where to get it
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The Buried Giant
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro is a fantastical novel set in a post-Arthurian British landscape where a mysterious fog causes the inhabitants to lose their memories.
Discussed“there's this book by ishiguru uh called the berry giant and it's about a fog that falls over england that makes them all lose their memories”
Where to get it
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What is Project 2025?
What is Project 2025? is a comprehensive conservative policy blueprint and transition plan for a future presidential administration, compiled by the Heritage Foundation and various allied organizations.
Discussed“and then you know in Project 2025 they specifically cite the first round that they of of undocumented immigrants they want to go after are people who committed felonies crimes of violence”
Where to get it
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Beloved
Beloved by Toni Morrison is a powerful historical fiction novel that tells the harrowing story of Sethe, an escaped enslaved woman haunted by the trauma of her past and the literal ghost of her daughter.
Discussed“specifically yonkin is running an ad attacking mcauliffe for controversy over tony morrison's classic book beloved to help us sort through all this nonsense and tell us what's actually happening on the ground”
Where to get it
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Papa's Coming Home
Papa's Coming Home by Chasten Buttigieg is a children's book that explores family life, adoption, and themes of representation.
Recommended“We So Chaston's got a book coming out. It's called uh Papa's Coming Home. It's a children's book. We talked about uh why he wanted to write that, LGBT representation in books, what it's like to be the focus of uh disgusting constant right-wing attacks on his family, book bands, their adoption story, being a dad, Pete's Beard.”
Where to get it
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An Ugly Truth
An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang is an investigative non-fiction book that examines Facebook's internal battles for dominance, corporate culture, and the real-world consequences of its algorithms.
Discussed“she's a new york times tech reporter and one of the authors of an ugly truth inside facebook's battle for domination shira franco thank you so much for being here”
Where to get it
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The Big Break
The Big Break by Ben Terris is a riveting account of Washington, D.C.
Discussed“Then later the Washington Post's Ben Terris talks to Tommy about his new book The Big Break, which is a riveting account of DC in the post-Trump era.”
Where to get it
The other 99 books Tommy Vietor recommended or discussed, ranked
- You Can't Be Serious by Kal Penn
- All the Demons Are Here by Jake Tapper
- Thank You for Your Servitude by Mark Leibovich
- The Gates of Gaza by Amir Tibon
- We Are the World (Cup) by Roger Bennett
- Battling the Big Lie by Dan Pfeiffer
- Persist by Elizabeth Warren
- Race Against Terror by Jake Tapper
- The Day After by Brian Tyler Cohen
- The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
- Why We Did It by Tim Miller
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Betrayal by Jonathan Karl
- Every Day Is Extra by John Kerry
- What Would Reagan Do? by Chris Christie
- An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Bag Man by Rachel Maddow, Michael Yarvitz
- Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Dead Wake by Erik Larson
- Ghost Wars 12-copy floor by Steve Coll
- Grace by Cody Keenan
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
- How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
- I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends by Jessica Tarlov
- I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg
- King Leopold's ghost by Adam Hochschild
- Less by Andrew Sean Greer
- Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
- Nothing is true and everything is possible by Peter Pomerantsev
- Prisoner by Jason Rezaian
- Renegade by Adam Kinzinger, Michael D'Antonio
- Say More by Jen Psaki
- Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen
- Small Acts of Courage by Ali Velshi
- The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
- The Fighters by C. J. Chivers
- The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp
- The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper
- The Last Campaign by Thurston Clarke
- The Perilous Fight by Colin Kaepernick
- The Trump Indictments by Melissa Murray
- The Wilderness by Liam OʼFlaherty
- This Town by Mark Leibovich
- Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Abundance by Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Adios, America by Ann Coulter
- Adventures in the screen trade by William Goldman
- America's Deadliest Election by Dana Bash
- Big Game by Mark Leibovich
- Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda by Sheree Renée Thomas
- Breaking History by Jared Kushner
- Earth in the Balance by Al Gore
- Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
- Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin
- Hidden Sins by Stacey Abrams
- I'll Take Your Questions Now by Stephanie Grisham
- Impeachment by Cass R. Sunstein
- Johnson At 10 by Anthony Seldon
- Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
- LIFE Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by LIFE Magazine
- Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
- Midnight in Washington by Adam Schiff
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- No Going Back by Kristi Noem
- Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik
- Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney
- Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant
- Pulp Fiction by Dana Polan
- Rage by Bob Woodward
- Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
- Regime Change by Maggie Haberman
- Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
- The artbook of John Bolton. Ediz. inglese e italiana by John Bolton
- The Atlantic by Editors of The Atlantic
- The Emergency by George Packer
- The Great Successor by Anna Fifield
- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Mueller Report by Robert S. Mueller
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Room Where It Happened by John R. Bolton
- The Turner Diaries by WILLIAM LUTHER. PIERCE
- The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
- The World of Ice & Fire by George R. R. Martin
- Think Again by Adam Grant
- Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump
- Undaunted by John O. Brennan
- Walking with the wind by John Lewis
- War on Peace by Ronan Farrow
- We've Got to Try by Beto O'Rourke
- What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
- While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams
- Why Nothing Works by Marvin Harris
Questions about Tommy Vietor’s book recommendations
What book does Tommy Vietor recommend most?
Original Sin by Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson. Tommy Vietor recommended it in 4 episodes.
How many books has Tommy Vietor recommended on podcasts?
We have found 119 books Tommy Vietor recommended or discussed, across 111 episodes of 1 podcast. Ad reads and passing mentions are not counted.
What books are on Tommy Vietor's reading list?
The books Tommy Vietor has recommended most on podcasts are Original Sin by Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance, Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein, Mobility by Lydia Kiesling and Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman. The full book list below has all 119.
What did Tommy Vietor recommend on Pod Save America?
Original Sin, Hillbilly Elegy and Why We're Polarized, among 119 books in all.
What is the latest book Tommy Vietor recommended?
The Perilous Fight, recommended on Pod Save America (2026-09-25).
People who recommend the same books
Books Tommy Vietor wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (180: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“my guest today played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers he's the co-founder of the Know Your Rights campaign and the author of the new book The Perilous Fight Colin Kaepernick”
“Uh, and now she's the author of a new book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends.”
“I read Devil in the White City recently. I'm on an Eric Larson kick which is about the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 I believe.”
“And Pete Hgsth is leading the troops in prayer using a fake Bible quote from Pulp Fiction.”
“Yeah, if you bomb the Eiffel Tower, it would screw up production of the next season of Emily in Paris.”
“Remember the show Growing Pains? I do. And remember they had a character named Boner? Oh, really? Was it the friend? Richard Boner Stabone. Oh, was that the Was that his buddy? I don't know. I just it came to me. Remember Growing Their name is the Seavers.”
“up there and you read the script to like Battlefield Earth or something, like I don't think it's a good win.”
“Crooked Media's newest book, Hated by All the Right People, Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind, is releasing on January 27th. It's by one of our favorite political journalists, New York Times magazine writer Jason Zangerly, and it is a fascinating, really entertaining look at Tucker's political evolution and how his rise traces the rise of the”
“The the 2006 Obama kind of book tour vibe check campaign swing that I think ultimately got some of us were winning the house back. Yes, you were very busy. You were very busy. Some of us didn't have time to read that book.”
“and his new book, Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al-Qaeda Killer in the Dawn of the Forever War.”
“The newest book from Crooked Media Reads is coming out January 27th, 2026. It's called Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind by one of our favorite political journalists, New York Times magazine writer Jason Zangangerly.”
“He just finished War in Peace the last time I was over. Did he? He said he read it in a day.”
“Or they are doing what is then described as identity politics.”
“affordability might as well be like homearian you it could be like a you know a PhD course on on the Iliad. Like he doesn't know anything about that. It's just complete literally Greek to him.”
“It's very Great Gatsby coded to be honest. It's like the funny thing about this is like, "Hey guys, what do you think The Great Gatsby was about.”
“You guys uh see any of the excerpts from John Carl's new book? I have a copy of it in my house, but I'm not ready yet.”
“Also he called his book the room where it happened after Hamilton.”
“Did he ever read to kill a mockingbird?”
“And we know he has an enemies list thanks to Cash Patel putting it in his book. What was it called? The government gangsters or something like that.”
“That James wrote a book called The Wisdoms of Crowds. It was a hit in case you didn't keep up.”
“One of the other experts is Dr. Michael Auststerhomem, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and the author of the upcoming book, The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics.”
“Like in a 2017 interview with Michael Wolf, Jeffrey Epste claimed that at one point he was Trump's closest friend.”
“Uh later in the episode, you will hear the interview Love It and I did at an event with Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson earlier this week about their book, Original Sin.”
“Yeah, he's thinking about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which uh I think actually becomes more relevant every day as a film. It's a very good movie actually.”
“Joining us now, professor of law at the University of Michigan, co-host of Strict Scrutiny, Zingermanman's Deli Aficionado, and the author of the upcoming book Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. Available for pre-order now, out May 13th.”
“I am going to read the Declaration of Independence of my children online every day, right?”
“James has written for uh about economics for Outlets like Fast Company the Atlantic the New Yorker and is the author of the book The Wisdom of crowds”
“James has written for about economics for Outlets like Fast Company the Atlantic the New Yorker and is the author of the book The Wisdom of crowds”
“We'll be back in the feed on Sunday with a special interview with Michael Lewis the culture changing author of Moneyball The Big Short and countless other great books about his new book on the people that make the government work”
“We'll be back in the feed on Sunday with a special interview with Michael Lewis the culture changing author of Moneyball The Big Short and countless other great books about his new book on the people that make the government work”