Good Reads

We asked our authors to recommend a book they had read over the past couple of years. Here is what they said:

The Good Life Method

Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning

by Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko

This book has been very formative for me, especially because I spent so much time writing it! All joking aside, this book is an accessible entry point to those thinking about questions of virtue and purpose, along with how our answers to these questions inform our everyday lives. —Meghan Sullivan

After Virtue

by ALASDAIR MACINTYRE

It is the best account I know of of what is missing from the liberal individualism that dominates the university. —Barry Schwartz

Counting Descent

by CLINT SMITH

Written by Atlantic staff writer and bestselling author of the 2021 How the Word is Passed, Smith’s first book is a powerful and poignant poetry collection exuding both sociological and moral imagination. It left me feeling hopeful. —Suzanne Shanahan

Gold Diggers

A Novel

by Sanjena Sathian

Gold Diggers situates the South Asian immigrant experience into the larger story of the American Dream. At a time when many argue that a diverse society cannot identify with older canonical works, Sathian instead grounds her story in America’s literary heritage. She reminds us that we can tell new stories that draw on the old ones rather than reject them. —Johann N. Neem

The New Tsar

The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin

by STEVEN LEE MEYERS

Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine has shocked the world, destabilized markets, and threatened famine and energy crises. Vladimir Putin is the man behind the war in Ukraine. This book offers an informed analysis of Putin’s life, his thought, and his political modus operandi. It’s invaluable for increasing our understanding of this puzzling and enigmatic man, and the trouble he is causing in the world today. —Nancy E. Snow