Election news can be both overwhelming and insufficient—a veritable deluge of reports and opinion pieces, too focused on the issues of the hour, obscuring our understanding of the larger picture and deeper repercussions.
True understanding takes breadth and depth. Often, it takes a book.
For this election season, Booklist editors have compiled two fiction and nonfiction reading lists, for both adult and young adult readers. Among the nonfiction reads are titles offering historical context, a portrait of exemplary leadership, and inquiries into the workings of American democracy and threats that imperil it. On the fiction lists, the selected novels address feelings and experiences elections can engender, including humor and even love, along with some audacious speculative thinking.
These books can offer the opportunity to explore the big questions that underlie elections: Who are we? Who do we want to be? What do we want the future to look like?
Adult Books – Nonfiction
Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR’s War of Words with Charles Lindbergh—and the Battle to Save Democracy (Pegasus, 2024)
By Paul M. Sparrow
This account of the American debate, between 1939 and 1941, about whether to enter World War II chronicles President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fight to assist US allies versus aviator-turned-politician Charles Lindbergh’s call for isolationism.
Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think (Harper, 2020)
By David Litt
Litt’s comprehensive study of what a democracy consists of casts a welcome beam of light on a subject that has become increasingly murky. From voter disenfranchisement to the Electoral College, Litt analyzes what’s right and wrong with our democracy.
The Handy Civics Answer Book: How to Be a Good Citizen (Visible Ink, 2024)
By David L. Hudson
Written in simple, clear language, this desktop handbook answers everyday questions about the workings of Congress, amending the Constitution, separation of powers, voting, immigration, the Bill of Rights, the path to citizenship, and much more.
Lies that Kill: A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation (Brookings, 2024)
By Elaine Kamarck and Darrell M. West
Kamarck and West closely examine the ways public discourse in America has become increasingly contaminated by aggressive disinformation campaigns that spread online with lightning-fast efficiency, poisoning discourse on election integrity, public health, race relations, and other vital issues.
Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference
(Knopf, 2020)
By David Shimer
Russian state intelligence services used a variety of digital means to sow discord during 2016 US presidential election because Russian president Vladimir Putin wished to back a friendly candidate and weaken democracy. But, as Shimer points out through extensive research and interviews with intelligence officers, the 2016 election was not the first campaign of its kind; it was the culmination of a century of Russian meddling in free elections and attempts to undermine the sovereignty of free countries.
She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics (University of Pennsylvania, 2024)
By Mary Ellen Curtin
Curtin gives the late US Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) her due as a brilliant thinker, activist for racial justice and women’s equality, spellbinding orator, and effective coalition builder. The first Black woman elected to the Texas senate and to serve Texas in the Capitol, Jordan also served in Congress from 1972 to 1978. This is a nuanced portrait of a remarkable woman, often vilified for her race, sex, body size, looks, personality, economic background, disability, sexuality, and willingness to compromise.
The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It (Atlantic Monthly, 2022)
By Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague
Veteran journalists Bowden and Teague investigate the 2020 election debacle. Visiting the six swing states at the heart of the election controversy, they interview valiant overseers of the voting process and “Stop the Steal” Trump supporters fomenting dissent. It’s an illuminating, page-turning account that exposes the legal, political, and physical perils for citizens trusted with upholding democracy’s foundations.
Adult Books – Fiction
Campaign Widows (Graydon, 2018)
By Aimee Agresti
In this smart, funny blend of Washington insiderness and relationship fiction, the lives of five “campaign widows”—women and men whose significant others are temporarily lost to the 2016 campaign trail—intersect in Washington, D.C. There are no direct, real-life matches for the well-developed characters in journalist and young adult writer Agresti’s first book for adults, making for a breezy read.
On the Corner of Hope and Main (HarperCollins, 2020)
By Beverly Jenkins
It’s election time in Henry Adams, Kansas. Bernadine Brown is hoping that her ex-husband, Leo, will not run for mayor since he plans to swindle farmers to build a pipeline. Political shenanigans escalate, until the town’s teens call the adults out on their nonsense. In the town of Henry Adams, people are offered second chances and forgiveness, with a check on foolishness. Each page of Jenkins’s book offers insight into human nature, within a well-written adventure.
Red, White & Royal Blue (St. Martin’s/Griffin, 2019)
By Casey McQuiston
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz’s animosity toward the uptight Prince Henry, of England, may derail his mother’s presidential reelection campaign. Alex is forced to pretend to be the prince’s friend, until he becomes something more. Adapted into a film in 2023, this is a feel-good romance in which coming out is absent of self-loathing.
Rodham (Random House, 2020)
By Curtis Sittenfeld
Commandingly narrated by one Hillary Rodham, and laced with true-to-life figures and facts, Sittenfeld’s daring, trenchant, funny, and affecting novel pivots smartly away from reality to envision a provocative alternative life for Hillary. Before Rodham, Sittenfeld’s book American Wife (2008) reimagined First Lady Laura Bush’s life through a fictional character, Alice Blackwell.
Young Adult Books – Nonfiction
Grades 6–12
Civic Minded: What Everyone Should Know about the US Government (Lerner/Zest, 2024)
By Jeff Fleischer
Fleischer offers a concise, informative, and approachable breakdown of 45 topics related to the US government, including taxation, health insurance, and immigration. By providing solid, basic facts, it also keeps readers informed on the issues of the day.
Grades 7–12
Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote (Little, Brown, 2024)
By Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau
The complicated history of voting in the US is clearly explained, as Dyson and Favreau tidily showcase the gradual steps forward—and backward—in the struggle for equal voting rights, which is still pertinent today. These battles are place in historical context and the authors carefully note intersections of repressed groups. Along the way, readers also meet many potentially lesser-known but influential activists
You Call This Democracy? How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People (Clarion Books, 2020)
Written by Elizabeth Rusch, illustrated by Ellen Duda
A finalist for the Young Adult Library Services Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, Rusch articulates misconceptions about democracy with engaging examples, explanations, charts, graphs, and quotes, which altogether help readers better understand how to get involved in democratic processes.
Young Adult Books – Fiction
Grades 9–12
Yes No Maybe So (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, 2020)
By Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
Jaime and Maya clash as they canvass for the same candidate—he keeps forgetting she’s fasting for Ramadan; she’s dismissive of his enthusiasm—but gradually they bond over the feeling that they’re part of something bigger.
You Say It First (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, 2020)
By Katie Cotugno
Meg, who is on her way to Cornell, meets Colby. He’s adrift after his father’s death and looking for construction jobs, while she’s working to register voters. They don’t get off on the right foot but find a powerful connection as they learn more about each other’s perspective.
Grades 10–12
The Voting Booth (Disney/Hyperion, 2020)
By Brandy Colbert
Marva Sheridan, a firm believer in political activism, and Duke Crenshaw, less sure it makes a difference, bond at the polls when Duke is turned away and Marva is determined to make sure he can vote before the polls close.
