A running list of what I'm reading and recommending — presidential history, music-world memoirs, media and politics, and a couple of my own. No algorithm, just books I've actually finished and would hand to a friend.
A close, month-by-month account of Kennedy in the final stretch of his presidency — a man visibly changing in real time.
A House Select Committee investigator's own account of chasing the Kennedy assassination's loose threads — widely considered one of the sharpest books on the case.
The three versions of Kennedy the country got at once — the statesman, the family man, and the man keeping his own secrets.
Jack and Jackie's last year together, told as intimately as any Kennedy book gets.
Two presidents from opposite parties whose pre-presidential lives shaped legacies that still resonate today.
The untold story of Reagan's General Electric years, and how they forged his conversion to conservatism.
Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon in the tense 1960-61 transition — a hinge moment in American political history.
An insider's account of the diplomacy that brought the Cold War to a close.
Sinatra's valet through the Rat Pack years — the closest thing to a fly-on-the-wall account of that era that exists.
Sinatra's longtime road manager and confidant on the man's final decades, on and off stage.
The band's longtime roadie on life on tour with Freddie Mercury and company — candid and very funny.
The drummer who was, by most accounts, Johnny Carson's closest friend — a life spent entirely on the road.
The life and films of Richard Donner — Superman, Lethal Weapon, The Goonies — told through the director's own restless energy.
A critical look at one of classic Hollywood's toughest, most versatile leading ladies.
The Tonight Show's longtime producer on decades spent behind the scenes of late-night television.
A wry, candid memoir from one of the stage and screen's most enduring actors.
A full-scale biography of Theodore Roosevelt that doesn't flinch from his contradictions — reformer, imperialist, romantic.
Twenty-three specific proposals for reforming American government — a genuinely useful thought experiment, not just a complaint.
Still one of the essential American essays on race, faith, and the country's unfinished business — as sharp now as in 1963.
A sharp look at why liberals reach for satire and conservatives reach for outrage-driven commentary — directly relevant to my own work on political comedy.
Case studies on how campaigns actually use new media — useful reading for anyone in political communication.
A survivor's account of the 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of the MOVE house, and his family's decades-long fight for justice.
From an impoverished Caribbean childhood to the Treasury Department and a fatal duel.
How Fiorello La Guardia became — and remains — the gold standard for American mayors.
An ordinary man's extraordinary presidency, from the end of one war to the dawn of the next.
The lesser-known second act of the friendship at the heart of The King's Speech, carried through World War II.
An investigative account of Kentucky's deadliest fire, and the questions that still surround it.
WWII's “organizer of victory,” and the diplomat and statesman he became afterward.
FDR's decade-long comeback from polio to the presidency.
The Sharon Tate family's own account of stardom, the Manson murders, and a decades-long crusade for justice.
The history and legacy of New York City's deadliest industrial disaster.
A celebration of roadside Americana — the neon, diners and motels that defined the postwar highway.
The Colorado River Compact and the politics of water in the American West — the definitive account.
The 1964 murder that gave social psychology the term "bystander effect" — and the reporting that shaped how the story got told.
The definitive biography of the Steelers' four-time Super Bowl-winning coach — as much about quiet discipline as football.
The airline industry's chaotic deregulation era, told through the executives who fought for control of it.
American Airlines' inside story of bankruptcy, merger, and survival — a sharp companion to Hard Landing.
Hilton's own account of building a hotel chain from one small Texas property into a global empire.
How Continental's CEO turned a near-bankrupt airline into an industry favorite.
The Pittsburgh Steelers founder whose influence on pro football went well beyond his own franchise.
A look back at a Hall of Fame career, and the outspoken voice that followed it.
The longtime Padres broadcaster's collection of the team's best stories, straight from the dugout.
The broadcast journalist's own memoir of survival and forgiveness — the same John Johnson behind the documentary I directed.
The creator of Eyewitness News on inventing a format that changed local television for good.
How one man built CBS from a small radio outfit into a broadcasting empire.
The rivalry between RCA's David Sarnoff and FM radio's inventor that shaped the modern communications age.
A definitive life of one of American letters' sharpest and most contrarian voices.
The man who built ABC Sports and ABC News into ratings powerhouses, on a half-century at the top of the industry.
Mulholland's own granddaughter on the engineer who built the aqueduct that made modern Los Angeles possible — and the water wars that came with it.
The construction of Hoover Dam and the taming of the Colorado River — one of the great engineering stories of the twentieth century.
A photographic history of two of the greatest ocean liners ever built.
The Skunk Works legend behind the P-38, U-2 and SR-71, in his own words.
The two Detroit brothers who built an auto empire and left an outsized civic legacy.
The power brokers — from railroad men to a water engineer — who built Los Angeles out of nothing.
California's greatest civil engineering tragedy, told in full.
Building the New York subway, one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century.
How Philadelphia retail trailblazer John Wanamaker fused evangelical faith with the invention of the modern department store.
The theologians of “Old Princeton” and the intellectual tradition they built.
The autobiography of the Catholic media forerunner who brought theology to prime-time television.
The forebears and heirs of the Dutch theologian-statesman who shaped modern neo-Calvinism.
A landmark, clear-eyed defense of democracy against both naive idealism and cynicism.
A 1932 touchstone on the gap between individual ethics and group behavior — still shapes how I think about institutions.
The origins and evolution of the Reformed tradition, from the Reformation to the present.
How imperial politics, not just theology, shaped which texts became the New Testament canon.
My comparative study of how Catholic priests navigate political life on both sides of the Atlantic.
On the local government bodies tasked with defusing racial tension, and what actually determines whether they work.
What two decades in local newsrooms actually taught me about covering politics.
How religious cues, values and identity-driven appeals shape candidate selection, trust and public opinion.
An edited volume on what actually shaped the capacity for reform across the Arab Spring's aftermath.
From Islamophobia's cross-national strength to what qualifies as an “evangelical” identity — an edited volume on how religious communication shapes politics.
Politics Tonight
Johnny Carson and American Politics · forthcoming, LSU Press
A reassessment of Johnny Carson's political comedy — currently in revision. More soon.
What happens when scholars trade the seminar room for cable news — and the trade-off between punditry and analysis.
Hosting, original content, or research done properly — let's talk.
