2025 Power Rankings
5 Stars-I would recommend these to anyone.
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell
“Pamela’s strategic sex life is now recognized by scholars of diplomacy and war as “politically significant.”
Power. Pamela Harriman’s power was sex and intrigue, and Kingmaker tells Harriman’s global impact spanning from World War II through the Clinton administration.
I appreciated Sonia Purnell’s use of recently unveiled primary sources because this book reads like historical fiction. Harriman is larger than life. Pamela consistently attracted rich dudes throughout her life (3 marriages), and she convened and hosted audiences that gave her behind-the-scenes power and influence across England and the United States. I really enjoyed the second half of the book where Harriman reinvents herself and drives significant change in the Democratic Party in the United States. Through “PamPAC,” she fundraises (over $12M in the 1980s), bankrolls policy research, handpicks favorable and moderate candidates, and ultimately plays a meaningful role in Bill Clinton’s election as President.
“Pamela was handling information of huge global significance that could affect millions of lives. Her pillow talk was reaching the ears of leaders and influencing high-level policy on both sides of the Atlantic. Far from trying to stop Pamela’s affair with Averell, the Churchills contrived to thrust them together: the national emergency took precedence over all else, including the ruins of their son’s marriage.”
“Of the multitude of attractive Americans in town, she as the fabled Pamela Churchill could take her pick. There was strategic purpose in her selection—each one was a man with clout in the war effort and soon she had developed an astonishing collection of bedfellows.”
“Her detractors were wrong” that her charms were a “substitute for intellect and insight,” says Bob Shrum. “She was widely read and mostly self-educated.”Pamela read up on her donors as she had once studied lovers and they were unutterably flattered.”
Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History by Chris Whipple
If you didn’t like your presidential candidate options in the 2024 election, Uncharted is the book for you. I loved Whipple’s work in Gatekeepers about the White House Chiefs of Staff, and Uncharted is equally as good. The reviews of this book are all over the map because Chris Whipple takes aim at all three candidates and both political parties. Whipple was in the middle of research for a book about campaign managers and his publisher encouraged him to write a book on the 2024 election.
Whipple’s ability to get prominent individuals on record with critical opinions is incredible. He has strong critiques of both parties from retired campaign managers/chiefs of staff. He documents Biden’s decision to run despite overwhelming sentiment (outside of his advisors) that he was too old to run. Paul Manafort and the Kushner family provide wild access to the Trump campaign (2016, 2020, and 2024) and their attempts to manage Trump as a candidate. Susie Wiles (Trump’s campaign manager and Whipple’s subject for recent Vanity Fair article) is also an intriguing character, and I look forward to reading Whipple’s future book on campaign managers.
“The next day, Biden, who still felt ill, had an idea. If he looked perplexed when Trump talked, voters would understand that Trump was an idiot. Klain replied: “Sir, when you look perplexed, people just think you’re perplexed. And this is our problem in this race.”
“They just never had a grown-up in the room who could look Joe Biden in the eye and say, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’”
On Susan Wiles, “Although Trump didn’t drink, he had his own addictions—to money, power, and fame. “She is an expert in unstable, dysfunctional, famous men,” said Mac Stipanovich, a veteran Tallahassee GOP operative. “She knows when she can help, and she knows when not to try to help.”
4 Stars–Good books overall, really good if you find the topic interesting.
A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride to the Edge and Back by Kevin M. Hazzard
Dark. Heavy. Hilarious. A Thousand Naked Strangers made me lose sleep–a trainwreck I could not stop watching.
I stayed up too late reading and then thinking about this book. I love learning about the underbelly of different industries. Kevin Hazzard’s memoir tells the daily story of EMTs and paramedics in gory detail. Hazzard’s career is based at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s public hospital. The hospital serves an inner city population and regularly encounters crazy people and significant trauma events.
“Zone Four is known for being quiet—two-calls-a-shift quiet—and attracts the lazy and the burned out. The coolest zone by far is Five. It includes Fulton Industrial Boulevard, which is nothing but factories, truck stops, strip clubs, and cheap motels. The factories and warehouses provide plenty of trauma, and the truck drivers provide everything else imaginable.”
Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II by Arthur Herman
Freedom’s Forge is a badass cross section of World War II history, construction in the West, and American ingenuity.
Arthur Herman tells an underrated story of the “arsenal of democracy” including Bill Knudsen and the business leaders across the country who turned manufacturing and construction companies into war machines. America and the Allies prevailed in World War II because our businesses innovated, mobilized, and armed the Allies with more (and better) weapons and war machinery.
I appreciated the opening sections of the book which showed how far behind the United States had fallen following World War I. The top companies and private sector leaders were hesitant to support the Federal government because their companies were villainized during World War I. These companies also had to navigate the bureaucracy of the government and the inept and under-resourced military departments to arm and clothe troops for war.
I loved the sections profiling the entrepreneurs who jumped into the war effort and pivoted their businesses to make every piece of the planes, boats, jeeps, tanks, clothes, and ammunition needed to win the war.
“If the country was going to make itself seriously ready for war, neither the politicians nor the generals nor the admirals were willing to take the lead. American business and industry would have to figure it out on their own.”
The Art of Spending Money: Simple Choices for a Richer Life by Morgan Housel
Morgan Housel is one of my favorite authors (Psychology of Money, Same as Ever). I find his observations about wealth and human psychology to be grounding and helpful in considering my own approach to money/spending/life. The Art of Spending Money builds a case for deeply knowing the things you value (and the things you will regret doing/not doing) as well as the importance of well-maintained relationships with family/friends.
“The kind of lifestyle you choose to live almost doesn’t matter—what matters is that you actually choose it, rather than being addicted to the mere appeal of it.”
“Never make fun of someone for mispronouncing a word, because it means they learned it from reading. As a corollary: Never make fun of how someone spends their money, because they learned it from living.”
“All happiness in life is just the gap between expectations and circumstances. The person who has everything but wants even more feels poorer than the person who has little but wants nothing else.”
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital by Chris Myers Asch, George Derek Musgrove
Washington, D.C. is a flawed city, and it has been flawed since its founding. Built with slave labor on plantation land, D.C. symbolized a new nation with democratic ideals..while suppressing human rights for huge numbers of slaves. The District of Columbia is controlled by Congressional budgets without representation and a local government.
The strength of Chocolate City is the early history of Washington D.C.’s selection and construction. The book includes sections with more modern history including the growth of the City. A common theme is the displacement of black families to accommodate government growth and infrastructure.
“Washington was at once the capital of the world’s first republic in more than a millennium—and a city where slave labor was integral to economic life. It was a symbol of an aspiring democratic nation—and evidence of the racial limits of American democracy. It was a “citadel of liberty”—and a center of slavery and the slave trade.”
“Devised as an experiment in congressional planning and control, Washington was saddled with an ambiguous political status and an undetermined economic future. Just a generation after “no taxation without representation” had been the rallying cry for the Revolutionary War, District residents lost the right to vote in all elections. Not for the last time, their rights were sacrificed for the sake of a larger national agenda.”
“By the 1830s, its many slave dealers would help D.C. become the top slave-trading city in the nation. Incorporating the flourishing port into the boundaries of the federal district solidified the hold that slavery would have on the fledgling capital.”
“The federal government’s wartime expansion compounded the housing crisis, as officials exercised the power of eminent domain to buy up residential property for new government facilities, often in predominantly black areas. Hundreds of low-income black families in downtown D.C. had to leave their homes to make way for new Social Security, Railroad Retirement, and Census buildings.”
Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons
Life inside a startup is not for everyone. Disrupted is about Dan Lyons’ time inside HubSpot. After a career in journalism he does not drink the corporate Kool-Aid. Lyons is cynical and hilarious and a bit sad with his jaded view of the world.
“Online marketing is not quite as sleazy as Internet porn, but it’s not much better, either.”
“What does any of this nutty horseshit actually mean? I have no idea. I’m just amazed that hundreds of people can gobble up this malarkey and repeat it, with straight faces.”
“Wingman isn’t a simpleton, but he’s not overly burdened with intelligence, either.”
The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethan McLean, Peter Elkind, and Joe Nocera
Win above all else. Creative accounting. Wild bonus structures. Strip club expense accounts. The Smartest Guys in the Room documents the Wild West at Enron, and it’s understandable how investors believed the hype. Enron was a rocket ship, but the company rotted internally.
“The tale of Enron is a story of human weakness, of hubris and greed and rampant self-delusion; of ambition run amok; of a grand experiment in the deregulated world; of a business model that didn’t work; and of smart people who believed their next gamble would cover their last disaster—and who couldn’t admit they were wrong.”
“For those at the top of Enron, excess was a part of daily life. Enron had a fleet of corporate jets, limousines on constant call, and even its own concierge, who would pick up busy employees’ dry cleaning, water houseplants, and shop for anniversary presents. At bonus time, there was a rush on Houston’s luxury car dealerships; flashy wheels (Porsches were a particular favorite) were de rigueur for top earners. Many built new homes and bought vacation properties or ranches. In Enron’s work-hard, play-hard culture, the scent of sex was unmistakable; affairs flourished inside the company.”
“Strip clubs were Pai’s other passion. Topless bars had long been part of the old all-male oil-and-gas culture, and Houston was a breeding ground for their latest incarnation: upscale gentlemen’s clubs with a veneer of polish and private VIP rooms, where a big spender could buy lap dances while sipping Dom Pérignon. Pai dropped so much money on the strip-bar scene that there was gossip he owned a piece of one of the clubs. In truth, much of the entertainment was courtesy of Enron shareholders. A group of traders could easily run up a thousand-dollar tab at Rick’s, and they routinely charged their outings to their Enron expense accounts.”
On the House: A Washington Memoir by John Boehner
On the House documents Boehner’s seemingly honest view into politics. Boehner was relatable and included critical views of the current state of polarization within and across both parties. I appreciated his candor and chuckled at his unabashed love of cigarettes (including service on the Reynolds American board).
“Part of the problem, if we are going to be really honest about it, is that we the people put up with all this malarkey. We prefer the easy outrage over focusing our attention on tough questions that don’t have five-second solutions. We reward amateurs who know and care nothing about governing instead of having faith in seasoned officials with experience and patience, who are trying to make some changes to a democracy where change is meant to be hard.”
“Most of these guys who poke their heads up in these crises and vote “no” on every compromise and claim they’re doing it all for “conservative principles” don’t actually give a shit about fiscal responsibility. If they did, you’d think they would be slap-happy excited when a Republican president came to Washington who, with a House and Senate majority, could make serious progress on getting our national debt and entitlement spending under control. Guess what? None of these guys said anything when the Trump administration added $1 trillion to the federal budget by the end of 2019–before a single dime was spent on COVID-19 relief.”
“There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless asshole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Senator Ted Cruz.”
The Library Book by Susan Orleans
The Library Book will resurface all of your nostalgic library memories while tying it to the story of the fire that tore through Los Angeles’ historic Central Library. I enjoyed learning about the systems that make libraries go and the history behind libraries as an institution.
Libraries are messy. Public libraries exist as one of the only places in society where everyone is welcome, and there is no cost. Libraries were founded to be a free source of knowledge for everyone…and library leaders mean it. Libraries are on the front lines of homelessness and mental health issues around the globe, especially in urban areas, and I thought the commentary was thoughtful and balanced.
“The architect of this building may have been a great architect, but he didn’t know his fanny from a hot rock when it came to fire protection.”
3 Stars–Solid books that I finished/read 50%+ but didn’t love
American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback by Seth Wickersham
Quarterbacks are divas. Their families—specifically their dads—are crazy. American Kings is all over the place. You’ll probably find something interesting/enjoyable, but there isn’t one cohesive narrative.
Things I loved:
- John Elway content
- Robust but felt like it should be its own book
- Interviews and Profiles of Present Day QBs
- Arch Manning
- Caleb Williams
- Kirk Cousins
- A bunch of one off interviews
- Commentary on the QB Circuit
- 7 on 7
- College recruitment
- QB Schools / Offseason Training
- GMs / NFL Coaches discussing their approach to QB selection and development
This book has a lot of great tidbits, but I almost abandoned it. There are some history/hall of fame QB sections that are slow moving and irrelevant. The chapters bounce back and forth between characters and topics in a way I didn’t like.
“Many quarterback stories can be broken down into two categories: too much Daddy, or not enough. Beyond that, most quarterback stories can be broken down into two subcategories: those who burn out trying to please their fathers, and those who have their own thoughts on the matter.”
“Yogi Roth of Elite 11 was once asked to define quarterbacks, and he equated them to models, ravaged by fragility and insecurity. That mindset rarely ends where the white lines do.”
True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear by G Bruce Boyer
True Style is very niche and a little weird, but it came recommended from my favorite men’s style thought leader—@dieworkwear.
Clothes and grooming habits shape what people think about you and your place in society. You control this perception, and I think it was helpful to consider how your style reflects your persona. Ignore your appearance and clothing at your own risk.
Some of the sections are a little too granular for me… or anyone else. The first chapter is about ascots….skip it. The chapters on boots, craftsmanship, and suits were great and helpful to understand the history and construction of these items. I loved the history of jeans and tweed sport coats.
“I never tire of saying—readers might, but I don’t—that clothes speak. In fact they never shut up. And the great danger is that if you don’t hear them, you’re not listening closely enough and will have to pay whatever penalty accrues from such inattention. As the English statesman Lord Chesterfield pointed out, dress is a foolish thing, and yet it’s a more foolish thing not to pay attention to it.”
“Fashion writes in bold italics, while style whispers between the lines.”
“Clothes are social tools, like language, manners, and a sense of humor.”
Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis tells the best stories about obscure characters in bizarre jobs. His sections of Who is Government were awesome. I didn’t connect with the sections written by other authors in this book.The profile of Ronald E. Walters, who runs the National Cemetery Administration, makes the book worth reading.
“Walters and his colleagues bury more than 140,000 veterans and their family members every year, and they tend to the perpetual memory of nearly 4 million other veterans, from the Revolutionary War to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, interred in 155 national cemeteries around the United States.”
“To that end, he has spent the past two decades obsessing over everything from the lifespan of a backhoe to how many days it takes to manufacture and engrave a headstone, working with scientists to determine what chemical best cleans marble, consulting with groundskeepers about the exact number of millimeters a grave settles every year, creating the 40 pages of standards and measures that regulate every national cemetery.“
Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail by Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young
Prison tours for backpackers (including cocaine samples) sums up Marching Powder. It is hard to believe the scale of corruption in the San Pedro prison, and it is also hard to believe that Young lived in the prison while writing the book.
“Well, if prisons are no more than schools for further criminality, then San Pedro prison was the International University of Cocaine, where you could study under some of South America’s leading professors: laboratory chemists, expert accountants and worldly businessmen.”
Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick and Eric Scholosser
Barons is depressing. Our food system is going to hell, and corporate consolidation is making food worse for you while also killing small business/family farms/consumer choice.
While depressing, I enjoyed the deep dive into the various monopolies–pork (Iowa Select Farms), grain (Cargill), coffee (JAB Holdings), dairy (Fair Life), berries (Driscoll’s), meat packers (JBS) , distribution (Sysco), and grocery (Walmart).
Frerick’s writing style feels overly academic at some points (turned his master’s thesis into a book and you can tell), and his critiques are politicized and heavy-handed for my taste (food pun intended).
“The offshoring of the American food system has made our food more like the rest of the American economy: uniform, lackluster in quality, and highly consolidated.”
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources by Javier Blas, Jack Farchy
Even dictatorships need commodities. The World for Sale looks at the people and companies making exorbitant amounts of money selling oil, grain, and precious metals to countries around the world. The most profitable trades usually occur in corrupt and unstable countries. It’s pretty niche and a little dry, but I learned a lot. Fun fact–the Marc Rich + Co (trading firm) paid for Jamaica’s bobsled team as part of their trade to help the insolvent Jamaican government keep its aluminum industry alive.
“They are the last swashbucklers of global capitalism: willing to do business where other companies don’t dare set foot, thriving through a mixture of ruthlessness and personal charm.”
“In Iraq, the commodity traders helped Saddam Hussein to sell his oil, bypassing UN sanctions; in Cuba, they swapped sugar for oil with Fidel Castro, helping to keep the Communist revolution alive; and they secretly sold millions of tons of US wheat and corn to the Soviet Union.”
The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman
This is probably a better coffee table book than a Kindle read, but I enjoyed it. The World Atlas of Coffee deepened my appreciate of the craft of coffee and made me fully aware of the levels of coffee expertise/snobbery. I am not ready to commit to the lifestyle (yet…) and work required to have amazing coffee on a regular basis. This book also does a nice job showcasing coffee cultivation around the globe.
“I must offer a word of caution here: don’t invest in an espresso machine at home unless you want a new hobby. Like any hobby, there will probably be terrible failures and surprise successes along the way. It is important to consider roasting coffee as a new hobby, not as a way to save money on buying roasted coffee beans.”
Operation Devil Horns: The Takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco by Michael Santini, Ray Bolger
Operation Devil Horns is the massive takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco by Homeland Security Investigations. Interesting to see how an investigation works across federal jurisdictions between HSI, FBI, and DEA. Santini details the major challenge sanctuary cities create in prosecuting criminals who may not be U.S. citizens. Slow moving at times but solid read if it interests you.
All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield
Story of contemporary art fraud told through a personal narrative. I’m not a huge art guy, but I do like business crime/fraud stories. This was a little weird and slow moving but generally enjoyable.
Fiction – I am lightly interested in reading more fiction. I don’t read enough fiction to confidently rate these, but I enjoyed both.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby
Books I bought and abandoned after a chapter or two… (It is okay to quit books!)
The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics by E.J. Fagan
The Informant: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald
The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life by Sahil Bloom
BK Reads Power Rankings
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