POTUS' Summer Book List

Posted by Monica Mehta at 3:30 PM on August 18, 2005.

What's George W. reading when he's not clearing brush and avoiding Cindy Sheehan?

According to CNN,

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. John Barry tells the story of the virus that killed more than 50 million people worldwide in 1918 and argues that the U.S. government ignored the wartime crisis and created conditions that allowed it to thrive.

Salt: A World History." This best seller by Mark Kurlansky tells the history of salt and how this rock found in nearly every kitchen shaped the world.

"Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar." Apparently a perk of the presidency is getting advance copies of anticipated biographies such as this. The book by celebrated Russian playwright Edvard Radzinsky doesn't go on sale until October.

Seems to me he could be putting his book-larnin' time to a lot more use. Here's my recommended alternate reading list for the president.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. A firsthand view of the workforce's bottom rung.

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman. The New World is exciting, but if the U.S. doesn't keep up, it's going to be trampled. Also a close analysis of the economic and political roots of global Islamism.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. Equal wages for all, a community of women…what's not to love?

At the very least, Mr. Bush, it's good to know thine enemies. Oh, one more...

Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson. Because it's never too early to start preparing for the 2008 election.

Any other book recommendations, dear readers?

Monica Mehta is an associate editor at AlterNet.