In today’s world, politics seems to be governed by soundbites, social media posts, and a steady drip-feed of leaks to the media. But books have always offered the necessary space for exploring important political issues with depth and nuance – sometimes with real-world impact.
Political writing is an intrinsic part of Penguin’s history. Take the Penguin Specials, a decades-long series of topical books by expert authors that began with a 1937 reprint of Germany Puts the Clock Back, which alerted the British public to the rise of fascism in Europe. Since then, countless more books have helped readers understand a rapidly changing world. We explore some of the most influential examples with the help of Nish Kumar, comedian and co-host of the Pod Save the UK podcast. (Jump straight to the full list by clicking here.)
Nish Kumar on the role of books in political discourse
We live in an information crisis. Unregulated tech platforms spew misinformation into our public sphere and their oligarch owners have spent the last decade slowly colonising our discourse and creating a monopoly on truth. All of this infects our politics. An alliance forms between the tech barons and a new era of despots, a nightmare symbiosis of state smashers and ethno-nationalist anti-democrats.
Just so you know, this is the kind of thing I say at dinner parties, and it’s the principal reason I’m rarely invited to them (others include: leafing through the host’s record collection and light stealing).
In the face of this chaos, the books on this list confront. Whether it’s George Orwell’s haunting warning against the dangers of totalitarianism or Naomi Klein’s rigorous investigation of disaster capitalism, these writers confront the most significant questions at the heart of our politics. Some are memoirs from inside the corridors of power, others are brickbats aimed squarely at the established order.
As our world shrinks into a phone screen, the books on this list urge us to be more expansive in our thinking and embrace complexity. The threat is existential, but the solutions are in our hands.
My top pick: Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
Since reading Doppelganger, I have talked about it at least once a week. Friends and family, wearied into submission, have either read it or, very possibly, pretended to have read it to shut me up.
With this book, Naomi Klein is asking the key questions that underpin the crises that engulf us. How do we combat online radicalisation? How do we rebuild communities in the face of despotic governments and the climate crisis? A case of mistaken identity leads her down the disinformation rabbit hole, prompting questions that she tackles with her customary insight, empathy and exquisite prose. This is the essential book for our times.
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12 more books that shaped our political understanding
The Rights of Man by H. G. Wells (1940)
H. G. Wells, a committed advocate for social justice, was among the many foreign authors whose non-fiction works were burned by the Nazis in 1933. He penned the Penguin Special The Rights of Man in 1940, as war with Germany raged on, offering a progressive vision for a safer, more just world that went on to inspire the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the EU's European Convention on Human Rights and the UK's Human Rights Act. Many decades later, Wells’ ideas remain as pertinent as ever; a new edition featuring an introduction by Ali Smith was published in 2015, in response to the British Government’s plans to repeal the Human Rights Act.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
From the allegorical tale of Animal Farm to masterful essays and frontline journalism, George Orwell’s writing shaped and reflected a changing political landscape in the 20th Century. But few of his works are more enduring in their legacy than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell’s dystopian novel set in a hyper-surveillant authoritarian state has informed the language we use to describe alarming curtailments to our freedom – from “doublethink” to “Big Brother”, to the catch-all shorthand of “Orwellian”. The classic is so well-known for its themes of censorship that in 2013, Penguin released a new edition in its iconic orange horizontal grid in which both title and author had been redacted with black foil.
Must Labour Lose? by Mark Abrams and Richard Rose (1960)
This influential Penguin Special was penned by leading sociologists Mark Abrams and Richard Rose shortly after Labour’s third consecutive general election defeat in 1959. Their argument, based on a study of changing social attitudes, was that the historic ties between class identity and voting habits were weakening, and the Labour Party should therefore change its policy and messaging if it was going to succeed at the polls in post-war Britain. As Dean Blackburn notes in Penguin Books and Political Change, Abrams’ and Rose’s analysis heavily influenced how policymakers, commentators, and prominent Labour Party figures understood a changing political and economic landscape.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1962)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s novel, inspired by his own internment in Kazakhstan, was the first account of life in a Stalinist labour camp ever to be published in the USSR. When it reached western readers, it offered an eye-opening glimpse behind the Iron Curtain and made “Gulag” a commonly known term. Under his political reform program of “De-Stalinisation”, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev personally permitted publication of the story’s first instalment in the November 1962 issue of Russian literary journal Novy Mir (New World). The publication sold out immediately on release, with Penguin publishing the English translation a year later. In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature.”
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Margaret Atwood’s chilling dystopian novel set in a patriarchal Christian fundamentalist state has had a far-reaching cultural and political impact that endures to this day. The fictional Republic of Gilead, where a class of women known as “Handmaids” are made to redress a fertility crisis through forced reproduction, was inspired by real-world events from America to Romania to Iran. Along with a timely TV adaptation that aired during President Donald Trump’s first term, the Handmaids’ recognisable uniform of red cloaks and white bonnets have been donned as a symbol of feminist protest and resistance the world over.
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (2007)
Naomi Klein's books have inspired activist movements and set the agenda for global conversations about capitalism, globalisation, corporate responsibility and climate. But her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine in particular helped establish a new way of understanding 21st-century politics and neoliberal economics. In this sobering and galvanising read, Klein makes the bold argument that periods of chaos, tragedy, and bloodshed – from natural disasters to military coups, to economic crises – are exploited in order to push through privatisation, de-regulation and undemocratic decisions that ultimately benefit corporate interests. In today’s political (and environmental) climate, Klein’s incisive arguments and worldview remain as pertinent as ever.
Occupy by Noam Chomsky (2012)
On 17th September 2011, the newly formed Occupy Wall Street group took to Zuccotti Park in New York City’s Financial District to protest ever-deepening wealth inequality in America and worsening living standards in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The demonstration lasted nearly two months and sparked a global movement spanning hundreds of cities. Much like the Arab Spring that directly inspired it, Occupy was a powerful example of what grassroots activism could look like in the age of social media. Public intellectual Noam Chomsky strongly supported the movement, and in the tradition of Penguin Specials published a timely treatise on the future direction of class war.
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848 / 2015 Little Black Classics edition)
The history of Karl Marx and Friederich Engels’ hugely influential Communist Manifesto long precedes that of Penguin, but a version released in 2015 spurred on a wave of newfound popularity for the 1848 text. Part of the 80 Little Black Classics launched in celebration of Penguin’s 80th birthday, this slim, pocket-sized paperback edition of Marx and Engels’ revolutionary writing was sold everywhere from bookshop shelves to Tesco checkouts for just 80p, which led to it entering the Sunday Times bestseller chart in March 2015, over 165 years after its initial publication.
Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)
History is replete with notable First Ladies, but Michelle Obama in particular redefined what it meant to assume the title during an historic moment in American politics. Her husband, former US President Barack Obama, said it best in a heartfelt moment during his 2017 farewell address: “You took on a role you didn't ask for and you made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humour. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody.” Her memoir tells the story of a girl from Chicago who went on to become an accomplished lawyer and one of this century’s most prominent public figures on the world stage. Inspired to share her story with a younger audience, the global bestseller was adapted for young readers to help empower them to find their place in an increasingly uncertain world.
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera (2021)
Journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera’s bestselling book Empireland was hailed by critics for its “balanced” and “unflinching” examination of Britain’s imperial legacy – but it also made him a target for personal attacks and racist abuse amid burgeoning culture wars. Published in 2021, after a wave of Black Lives Matter protests had brought conversations about racism in Britain to the fore, Empireland covered everything from money to health to politics, to illustrate how colonialism has shaped modern Britain. Sanghera also fronted the accompanying Channel 4 docuseries Empire State of Mind, and in 2024 he returned to the public eye with his follow-up book Empireworld, which explored the far-reaching global impact of the British Empire.
Politics On the Edge by Rory Stewart (2023)
Prior to being one half of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics, Rory Stewart was a Conservative MP between 2010 and 2019, holding various ministerial positions throughout. His memoir Politics on the Edge offers a candid, extraordinarily detailed insider account of nine pivotal years in Britain's recent political history. Along the way, he paints a portrait of an unravelled, chaotic government and democracy, as well as the many personalities who have helped shape it (chief among them former Prime Minister Liz Truss). The book became an instant number-one bestseller when it hit shelves in 2023, and outsold Boris Johnson’s hotly anticipated memoir the following year.
The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson (2024)
This jaw-dropping memoir takes readers into the epicentre of wealth and power that is The City of London, where Gary Stevenson – better known to many as @garyseconomics – once made millions betting on the state of the economy as a precocious young FX trader, before the culture of relentless ambition took its toll on his body and mind. The confessions of a former City trader may seem an unlikely influence on political discourse, but in recent years Stevenson has become a powerful voice in demystifying hot-button economic issues and a fierce opponent to the idea that entrepreneurship and lower regulation can help fight economic crisis and inequality.