Best-selling Brookings books for the holidays

The holidays are here and with it comes our annual review of the best-selling titles from the Brookings Institution Press. This was a great year for the Press as we published many important books covering international affairs, economics, history, urban affairs, and more. We also have our annual holiday bundles for sale. Each bundle includes three discounted titles and a free Brookings tote bag. Order your bundle by December 12 to ensure delivery by Christmas!

Our best-selling title, “Dream Hoarders” by Richard Reeves, takes on the subject of social mobility, examining the growing divide between the American upper middle class and everyone else, while offering suggestions on how to distribute opportunities for all. “Dream Hoarders” was named one of the Best Politics Books of 2017 by the Guardian.

In “The Year I Was Peter the Great,” notable journalist Marvin Kalb recalls his travels throughout the Soviet Union as a young diplomatic attaché during 1956, a year that changed Soviet Russia. Watch him discuss his book at a Brookings event with Tom Friedman.

As a former ACLU lawyer and adviser to the National Security Council, Timothy Edgar explains in “Beyond Snowden” how the NSA can reform its intelligence gathering while maintaining democratic values. Read Edgar’s op-ed in Fortune, “Why the NSA Should Thank Edward Snowden.”

Newly released, Bruce Riedel’s “Kings and Presidents” traces the history of the U.S.-Saudi relationship and could not be more timely in light of current events. Listen to Riedel discuss his book on The Brian Lehrer Show.

Published in early 2015, Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy’s “Mr. Putin” has become an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand Vladimir Putin and Russia today, and continues to be one of our best-selling books almost three years later. Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post selected “Mr. Putin” as the most helpful book he read in 2017.

In “What We Owe,” Carlo Cottarelli explains with great clarity why public debt is such a problem for countries and presents different options on the path to reducing it. Read the review from Foreign Affairs.

One of our best-selling titles for a second year, Cheng Li’s “Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era” explores how the structure and dynamics of party leadership have changed in China since the late 1990s. Listen to Cheng Li discuss the themes of his book in a Brookings Cafeteria podcast.

As authors Dag Detter and Stefan Fölster explain in “The Public Wealth of Cities,” the secret funding source needed to transform metropolitan areas may just be hiding in plain sight. Listen to Dag Detter on the Urbanist podcast.

James Dobbin’s “Foreign Service” gives readers a behind the scenes look at the last 50 years of American Diplomacy from Vietnam to Afghanistan. The book was awarded the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Douglas Dillon Award.

In “Loan Sharks,” author Charles Geisst traces the fascinating history of predatory lending in the United States to the present day. Read what Bloomberg Businessweek had to say about “Loan Sharks.”