Our Master List of Reading Lists for the Year of Trump
Or: the Many, Many Books We've Recommended This Year
In the year since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, we’ve shared many reading lists. Some have been hopeful. Some have been instructive. Some have been designed just to help you get through the horrifying truth that is our current political and social reality. In case you missed one or two along the way—or just want to revisit while planning your holiday reading—a collection of these lists is below.
Lists for fighting back:
25 Nonfiction Books for Anger and Action, Literary Hub Editors
25 Works of Poetry and Fiction for Anger and Action, Emily Temple
8 Causes + 8 Books = 16 Gifts: A Gift Guide for the Politically Engaged, Samara Skolnik
75 Books for the Next Four Years: Writers Recommend Necessary Reading for Inauguration Day and Beyond, Adam Fitzgerald
10 Literary Witches to Hex Trump, Emily Temple
Lists for making sense of it all:
11 Memoirs by 20th-Century American Radicals, Dwyer Murphy
Bigger than Watergate? 10 Essential Books About Our Future Past, Emily Temple
Crooks, Liars, and Spies: 10 Great Books of Washington Intrigue, Dwyer Murphy
Five Must-Reads on the Decline of Western Democracy, Ed Luce
Lists for celebrating and protecting women:
40 New Feminist Classics You Should Read, Emily Temple
10 Dystopian Novels to Inspire You to Fight for Your Reproductive Freedoms, Emily Temple
What to Read if You Care About Access to Abortion in Trump’s America, Merritt Tierce
11 Essential Women to Read for International Women’s Day (And Beyond), Zoey Cole
10 Books to Read During the Women’s Strike, Emily Temple
A Brief Literary History of Birth Control, Ellen Feldman
10 Magical Feminist Books to Inspire Creative Resistance, Ariel Gore
Lists for combating xenophobia from your couch:
10 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Read, Emily Temple
10 Contemporary Novels by and About Muslims You Should Read, Emily Temple
10 Contemporary Novels About the Immigrant Experience in America, Emily Temple
15 Books by Contemporary Mexican Writers That Make America Greater, Emily Temple
Lists for celebrating your freedoms while they last:
10 Great Novels on Freedom of Expression That Aren’t 1984, Jonathan Lee
8 Great Books by LGBTQ Authors From Places Where it’s Illegal to Be Gay, Emily Temple
Lists for indulging in diversion and comfort:
Crime Fiction in Hard Times, Lisa Levy
The Very Real Consolations of Poetry, Literary Hub Editors
10 Diverting Reads for Difficult Days, Emily Temple
The Women Surrealists Helping Me Through Our New Political Reality, Selena Chambers
An Existential Reading List for Your End Times’ Crisis, Anne Gisleson
Take a Literary World Tour Alongside Paul Manafort’s Dirty Money!, Dwyer Murphy
Emily Temple
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.
