For 2018, The Transpartisan Review has taken on the task to assemble a reasonably comprehensive “transpartisan bibliography”. Our first step was to have a conversation about the books we find valuable and establish a process of identifying the best media to share. The initial result is below.
The final bibliography will grow from these collections. This is only the beginning and we realize these lists are in no way comprehensive.
This first list was our starting point and is numbered for convenience of reference only and does not represent any rating or personal preference.
- Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life by A. Lawrence Chickering and James S. Turner
- Beyond Left & Right by A. Lawrence Chickering
- God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom’ by William F. Buckley
- Capitalism & Freedom by Milton Friedman
- The Chemical Feast by James S. Turner
- Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State by Ralph Nader
- Congress from the Inside: Observations from the Majority and the Minority by Senator Sherrod Brown
- The Centrist Manifesto by Charles Wheelan
- The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide by Mark Gerzon
- A Declaration of Independents: How We Can Break the Two-Party Stranglehold and Restore the American Dream by Greg Orman
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and Gail Collins
- Sexual Politics by Kate Millett
- Books by James Baldwin:
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- Go Tell It on the Mountain
- Notes of a Native Son
- Giovanni’s Room
- The Fire Next Time
- The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand
- Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now by Mark Satin
After coming up with our initial list, we sought out resources from other websites as inspiration for our project…
Mediators Foundation
The following lists (including duplicates from the list above) were found on the Mediators Foundation website and are included here to make sure they became part of the conversation. If you are interested in the transpartisan movement, we encourage you to visit their website and explore the work of Mark Gerzon.
Books by Mark Gerzon
- Reunited States of America
- Global Citizens
- Leading Through Conflict
- A House Divided
- Leadership is Global
Transpartisan Topics
- Lawrence Chickering & James Turner — Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life
- Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer — Bring Citizen Voices to the Table
- Ralph Nader — Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State
- William Ury — Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In
- Charles Wheelan — The Centrist Manifesto
- Linda Killian — The Swing Vote
- Jaqueline S. Salit — Independents Rising: Outsider Movements, Third Parties, and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America
- Erik Fogg & Nathaniel Greene — Wedged: How You Became a Tool of the Partisan Political Establishment, and How to Start Thinking for Yourself Again.
- Bill Shireman — Innovation Nation: Toward A Right-Left Alliance to Unleash America’s Creative Capacity and Entrepreneurial Energy
- Ray LaHood — Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics
- Jonathan Haidt — The Righteous Mind
Additional Reading
- Mark Andreas — Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree
- E.J. Dionne — Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
- Mickey Edwards — The Parties versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans
- Richard Harwood — The Work of Hope: How Individuals and Organizations Can Authentically Do Good
- Mike Lofgren — The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted
- Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein — It Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism
- George Packer — The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
- Parker Palmer — Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit
- Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman — Nation On The Take
- Hedrick Smith — Who Stole the American Dream?
- William Ury — The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop – & – The Power of a Positive No: Save the Deal, Save the Relationship, and Still Say No
- Ken Wilber — A Brief History of Everything
Radical Middle
We also want to encourage our visitors to explore the Radical Middle website. Although it exists as only an archive now, the site offers a wealth of resources including the Radical Middle Newsletter Political Book Award Winners (1980 – 2009) which we include below as well. Although not all are transpartisan, the Radical Middle’s “award winners” represent an fascinating snapshot of political writing spanning three decades.
- 2009: Steven Lukes — The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat: A Novel of Ideas, 2nd ed. (Verso).
- 2008(T): Lawrence Chickering and James Turner — Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life (daVinci Press).
- 2008(T): Alanna Hartzok — The Earth Belongs to Everyone (Institute for Economic Democracy Press).
- 2007: Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger — Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Houghton Mifflin).
- 2006: Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman — Ethical Realism: A Vision for America’s Role in the World (Pantheon / Random House).
- 2005: George Packer — The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq (Farrar, Straus).
- 2004: John Avlon — Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics (Harmony / Random House).
- 2003: Matthew Miller — The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America’s Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love (PublicAffairs / Perseus).
- 2002: Richard Florida — The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life (Basic / Perseus).
- 2001(T): Walter Truett Anderson — All Connected Now: Life in the First Global Civilization (Westview / Perseus).
- 2001(T): Ted Halstead and Michael Lind — The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (Doubleday).
- 2000: Robert Wright — Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Pantheon / Random House).
- 1999: William Ury — Getting to Peace, now published as The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop (Viking / Penguin).
- 1998(T): Anthony Giddens — The Third Way (Polity / Blackwell).
- 1998(T): Alan Wolfe — One Nation, After All (Viking).
- 1997: Marian Chertow and Daniel Esty, eds. — Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policy (Yale).
- 1996(T): Mark Gerzon — A House Divided: Six Belief Systems Struggling for America’s Soul (Tarcher).
- 1996(T): Art Kleiner — The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change.
- 1995: David Hollinger — Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism (Basic)
- 1994: Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (HarperBusiness)
- 1993: Amitai Etzioni — The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society (Crown)
- 1992: David Osborne and Ted Gaebler — Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector (Addison-Wesley)
- 1991(T): E.J. Dionne Jr. — Why Americans Hate Politics (Simon & Schuster)
- 1991(T): Peter Senge — The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization (Doubleday)
- 1990: Herman Daly and John Cobb Jr. — For the Common Good
- 1989: Thomas Berry — The Dream of the Earth
- 1988: Worldwatch Institute — State of the World (annual report)
- 1987: Robert Theobald — The Rapids of Change
- 1986: Marilyn French — Beyond Power
- 1985: Charlene Spretnak and Fritjof Capra — Green Politics
- 1984: Walter Truett Anderson, ed. — Rethinking Liberalism
- 1983: Paul Hawken, James Ogilvy, and Peter Schwartz — Seven Tomorrows
- 1982: Hazel Henderson — The Politics of the Solar Age
- 1981: Marilyn Ferguson — The Aquarian Conspiracy
- 1980: Jane Mansbridge — Beyond Adversary Democracy
(Version A – March 1, 2018)
