James Fallows Book Recommendations & Book Mentions
This list consists of recommendations or mentions of books spotted in media, social media accounts, podcasts or other public websites.
James Fallows on X
Former blue-check person. On Substack: 'Breaking the News' https://t.co/JazeKA9uCl On Bluesky @jfallows Also https://t.co/CJJn7RbEsg

Success
Henry Ford
@TimothyNoah1 @HeerJeet @thehighsign People with great entrepreneurial / financial success in early years take different paths in mid-life. Andrew Carnegie / JD Rockefeller / Bill Gates / W Buffett / etc. Henry Ford was in his 50s when primary identity switched to being a bigot.
Hardcover, 2010
$32.95$16.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Five Decembers
James Kestrel
Great publishing-world tale by @ricredman, on his own book ‘Bones of Hilo’ and James Kestrel’s ‘Five Decembers,’ from @HardCaseCrime . Worth reading both books, and this new article. https://www.postalley.org/2022/03/01/thatll-never-sell-why-you-still-shouldnt-judge-a-book-by-its-cover/ https://twitter.com/ricredman/status/1498703839351898115
Paperback, 2022
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy
Anthony Burgess
@gerstenzang @Esri Anthony Burgess's trilogy 'The Long Day Wanes.' It's obviously dated, from the days of British Malaya, but still valuable. And—a fraught suggestion, but interesting—the *enormously* controversial and also-dated 'Malay Dilemma' by the two-time PM of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamed.
Paperback, 1993
$30.00$15.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Five Decembers
James Kestrel
Glad that publication day has come for FIVE DECEMBERS. Really powerful, absorbing crime / history saga. Congrats to @JamesKestrel and @HardCaseCrime https://t.co/uzkeWwumyU
Paperback, 2022
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
John W. Dower
@BeijingPalmer For Japan, I'd say 'Embracing Defeat' by John Dower. (Also, Iraq was to a significant degree a self-inflicted US disaster. See 'Blind Into Baghdad' by author I will not name.)
Paperback, 2000
$22.95$11.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) / NOVEL /
Charles Dickens
If you read about this in a Charles Dickens novel .... https://t.co/GV1MPeKitP
Out of stock

Five Decembers
James Kestrel
So glad to hear this news that FIVE DECEMBERS, by @JamesKestrel, has won the Edgar for Best Novel. It’s the one I was beating the drum for last fall: https://fallows.substack.com/p/four-books-to-notice Hope it gets ever broader attention. Congrats to the author, and to the @HardCaseCrime team. https://twitter.com/HardCaseCrime/status/1519870874282721280
Paperback, 2022
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe
Great event last night at @PoliticsProse. Upshot was that if you were riveted by @praddenkeefe’s ‘Empire of Pain’ or ‘Say Nothing,’ you’ll want to get his new book ‘Rogues.’ We talked about how he does it, what he has learned, and what is the alternative to Doom Scrolling https://twitter.com/_colleenmurphy_/status/1542664107677159428
Paperback, 2022
$19.00$9.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe
Looking for absorbing read this summer? This is not new-news, but I can’t recommend highly enough @praddenkeefe’s Empire of Pain We’ve all seen Caro’s ‘Power Broker’ in background of Zoom interviews. This is similar caliber: how a person (family) changed the world, for the worse
Paperback, 2022
$19.00$9.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
East, West: Stories
Salman Rushdie
Re-upping from last night. I hope you'll read the stories of Henry Reese, Diane Samuels, @cityofasylum, and @chq, all highlighted by the attack on Salman Rushdie. By @FallowsDeb and me. https://t.co/Au5ynpII43
Paperback, 1995
$16.95$8.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book