From HuffPostUK: Must-Read Politics Books

ThePoliticalReader is delighted to feature today on the newly launched Huffington Post UK recommending some of the must-read books for MPs (and politicos alike) this summer. Read it at HuffPostUK here or below:

If political books were like fashion, then the must-have book of the season would be David Brooks’ ‘The Social Animal’. The ultimate guide for those wanting to rationally apply the irrationality at the heart of human actions, Brooks’ book has proved a must-read for Barack Obama and David Cameron. Similar to ‘Nudge’, this could easily become the guide to understanding some of the key undertones of Western governments.

For those who want to look state-side for their summer reads before the primary season gets into full swing, few books so eloquently explore the paradoxes at the heart of the electorate who will choose in November 2012 than that of British social anthropologist Tristram Riley-Smith in 'The Cracked Bell'. Once you’ve got to know the ways of the people who will decide, find out how the basis on which Presidents are judged with ‘The Leaders We Deserved’ by Presidential Historian Alvin Felzenberg in which he identifies five key criteria for assessing leadership in American Presidents.

When the time comes for MPs to leave their constituency casework solely in the hands of their staff and make to the beach with their families, a less overtly political book to take is Mavis Batey’s ‘Dilly’. Charting the life of the lead cryptographer at Bletchley Park, this short book can’t fail to inspire with the story of the eccentric Brit (may remind some of a backbench colleague or two) who helped save Britain at one of its darkest hours (potentially reminding some of the most loyal parliamentarians of their recent frontbenchers).

‘The Origins of Political Order’ by Francis Fukuyama, the man who encouraged “the end of History” and neo-conservatism before renouncing the latter, is the must-read for the MP who doesn’t just want to be in politics but a master of the art of politics.

The one to miss this summer is ‘Ed’ which tells us little more than whatever you thought about the Miliband brothers’ relationship after the leadership election was probably true. However, this book provides starter material for a future biography of the book’s most interesting character – the Mili-Mum.

Penultimately, for those struggling to remember all the names, faces and constituencies of their Honourable friends of the 2010 intake, Total Politics' ‘Class of 2010’ is the ultimate way of learning all the facts and figures for 2010’s unprecedented intake.

And finally, for all members who feel they need to perk themselves up after their first year on the green benches and/or coalition politics, pick up Peter Riddell’s ‘In Defence of Politicians: In Spite of Themselves’. Somewhere, in there, there’s a compliment.