The World Next Week: Summer Reading Special

In this special edition, CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon, CFR's Director of Studies Jim Lindsay and Senior Fellow for Defense Policy Janine Davidson share their summer reading lists. Listen in for book recommendations. 

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Hosts
  • James M. Lindsay
    Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
  • Janine Davidson
    Former Senior Fellow for Defense Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Robert McMahon
    Managing Editor

Show Notes

In this special edition, CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon, CFR's Director of Studies Jim Lindsay and Senior Fellow for Defense Policy Janine Davidson start off the summer with a list of books that they will be reading in the weeks ahead. Listen in for recommendations from their reading lists.
 

Robert McMahon's list:

  • Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
  • Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat by Barry Estabrook
  • The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

James Lindsay's list:

  • In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made by Norman Cantor
  • The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order 1916-1931 by Adam Tooze
  • How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steve Johnson 

Janine Davidson's list:

  • The Unraveling by Emma Sky
  • Ghost Fleet by Peter Singer
  • The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

Nuclear Energy

Senegal holds its postponed presidential election amid fears of democratic backsliding; Slovakia chooses a new president in voting that could bolster Prime Minister Robert Fico’s illiberal tilt; Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan exchange blows after a string of terrorist attacks on Pakistani territory; nuclear energy gets a boost at a first-ever summit in Brussels, Belgium; and the European Union provides Egypt with $8 billion worth of aid. 

Russia

Russia holds its presidential election with the Kremlin aiming to orchestrate a sweeping endorsement of President Vladimir Putin; the U.S. Congress continues its partisan battles over the 2024 budget as concerns of shutdown and aid to allies mount; the U.S. Library of Congress flexes its soft power by awarding Elton John and Bernie Taupin with the Gershwin Prize; and the crisis in Haiti worsens.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Negotiators attempt to establish a six-week cease-fire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas before the start of the sacred Islamic month of Ramadan; Portugal holds a snap parliamentary election with a far-right party gaining traction; international films gain prominence at the ninety-sixth Academy Awards; and Chinese President Xi Jinping breaks with the thirty-year tradition of the premier’s press conference after the National People’s Congress.

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