Political Lore has assembled this list of books which relate in one way or another to Presidential politics. Historical accounts, a current Presidential candidate’s perspective and the media paradigm in which Presidential politics is portrayed to the public is covered in this list. I hope you discover something you will be able to enjoy and find informative this summer.

5.The Revolution Will Not Be Televised By Joe Trippi

One of the first definitive accounts from inside a successful grassroots Presidential campaign. Joe Trippi, campaign manager for Howard Dean through the Democrats primary season starting in 2003 and ending with the now infamous Dean primal scream after Iowa in 2004. Trippi and Dean laid the groundwork for what would become the fund raising and organizing model Barack Obama and Ron Paul have found successful in this election cycle.

4. All Fair: Love, War and Running for President By James Carville and Mary Matalin

An inside look at the 1992 presidential campaign from the perspective of a dating couple on either side of the battle. James Carville who was the campaign manager for Bill Clinton and his eventual wife Mary Matalin who was a top advisor for the Bush reelection campaign. (a great video companion piece would be D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary titled The War Room)

3. The Revolution: A Manifesto By Ron Paul

Ron Paul lays out what he sees as the pertinent issues facing the United States today. Dr. Paul dissects everything from the false left/right paradigm; to the current disregard for the Constitution; to the control of the world’s elite through institutions such as the Federal Reserve and World Trade Organization. A must read for any voter concerned about the real issues that we face as a nation.

2. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media By Noam Chomsky

This book will help any concerned voter, who is soon to be overwhelmed by election media coverage, sort through the mounds of useless information, and more importantly understand what is not being discussed as the race heats up in the dog days of August. Chomsky lays out in detail the propaganda model that the corporate media uses to curb the freedom of the American people. It is not until you are aware of the propaganda model that you can begin to break free from it.

1. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail By Hunter S. Thompson

This 600 page folk masterpiece was not written in retrospect as are most political memoirs, rather it was frantically written on the typewriter of the legendary Hunter S. Thompson while on the 1972 presidential campaign trail. Thompson, only one year removed from the writing of his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adventure is able to seamlessly blend the talk of inside baseball politics and the cultural climate in what he would call the doomed generation of the Nixon dominated early ‘70s. The conversation concerning American football between Thompson and Nixon, alone in the back of a speeding limo racing through New Hampshire, is alone worth the price of admission.

Disagree? Is there a glaring omission from our list? This is obviously not meant to be a definitive list, however, we would love to hear from you in the comments below or you can write to boothshaun@gmail.com