The Best Reads From 2012
OpenCanada’s Rapid Responders and Roundtablers share their favourite non-fiction reads from the past year.

We asked OpenCanada’s experts to share their favourite non-fiction reads over the past year. The result is an eclectic and inspiring list of history, memoir, and social and political science – there’s even a dash of fiction. Scroll through to see the books our Rapid Responders and Roundtablers felt were deserving of special mention in 2012.
Why Nations Fail
By Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson
Chosen by both Jack Austin and Jeremy Kinsman
Says Kinsman: “It should be memorized.”
Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet
By Julian Assange with Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Müller-Maguhn, and Jérémie Zimmermann
Chosen by Kris Kotarski
Says Kotarski: “A captivating look at mass surveillance, encryption and power, and a handbook for anyone who wishes to maintain some privacy in the database age. Published in December 2012, a couple of months too late for General Petraeus.”
Strategic Vision
By Zbigniew Brezinzki
Time to Start Thinking
By Edward Luce
Both chosen by Don Newman
Says Newman: “Both deal with the changing world order and America’s response.”
Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
By Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan
Chosen by Stephen Saideman
Says Saideman: “It changes the way people think about political change – not only that non-violence might be morally preferable but that civil resistance actually works better than violent efforts. It simply is going to be the most influential piece of political science for the next couple of decades, and it is accessible to non-academics.”
Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town
By Noah Coburn
Chosen by Matthieu Aikins
Says Aikins: “This finely wrought, multi-year anthropological study of an Afghan town north of Kabul is just the kind of “lived-in” scholarship that the country has missed out on due to decades of war and the instrumentalization of most contemporary Western research for military and political ends.”
Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
By E.J. Dionne
Chosen by Pierre Martin
Says Martin: “From a liberal who understands and respects the conservative tradition in the United States, a thoughtful and comprehensive historical account of how American conservatism has drifted away from its communitarian roots and contributed to the current climate of political polarization in Washington and beyond.”
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
By Paul French
Chosen by Wenran Jiang
Says Wenran: “This is simply one of the best non-fiction reads, with or without any China related interests.”
The Embers of war
By Frederik Logevall
Chosen by Daryl Copeland
The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East
By Marc Lynch
Chosen by Bessma Momani
Says Momani: “In his book, Marc Lynch attempts to provide context to the dramatic changes that have unsettled so many assumptions and certainties in the Middle East. Although the causes and determinants of the political revolution sweeping through the Arab world are far too complex to define through academic analysis, this book is a great read, which offers a foundation to better understand the Arab Uprisings.”
Drift
By Rachel Maddow
Chosen by John McArthur
Says McArthur: “An insightful and witty review of the how the world’s most powerful military has been structurally transformed in its relationship with its citizenry.”
It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism
By Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein
Chosen by Paul Quirk
Governing the World: The History of an Idea
By Mark Mazower.
Chosen by Jennifer Welsh
Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius
By Silvia Nasar
Chosen by Danielle Goldfarb
Says Goldfarb: “I found this to be a really engaging primer on the major economic thinkers, which helped put today’s US, European, and global economic policy debates in context.”
A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran
By Trita Parsi
Chosen by Tony Burman
Says Burman: “Brilliant and ground-breaking examination by a respected Iranian-American scholar of why a grand bargain between the U.S. and Iran is still possible if Obama’s early efforts to make peace are resumed.”
Joseph Anton
By Salman Rushdie
Chosen by both Stephanie Nolen and Samatha Nutt
Sussex Drive
By Linda Sevenson
Chosen by Mark Fried
Says Fried: “A brilliant over-the-top satire of Stephen Harper’s Ottawa. It isn’t non-fiction, but it is by far the best book about Canadian politics this year.”
House of Stone
By Anthony Shadid
Chosen by Nahlah Ayed
Says Ayed: “I met Shadid in Lebanon a few years ago, and ran into him often on the road – the last time would have been Libya in the spring of 2011. I was always a big fan of his writing and his deep (and rare) understanding of the minutiae of the region. I was anxiously awaiting his newest book when we heard the crushing news he had passed away in Syria. The book was a fitting punctuation to his passionate work as a journalist.”
The Signal and the Noise
By Nate Silver
Chosen by Gordon Smith
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings and Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin
By Timonthy Snyder
Chosen by John Hancock
Says Hancock: “Reminded me of the immense importance of history – and that history is not something that can be grasped a decade or even a century after the events. It’s now almost 70 years since the Second World War ended. But Hastings and especially Snyder forced me to look at it through a new lens – as if I were examining an entirely different conflict than the one I’d been taught in school. In an ahistorical age – when we’re convinced that everything today is unprecedented – and when commentators feel compelled to deliver instantaneous verdicts on world-changing events – it’s edifying to be reminded of the invaluable perspective that comes with patient research, intellectual modesty, and the passage of time.”
Bismarck: A Life
By Jonathan Steinberg
Chosen by John Curtis
The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society
By Frans de Waal
Chosen by Maxwell Cameron