Radical Middle's Best Political Books of the 90s

In the Nineties, a “Third Way” began to emerge: Millions of people began looking for political solutions in that spacious but little-explored terrain between the certainties of the traditional left-and-right, on the one hand, and the utopianism of the alternative culture, on the other. Tony Giddens of the London School of Economics limned this terrain perfectly when he wrote, “Political life is nothing without ideals, but ideals are empty if they don’t relate to real possibilities” (in The Third Way, listed below).

Third Way thinkers tend to favor globalization NOW, tend to see corporations as at least potentially Learning Organizations, tend to be skeptical of politically correct approaches to complicated racial and social issues, and tend to favor decentralization of decision-making as much as practicable -- in governments, businesses and civic institutions alike -- Justice Brandeis’s “laboratories of democracy” approach writ large.

Third Way books ARE radical middle books. Remember, though, that most radical middle thinkers and activists -- and Radical Middle Newsletter -- are happy to learn from everyone and everywhere. (The Coates and Schmookler books below are great radical middle books in part BECAUSE they integrate material from a staggering variety of perspectives.)

This list was created by Mark Satin, editor of Radical Middle, in collaboration with advisors to the newsletter. A major criterion was that all books had to be written primarily for the general, educated public (not primarily for specialists).

You’ll notice a number of books about consciousness, relationships, culture, business, and the professions -- not just politics narrowly defined. You’ll also notice that nearly all the books focus more on solutions than on angry condemnations. If you’ve been scrolling through our website, none of that should surprise you.

Radical Middle will receive a 15% referral fee (at no cost to you) whenever you "click" on a blue-highlighted book and order it from Amazon.com; so we hope you'll make any purchases of highlighted books through the "channel" of this website. (Clicking on a highlighted book doesn't obligate you to order the book. The click simply takes you to the book's site at Amazon.com. . . .)

Anne Alstott and Bruce Ackerman, The Stakeholder Society

Walter Truett Anderson, The Future of the Self: Inventing the Postmodern Person

* Daniel Botkin, Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the 21st Century

Gary Burtless et al., Globaphobia: Confronting Fears About Open Trade

Stephen Carter, Civility

Alston Chase, In a Dark Wood: The Fight Over Forests and the Myths of Nature

Marian Chertow and Daniel Esty, eds., Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policy

Joseph Coates, 2025: Scenarios of US and Global Society Reshaped by Science and Technology [don't let the subtitle discourage you - ed.]

James Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

Diane Coyle, The Weightless World: Strategies for Managing the Digital Economy

* Stanley Crouch, The All-American Skin Game: The Decoy of Race

E.J. Dionne, Why Americans Hate Politics