SUMMER READING SPECIAL: The World From the Beach With Carlos Lozada

Looking for nonfiction book recommendations to kick off your summer? In this annual episode, hosts Jim Lindsay and Bob McMahon join Washington Post book critic Carlos Lozada to discuss the books they’re reading, the books they’re looking forward to, and the books they’re packing with their towels for the next trip to the beach.

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Hosts
  • James M. Lindsay
    Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
  • Robert McMahon
    Managing Editor
Episode Guests
  • Carlos Lozada
    Washington Post Nonfiction Book Critic

Show Notes

Looking for nonfiction book recommendations to kick off your summer? In this annual episode, hosts Jim Lindsay and Bob McMahon join Washington Post book critic Carlos Lozada to discuss the books they’re reading, the books they’re looking forward to, and the books they’re packing with their towels for the next trip to the beach.

Bob's Picks
Grant by Ron Chernow
Tailspin by Steven Brill
Lagos Noir edited by Chris Abani

Jim's Picks
The World America Made by Robert Kagan
Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 by Stephen Kotkin
Heat by Bill Buford

Carlos's Picks
A Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú
The List by Amy Siskind
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani
Beautiful Country Burn Again by Ben Fountain
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

India

Concerns grow over the widening Middle East conflict after Iran launches three hundred ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel; European Union (EU) leaders discuss how to bolster aid to Ukraine amid an uptick in Russian attacks and the situation unfolding in the Middle East; India kicks off the world’s largest democratic election—spanning more than forty-four days—where the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to win again; and warming water temperatures cause a mass bleaching of coral reefs.

Sudan

Congress returns from recess and grapples with contentious agenda items, including reauthorization of a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and a Ukraine aid package; Sudan enters a second year of civil war with more than half of the country’s population in need of aid and millions more displaced; and Ecuadorian police breach international law by raiding the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas. 

Rwanda

Rwanda marks thirty years since its genocide against the Tutsis; U.S. President Joe Biden hosts the first trilateral leaders’ summit with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Philippines President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.; music fans celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Swedish pop group ABBA’s Eurovision win; and Ekrem İmamoğlu is elected mayor of Istanbul, in a rebuke to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party.

Top Stories on CFR

Myanmar

The Myanmar army is experiencing a rapid rise in defections and military losses, posing questions about the continued viability of the junta’s grip on power.

Ukraine

The two-year-old war in Ukraine—which is far from deadlocked—could pivot dramatically in the coming months. U.S. decisions will play a decisive role.

Egypt

International lenders have pumped tens of billions of dollars into Egypt’s faltering economy amid the war in the Gaza Strip, but experts say the country’s economic crisis is not yet resolved.