What We Are Reading Today: The Outlier by Kai Bird

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Updated 20 June 2021
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What We Are Reading Today: The Outlier by Kai Bird

The Outlier: The Life and presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai bird is an enlightening reassessment of Carter’s presidency in the US by putting it in line with the rest of his life.

The issues that Carter contended with in the late 1970s are still hotly debated today: National healthcare, growing inequality, energy independence, racism, immigration, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Forty years after US voters turned him out of the white house, Carter appears remarkably prescient on the major issues facing the country in the 21st century.

Carter’s time as president is a compelling and under-explored story, marked by accomplishment and adversity.

In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, the first full presidential biography of Carter, bird approaches his presidency with an expert hand, unfolding the story of Carter’s four years with few allies inside washington and a great many critics in the media.

Bird is an american pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist, best known for his biographies of political figures.


What We Are Reading Today: Freedom from Fear by Alan Kahan

Updated 27 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: Freedom from Fear by Alan Kahan

“Freedom from Fear” offers a striking new account of the dominant political and social theory of our time: liberalism. In a pathbreaking reframing of the historical debate, Alan Kahan charts the development of Western liberalism from the late eighteenth century to the present. 

Examining key liberal thinkers and issues, Kahan shows how liberalism is both a response to fear and a source of hope: the search for a world in which no one need be afraid.

“Freedom from Fear” reveals how liberal arguments typically rely on three pillars: freedom, markets, and morals. 

But when liberals ignore one or more of these pillars, their arguments generally fail to persuade.