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50 Best “Third Way”
Books of the 1990s
I. INTRODUCTORY NOTE FROM
EDITOR MARK SATIN
In the 1990s, 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).
While some Third Way books engage in glib
"triangulation" (between the far left and the far right), or otherwise
lack imagination, those we've chosen are genuinely visionary as well as usefully
pragmatic. Radical middle thinkers are committed to learning from
everyone, including those on the far left and far right.
You’ll notice a number of books that focus on consciousness, relationships, culture, business, and the professions -- not just politics
narrowly defined. That's also a hallmark of the radical middle. It's a
sensibility, not just a type of public policy.
All blue links below will take you to that book's page on
Amazon.com.
Books
preceded by a star (*) have won one of our annual Radical Middle Political
Book Awards; see HERE for an annotated list of
all winners from 1980 through 2009.
So, enjoy!
II. THE
FIFTY BEST
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:
Meaning, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy
* 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
J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace
(novel; reviewed by us HERE)
* 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, or, The Decoy of Race
* E.J. Dionne, Why
Americans Hate Politics
Peter Drucker, Post-Capitalist
Society
Esther Dyson, Release
2.1: A Design for Living in the Digital Age
Gregg Easterbrook, A
Moment on the Earth: The Coming Age of Environmental Optimism
* Amitai Etzioni, The
Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society
* James Fallows, Looking
at the Sun: The Rise of the New East Asian Economic and Political
System
Thomas Friedman, The
Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization
* Mark Gerzon, A
House Divided: Six Belief Systems Struggling for America's Soul
* Anthony Giddens, The
Third
Way
//////////
Daniel Goleman, Emotional
Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ
Paul Hawken, The
Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability
Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, Natural
Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
* David Hollinger, Postethnic
America: Beyond Multiculturalism
Richard Kahlenberg, The
Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, World
Class: Thriving Locally in the Global Economy
Randall Kennedy, Race,
Crime, and the Law
* Art Kleiner, The
Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change
John Kotter, Leading
Change: An Action Plan from the World's Foremost Expert on Business
Leadership
Steven Kull and I. M. Destler, Misreading
the Public: The Myth of a New Isolationism
//////////
Karen Lehrman, The
Lipstick Proviso: Women, Sex & Power in the Real World
Robert Jay Lifton, The
Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation
Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, Spiritual
Politics: Changing the World from the Inside Out
Martha Nussbaum et al., For
Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism
* David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, Reinventing
Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector
Edmund Phelps, Rewarding
Work: How to Restore Participation and Self-Support to Free Enterprise
Terrence Real, I
Don't Want To Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male
Depression
David Roodman, The
Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment
Andrew Schmookler, Debating
the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide
Peter Schwartz, The
Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World
//////////
Peter Schwartz et al., The
Long Boom: A Vision for the Coming Age of Prosperity
Michael Segell, Standup
Guy: Masculinity That Works
* Peter Senge, The
Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Michael Sherraden, Assets
and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy
Ronald Sider, Just
Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America
Jim Sleeper, Liberal
Racism: How Liberals Got Race Wrong; How America Can Get It Right
Deborah Tannen, The
Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words
William Ury, Getting
to Peace, now published as The
Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop
* Alan Wolfe, One
Nation, After All: What Americans Really Think . . .
Cathy Young, Ceasefire!:
Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality
III. STILL NOT
SATISFIED?
See our picks of the best visionary political books from
the 2000s, HERE; from the 1980s, HERE;
from the 1970s, HERE. | |
ABOUT THE RADICAL MIDDLE CONCEPT
WHY "Radical Middle"?
WIKIPEDIA
Weighs In
50 Thinkers and Activists DESCRIBE
the Radical Middle
50 Best
Radical Middle BOOKS of the '00s
GREAT RADICAL MIDDLE GROUPS AND BLOGS:
100 Great Radical Centrist GROUPS and Organizations
25 Great Radical Centrist BLOGS
SOME PRIOR RADICAL MIDDLE INITIATIVES:
Generational Equity and Communitarian
platforms 1990s
First U.S. Green Party gatherings, 1987 -
1990
Green Party's
"Ten Key Values" statement, 1984
New World Alliance, 1979 - 1983
PDF of the Alliance's "Transformation
Platform," 1981
SOME RADICAL MIDDLE LESSONS:
What the Draft Resistance Movement Taught Me
What the Civil Rights Movement Taught Me
SOME PRIOR WRITINGS BY MARK SATIN:
New
Options Newsletter, 1984-1992 (includes back issue PDFs!)
New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society, 1976,
1978 (includes 1976 text PDF!)
OTHER
PRIOR RADICAL MIDDLE TEXTS:
50 Best "Third Way" Books of the 1990s
25 Best "Transformational" Books of the
1980s
25 Best "New Age Politics" Books of the
1970s
NOT JUST RADICAL MIDDLE:
10 Best U.S. Political NOVELS
50
Current Political IDEOLOGIES
50 Current Political MANIFESTOS
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