Danny Goldberg
Danny Goldberg, CEO of Artemis Records, is the author of Dispatches From the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit (Miramax, $23.95).
Collected Poems, 1947–1980 by Allen Ginsberg (Perennial, $25). No matter how many times I read “Howl” or “Wichita Vortex Sutra,” I am dazzled by the verbal brilliance of the greatest 20th-century American bard. Allen Ginsberg transformed American culture with cosmic insights that have as much relevance today as they would if they’d been written five minutes ago.
The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam (Ballantine, $17). This is the all-time classic political history. Somehow David Halberstam found a poetic voice with which to convey the flawed intellectual thought process that produced America’s greatest foreign-policy failure of the 20th century—Vietnam. His willingness to question mere intellect echoes profoundly in the current situation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Political Fictions by Joan Didion (Vintage, $14). Joan Didion says everything I want to say about American politics from 1988 to 2000, except she says it more elegantly and more thoughtfully. So much recent political writing is mired in greasy spoonfuls of conventional wisdom. Didion has cold-eyed genuine wisdom.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $7). Our kids were 7 and 4 in 1997, when the first Harry Potter book came out, and my wife and I took turns reading it out loud to them, realizing along the way that we were enjoying it as much as they were. Like C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, the Potter series operates effortlessly on many levels, like great stories always do.
Bad Boy Brawley Brown by Walter Mosley (Warner Books, $7.50). Of all the novelists who have kept alive the concept of the lone detective, courageously and cannily following his own moral code, no one has done it more elegantly, more literately, or more soulfully than Walter Mosley, who takes the genre into the realm of the great Raymond Chandler.
Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Wine-tasting in Tuscany
The Week Recommends From biodynamic vineyards to historic cellars, the picturesque region is a wine lover's dream
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
-
Ukraine-Russia: is peace deal possible after Easter truce?
Today's Big Question 'Decisive week' will tell if Putin's surprise move was cynical PR stunt or genuine step towards ending war
By The Week UK
-
The bougie foods causing international shortages
In the Spotlight Pistachios join avocados and matcha on list of social media-driven crazes that put strain on supply chains and environment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more
By The Week US
-
Colum McCann's 6 favorite books that take place at sea
Feature The National Book Award-winning author recommends works by Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville, and more
By The Week US
-
Max Allan Collins’ 6 favorite books that feature private detectives
Feature The mystery writer recommends works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and more
By The Week US
-
John McWhorter’s 6 favorite books that are rooted in history
Feature The Columbia University professor recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more
By The Week US
-
Abdulrazak Gurnah's 6 favorite books about war and colonialism
Feature The Nobel Prize winner recommends works by Michael Ondaatje, Toni Morrison, and more
By The Week US
-
Elliot Ackerman’s 6 favorite books on war and duty
Feature The Marine veteran recommends works by Robert A. Heinlein, John le Carré, and more
By The Week US
-
Xochitl Gonzalez’s 6 favorite books that shaped her storytelling
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Stephen King, Julian Barnes, and more
By The Week US
-
Jason Isaacs's 6 favorite books that changed his perception on life
Feature The British actor recommends works by George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, and more
By The Week US