A Fourth of July inspired reading list for after the holiday

The following books are contemporary works on democratic theory and praxis that have both critical and constructive virtues and often represent radical or at least imaginative approaches to ongoing topics in discussions and debates on democracy. They were chosen in part on this occasion because they also treat—sometimes indirectly or by implication—pressing issues and problems of democratic practice in the United States. I originally wanted to confine the list to ten titles, but found I could not do that! Of course this small compilation reflects my tastes and values on such matters, so it is in some measure idiosyncratic, but I’m convinced that, objectively or impartially speaking, all of these works are worthy of your consideration if not close reading. You’re of course free to inform me what you think I should have included but did not, keeping in mind that I did not want this list to be very long (i.e., like many of my bibliographies, including the one on democratic theory). I invite you to share this list with others.

• Bilgrami, Akeel. Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
• Dahl, Robert A. How Democratic is the American Constitution? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
• Gilbert, Alan. Democratic Individuality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
• Goodin, Robert E. Reflective Democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Goodin, Robert E. Innovating Democracy: Democratic Theory and Practice after the Deliberative Turn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Iyer, Raghavan. Parapolitics: Toward the City of Man. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
• Landemore, Hélène. Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013.
• Nussbaum, Martha C. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
• Phillips, Anne. The Politics of Presence: Issues in Democracy and Group Representation. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1995.
• Przeworski, Adam. Capitalism and Social Democracy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
• Rawls, John (Erin Kelly, ed.) Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
• Urbinati, Nadia. Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
• Urbinati, Nadia. Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth, and the People. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
• Young, Iris Marion. Inclusion and Democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000.