Matt Taibbi's most important books

Rolling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi's books include Spanking the Donkey: On the Campaign Trail with the Democrats, Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire, and The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire.

He told Newsweek about his five most important books.

Number One on the list:

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol.

I've probably read this book 50 times. A great novel about how human society is basically an unbroken string of tragic misunderstandings.

Read about the other four titles.

--Marshal Zeringue