Right on time for this year’s election season, the Yale Press Log is covering a swath of new books on “political economy”, specifically what’s at stake to effect change in today’s world of intertwined social, political, and economic concerns, and how people participate globally in the determination of their own governance.

Already dominating the blogosphere and social media are Richard Hasen’s The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown, chronicling the disappointing failure of election reform efforts in the wake of the controversial 2000 presidential election while acknowledging the potential for worse election meltdowns is real and the legitimacy of our democracy is at stake; and Joshua Glasser’s The Eighteen-Day Running Mate, which uncovers the riveting story of the 1972 election, how vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton’s secrets were revealed, why he withdrew from the race, and how George McGovern’s campaign dealt with the staggering blow. Follow along with #thevotingwars and #18DRunningMate hashtags on Twitter to catch up on all the election coverage!

Robert Atkinson and Carl Schramm, each co-authors of Innovation Economics and Better Capitalism with Stephen Ezell and Robert Litan, respectively, have contributed to the “Working in America” section of the General Electric-sponsored Ideas Roundtable on TheAtlantic.com, advancing the conversation around topics that shape our lives. The authors discuss education, healthcare reform, labor force, among other issues as related to the future of reshaping our nation. Considerations for all these topics are raised in William Baumol’s The Cost Disease: Why Computers Get Cheaper and Health Care Doesn’t, addressing costs and spending for everyday Americans and what the future holds for lower- and middle-income families.

James Gustave Speth returns to the YUP list with America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy. In this third volume of his award-winning American Crisis series, Speth identifies a dozen features of the American political economy—the country’s basic operating system—where transformative change is essential, spelling out the specific changes that are needed to move toward a new political economy, one in which the true priority is to sustain people and planet. Visit the book’s website for author events, a book excerpt, and more information as the campaign for a new economy unfolds.

The American political landscape is certainly not the only one that matters: new books by Alison Pargeter, Bill Emmott, and David Lesch investigate recent activity in Libya, Italy, and Syria. With unique access to insider information, the authors look at each nation’s political and economic structure and how they have been drastically shaped by radical changes in government in the past two years.

And stay tuned for more and Modern and Contemporary Art posts from yaleARTbooks—there are so many new shows and books coming this fall that we simply couldn’t fit them all into August!