10 best classic political novels

It is shocking how relevant a novel written decades ago can seem today – sometimes even more so than on the day that it was published. We've rounded up ten of the best classic political novels of the past, recommended for some thrilling 2011 summer reading. Update: We have added three Facebook Fan recommendations to the list.

1. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren

All the King's Men is the story of the rise and fall of Willie Stark, a character based on Huey Long, a 1930's Lousiana politician who sells his scruples for political power. The book is narrated by Stark's right-hand man, Jack Burden, whose moral compass never wavers. It's an intoxicating story about power, the lengths humans will go to gain it, and the damage that it does them.

2. Lincoln, a Novel, by Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal achieves the holy grail of historical fiction in Lincoln. He writes a comprehensive, historically accurate account of Lincoln's career – but does so in a lively fictional style, creating a novel that is as informative as it is entertaining to read. Vidal brings to life Civil War era politics and Lincoln's presidency by populating his novel with vibrant portraits of Lincoln's compatriots, including Mary Todd.

3. The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon

This controversial and gripping 1959 novel tells the story of an American POW, brainwashed by the Chinese after being captured in Korea, who is sent home programmed to kill a US presidential candidate. Part science fiction novel, part psychological thriller, The Manchurian Candidate struck a chord when it was published a few years before the JFK assassination, but it's just as horrifying and enthralling today.

4.Wag the Dog, by Larry Beinhart

Originally published as "American Hero," Wag the Dog is a satire and conspiracy novel about Operation Desert Storm, positing that the whole thing was engineered to get George Bush reelected. At first ludicrous and then startling, this novel paints the Gulf War as a made-for-TV piece of Americana propaganda in an attempt to call attention to the power of the media.

5. 1984, by George Orwell

Orwell's dystopic 1984 tells the story of an eerily familiar world where complacent citizens are ruled by an allpowerful, all-seeing government. Winston works for the Ministery of Truth, where he alters the past to fit the "Party" 's view of the present. Dissident thoughts are tracked down by the Thought Police and Winston's attempts at true love and rebellion are shattered. This novel with disturb you with its very plausibility.

6. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

Rand's lengthy novel is equal parts philosophy manifesto and political satire. In Rand's world, the economy is collapsing and the innovators and titans of industry who could turn it around are disappearing, while the government is stepping in to seize more and more control. Atlas Shrugged explores each layer of society and how it responds to the political situation at hand.

7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

In the vein of "1984," Brave New World tells of a futuristic society where people are bred into different jobs and castes, family ties are eliminated, and complacency and consumption are encouraged. The government controls most of the world except for the "savage" territories, where people are left to their own devices. When one of those savages ventures into the government-controlled city of London, all hell breaks loose.

8. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov

This classic Russian, magical realist novel is a timeless critic of Communism and Stalinist Russia. It weaves together the stories of Pontius Pilate, as he prepares to sentence Jesus Christ to death, the story of a great artist and his lover, Margarita, and the story of Satan and his retinue, including a demonic black cat, as they wreck havoc in atheist Moscow.

9.The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

This piece of political and cultural satire, in the dystopic vein of 'Brave New World' and '1984,' tells of a future society where women exist for breeding purposes only. There are the Marthas, forced to clean house, the chaste wives, allowed on to raise children, and the fertile handmaids, used as broodmares. In Atwood's vision of the anti-femenist future of North America, religious zealots have enforced female subjugation, which becomes a metaphor for all else that is rotten in the Republic of Gilead.

10.Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

This novel may only be 80 pages, but it packs a serious punch--it's still a bestseller after over 100 years on the market. An examination of both the human psyche and the effects of Dutch imperialism in the Congo, it tells the story of Marlow, a sailor, as he journeys into Africa to find the illusive Mr. Kurtz. 'Heart of Darkness' will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about modern society and world order.