Rye Barcott’s Courage Can Save US Featured Among Financial Times’ Best Politics Books
12 Nov 2026
Rye Barcott’s bestselling book Courage Can Save US: Ten Extraordinary Americans and the Fight for Our Future has earned another major recognition.
In a new roundup of standout politics books, the Financial Times included Courage Can Save US among a collection of new and reissued books examining democracy, politics, public trust, and social change. The roundup highlights Barcott’s focus on five Democrats and five Republicans and the role that duty, morality, and courage can play amid declining trust, division, and outrage.
The broader list explores subjects ranging from disinformation and democratic participation to class, media, and public institutions. Within that mix, Courage Can Save US brings a leadership-focused perspective to questions about how individuals respond when public trust is strained and difficult choices carry real consequences.
For Barcott, a Financial Times reader himself, the recognition carries an added resonance. In sharing the news, he pointed to the publication’s motto, “Without fear and without favour,” as an expression of the kind of courage at the heart of his book.
Courage Can Save US: Leadership, Service, and the Choice to Act with Courage
Published by Bloomsbury in June, Courage Can Save US profiles nine military veterans and one former FBI agent whose experiences in service shaped their approaches to leadership and public life. Through their stories, Barcott explores courage as a deliberate choice to advance the common good, particularly when doing so carries personal or professional risk.
Those themes also form the foundation of Barcott’s work as a keynote speaker. A Marine Corps veteran, social entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder and CEO of With Honor, he speaks about courage, trust, service, principled decision-making, and leading through disruption and disagreement.
The Financial Times recognition adds another milestone for a book that has continued to earn national attention since its release, including becoming a New York Times bestseller.