He has written 13 books, including one released simultaneous with the 2016 elections on the best ways to solve future social problems, a 2015 volume on how public policy is changed by savvy donors, and a 2014 look at charter school effectiveness (with a spinoff in the "Wall Street Journal"). He wrote two books of Iraq War reporting, and other works on education, economics, and population trends. He also created a storytelling cookbook, and a non-fiction comic book. In late 2015 he edited a book and published a companion essay in the "Wall Street Journal" predicting a revival of Catholic schools.