Hi! For a while now, I have been feeling this need to be “set free”; to challenge my understanding of my world, the things that we accept and willingly (or subconsciously) participate in.
Mostly fueled by the current political climate, I’d love to hear about the books that particularly struck a cord in your divergent spirit. Books that made you challenge what you believed in and lead you to dive deeper into your own understanding of the world!
What are some books that made you question the status quo?
Edit: thank you everyone for these amazing recs!! I’m so excited to get to reading (and watching for some)!
by Puzzleheaded_Math181
9 Comments
Books That Taught Me About Being Asian American & an Immigrant:
The Chinese in America by Iris Chang
The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee
At America’s Gates by Erika Lee
America for Americans by Erika Lee (yeah I’m a fan)
Driven Out by Jean Pfaelzer
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
Stuff that Made Me Mad at the CIA & the British Empire (I know, weirdly specific):
The Killing Zone by Stephen Rabe
Central America’s Forgotten History by Aviva Chomsky
Myth of American Idealism by Noam Chomsky
Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner
Empireland & Empireworld by Santham Sanghera
Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh
Babel by RF Kuang
Stuff to Get Started:
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
For Brown Girls by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
Not a Nation of Immigrants by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly
Disability Visibility ed. Alice Wong
In the Shadow of Liberty by Ana Raquel Minian
Anything by Angela Davis
The Cost of Free Land by Rebecca Clarren. This fascinating book addresses the question: can you make amends for the historical transgressions of your ancestors, even if you (and maybe even they) did not know they were harming others. She is journalist who has covered the west, including Native American issues for years. Her Jewish ancestors who fled the Russian pograms became homesteaders in S Dakota in the 1800’s. It begins to dawn on her that her ancestors (as practically all homesteaders) free land may have been land that the US government stole from Native Americans and gave to white settlers. She doesn’t cop out — she deeply investigates her family history and interrogates the questions of how do future generations interact ethically with their family histories and their current lives.
Goliath by Max Blumenthal
The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk
Both books give a different perspective on the Middle East and Israel/Palestine
Disposable People by Kevin Bales – book about contemporary slavery
No Logo by Naomi Klein – book on globalization and how your stuff gets made
The Price of Fire by Benjamin Dangl – book about Bolivian fight for self determination against extractive corporations
NATOs Secret Armies by Daniele Ganser – whole new outlook on the Cold War
The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy by Stephanie Kelton
Edit: to correct typo
– The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshanna. Zuboff
– The Age of the Smart Machine, Shoshanna Zuboff
– The Sober Truth, Lance Dodes
– Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth
– The Body is Not an Apology, Sonya Renee Taylor
– So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
– Me and White Supremacy, Layla F Saad
– Algorithms of Opression, Safiya Umoja Noble
– Ace, What Asexuality Means About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
– For the Love of Men, Liz Plank
– Fair Play, Eve Rodsky
– The Invisible Kingdom, Meghan O’Rourke
– Eggshell Skull, Bri Lee
– Dirt, Adam Morton
– Mutual Aid, Dean Spade
– The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van der Kolk
– Come As You Are, Emily Nagoski
– So Tell Me About the Last Time You had Sex, Ian Kerner
These are probably in some sort of order.
* _Blood in My Eye_ by George Jackson
* _The Brain of the Firm_ by Stafford Beer
* _Operacion Masacre_ by Rodolfo Walsh (if you can read Spanish stick with that)
* _Open Veins of Latin America_ by Eduardo Galeano
* _Dancing in the Glory of Monsters…_ by Jason Stearns
* _Dialectic of Enlightenment_ by Theodor Adorno & Horkheimer
* _The Society of Spectacle_ by Guy Debord
* _The Accursed Share_ by Georges Bataille
* _Theory of Society_ by Niklas Luhmann (vol 1 and 2)
Can I add a documentary?
The Great War in Numbers (TV Mini Series 2017) isn’t just the usual how awful was WW1, it gives insight into WHY it started, no not the assassination – the way it was, Empires, how people were controlled etc. Attitudes, like the public school training to run the colonies etc.
And what affect the US had, no not helping win, the break up of the Empires, the change in peoples rights etc.
And how much it cost, Britain didn’t pay off their debt for it until 2015, did you know?!! WW1 debt.
And how really WW2 was just Chapter 2 because of the costs, both monetary, land wise, empire breakups. The talk about the Ottoman empire, British, German and other european empires and it was really interesting.
That had the most effect, and I have read a lot of books too, but this was much clearer I think.
The Dawn Of Everything
Lies My Teacher Taught Me