Let's pretend you have a nephew or niece that just turned 18, didn't go to a great school, never got good grades, and has, until this point, been largely uncurious about the world around them.
But now they've noticed that they have aged into a complicated world. They want to know more.
What books would you recommend that would help this kid understand global politics, United States politics, the economy, and more? What books' contents do you wish you could download directly into young people's (or anyone's) heads?
Keep your audience in mind; this is a young layperson with little to no prior knowledge to build off of. What are some books that would be informative and enjoyable to them?
by LarkingOnANewLife
3 Comments
Crash Course on YouTube.
On the economy, I’d recommend Talking to My Daughter About the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis. On *gestures broadly* maybe On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. In general, books written for a middle school audience will assume no prior knowledge on a subject.
By The Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle is a pretty straightforward introduction to Native American history, particularly focused on the Cherokee and Muscogee.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is specifically written as a letter from a father to his son on what it means to be Black in the US.
Maus is a great graphic novel, and is on several banned books lists.
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
The Ugly American
People’s History of the United States (there’s also a young persons version as well) by Howard Zinn
Freakonomics by Steven J Dubner
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
How to Change Everything by Naomi Klein
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Lies My Teacher Taught Me by James Loren