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hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 11:12 AM Jun 2012

I need a stealth selection for my book club -

we have some members who have drunk deeply of the Fox kool-aid and are convinced people on welfare are middle class - after all, they have cell phones and cable TV, don't they?

I was thinking of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, but that may be too obvious.

Any suggestions?

Cross-posted from non-fiction - it occurred to me that there may be a good novel out there that will get the message across!

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I need a stealth selection for my book club - (Original Post) hedgehog Jun 2012 OP
"In Revere, In Those Days" by Roland Merullo YankeyMCC Jun 2012 #1
My sentiments exactly. Anything non-fiction written to show how despicable SheilaT Jun 2012 #2
It just struck me the book I'm reading right now YankeyMCC Jun 2012 #3
fiction: "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. About very poor people in India living a great life. applegrove Jun 2012 #4
The two books that have guided my thinking Curmudgeoness Jun 2012 #5
There probably are many novels with the ideas you want to share fadedrose Jun 2012 #6
Can't go wrong with Ineeda Jun 2012 #7
To Kill a Mockingbird's my all time favorite too! ;) Little Star Jun 2012 #8
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand Mz Pip Jun 2012 #9
You're right, I read that but had forgotten! hedgehog Jun 2012 #10
Catch-22 pscot Jun 2012 #11
+1 getting old in mke Jun 2012 #12

YankeyMCC

(8,401 posts)
1. "In Revere, In Those Days" by Roland Merullo
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 11:40 AM
Jun 2012

Pretty good view of what it means to be lower middle class vs wealthy.

Of course there's always "Grapes of Wrath"

The Ehrenreich books are good but they would probably be on alert right from the start.

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
2. My sentiments exactly. Anything non-fiction written to show how despicable
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 12:51 PM
Jun 2012

the current right-wing is, might even be rejected outright by the group.

Plus, having read that book, I don't think it's one that would convince anyone who is deep into the Fox News mentality. They'd look at everyone she writes about and conclude that each and every person is responsible for his or her own situation, and not see the larger picture.

"The Jungle" could be a good choice, and you can push it as a classic that everyone ought to read. "It Can't Happen Here" is another possibility. The problem with many of those books is that it could be too easy for a modern right-wing reader to simply conclude that they represent an era long gone, and one that has no meaning today. Which is, of course, the heart of the problem: Those who do not remember history . . .

Two recent non-fiction books might possibly work. "A Train in Winter" by Caroline Moorhead tells the story of a group of French Resistance fighters, women, who were captured by the Nazies and sent off to the death camps early in the war. It's about what they did to resist the Nazis in the first place, how they were captured, what they endured, and how some of them survived. It brings back the full horror of the Nazi era, which is being lost, sincfe those who lived through it are mostly gone now.

A book I'm reading right now (almost finished) is "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson, subtitled Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. William Dodd was a college history professor when he got tapped by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 to be ambassador to Berlin. Several other men had turned down the post prior to his selection. Dodd, his wife, son, and daughter arrived in Berlin in July of 1933, when many thought that Hitler could not possibly stay in power more than a year. They witnessed first-hand the awful change in German society and the German people as laws were passed restricting Jews' rights to hold a job, go to school, and so on. The book really only covers the Dodds' first year there (he served until 1937) but it clearly shows what happens when extremists take over a country, totally control the media, and set forth unchallenged lie after unchallenged lie.

Again, it is entirely possible that the point of either of those two books will be too subtle for your group. It will take a lot more than one book, or one movie, or even one personal encounter of some kind (like losing health care and needing serious medicine/surgery, etc) to change people like this. If they don't stop watching Fox, there's no real hope for them.

YankeyMCC

(8,401 posts)
3. It just struck me the book I'm reading right now
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 02:19 PM
Jun 2012

"The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson

Would really knock them out

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
5. The two books that have guided my thinking
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 08:04 PM
Jun 2012

have both been mentioned, but I will second them.

The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath. Both are classics, both show hard working people who are poor as dirt and can never get ahead. I am a liberal today because of these books read when I was young. They have stayed with me.

fadedrose

(10,044 posts)
6. There probably are many novels with the ideas you want to share
Wed Jun 6, 2012, 09:28 PM
Jun 2012

But it would be helpful to know if the members are men or women, old or young, lifestyles, etc...

As much as the Fiction group loves fiction, it's amazing how we all love a different type...

Ineeda

(3,626 posts)
7. Can't go wrong with
Mon Jun 18, 2012, 11:17 AM
Jun 2012

To Kill a Mockingbird -- my all-time favorite, reread at least every couple of years. Such richness in a small book -- lessons about generosity, tolerance, kindness, racism, etc. (If they complain about having read it before -- as most probably have -- perhaps require that they be ready to discuss an aspect of the story they had missed before.)

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