"Required" DU reading?

[mark414]

besides the obvious ones that is...no need to mention howard zinn, orwell or george lakoff, as worthy as they are of mention

i'm talking about books that are less specific to the mission and ideals of this place but still manage to sum up the basic things we all believe in...

my vote goes to Woody Guthrie's 'Bound For Glory,' which is (in my ever so humble opinion) the best book I've ever read.

and I have to give a second place ribbon to Eric Foner's "The Black Panthers Speak" compilation...amazing stuff in there

what else should DUers have on their must read list?

[JVS]

1. Babbitt

[swag]

9. Great choice.

It retains the sting of truth to this very day.

[hippiechick]

2. Eric Foner !! EEEEEEEEK!!!

My Historical Perspectives on Social Change Prof is/was pals with him!
Oh, the required reading !!!

:hi: ;)

[LostInAnomie]

3. In Dubious Battle

Not only will it make you angry at what business men and faux patriots are capable of, but it's mouth watering descriptions of cooking food will make you gain 5 pounds while reading.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. To Kill A Mockingbird.

Did you know there are some people who haven't read it or seen the movie?! How freaking insano is that?!
Duckie

[terrya]

5. Edit

Shouldn't have mentioned the Howard Zinn book,

I'd also suggest any of Studs Terkel's books.

[buddhamama]

6. second Studs Terkel

"Working" is a must read.

Also, anything and everything by Kurt Vonnegut.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Sheesh! The OP said

not to mention Howard Zinn, and here you go and even name one of his books.

Anyway, that particular book has held a distinguished spot in the magazine rack in my bathroom for many years. Not many books are so honored, or so frequently referenced.

:rofl:

[querelle]

8. Read Conservative Authors

It's always a good idea to "know thy enemy" and find out what makes them tick. Whatever you do though, don't buy their books and make them rich. Borrow them from your public library. I just finished reading Dinesh D'Souza's new book, "The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11". This book is so bad that even leading figures in the conservative movement have denounced it and distanced themselves from it. My only worry is that less informed conservatives will take his screed to heart and treat it as gospel truth.


:scared:

Q

[Katherine Brengle]

15. Absolutely agreed --

I've read Limbaugh, O'Lielly, Ann Coulter, etc.

Just please buy them used so these assholes don't make money off of you.

[querelle]

29. Never Read Any Limbaugh

Even I'm not that depraved. Seriously though........I didn't even know that he wrote anything. I know his brother David is a syndicated columnist (and an awful one at that), but I didn't know that the Pigboy had written books.

Q

[Hosnon]

25. Yep...oddly there are many here who would balk at that idea.

It's important to know where they are coming from in order to properly defend our own ideas.

[querelle]

27. Absolutely

And after all.........one can shower after reading each chapter to purge the filth.

Q

[Hosnon]

28. I like to read right wing authors and highlight/note places where they

are either stretching the truth or just outright lying.

I have never read anything of Coulter's but I've heard she is particularly bad about making shit up.

[querelle]

30. Coulter Is A Really Depraved Liar

I remember that she was supposed to debate Joe Conason on a TV show once (I forget which one). She backed out as soon as she learned who her opponent was going to be. Conason is a completely unassailable liberal journalist and Coulter knew it. Pity, as he would have torn her to shreds. Would have been fun to watch.

Q

[XemaSab]

10. Here's a short list:

Ecotopia (not a great book, but a thought-provoking book)
Monkey Wrench Gang
Poisonwood Bible
The Handmaid's Tale

Also "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."

[XemaSab]

11. Oh, and the Autobiography of Malcolm X

n/t

[Katherine Brengle]

16. Seconding Handmaid's Tale - most disturbing book I've ever read (I was

just about to edit my post to add it).

[idgiehkt]

12. If only

Two by Alice Miller: "Thou Shalt Not Be Aware", and "For Your Own Good". I'd love for liberals to have a better understanding of just how child abuse creates the society in which we live, and this lady is a master at explaining that.

[Katherine Brengle]

18. Never heard of it, sounds very interesting.

[idgiehkt]

22. She's a German psychotherapist

In "For Your Own Good" she demonstrates how the holocaust was allowed to happen by showing that the childrearing practices of Germans at that time (and for a hundred years prior) were so harsh that the whole society had the psychological amputations in place to easily accept (i.e. compartmenatalize and deny) those events, and she rejects blaming the holocaust on Hitler, as if one man could bring something like that about without the whole culture being capable of accepting it. It is a paradigm shifting book, as most of her work is. She draws from Kafka alot whom I had never been exposed to before her, and the parts where she draws from his work are illuminating. If we want to know how society comes to be the way it is we have no further to look than childhood

[chknltl]

13. Larry Flynt : "Sex Lies and Politics"

While not in the same league as the authors who have been cited above, his work is from another perspective and is fairly insightful

Second choice: Tomm Hartman: "What Would Jefferson Do"

[Katherine Brengle]

14. The Jungle...

probably the best book I've ever read.

Chomsky's Propaganda and the Public Mind

I'm sure I could think of many others...

[buddhamama]

17. Upton Sinclair- excellent recommendation.

i would also suggest Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky :thumbsup:

[Katherine Brengle]

19. Anything Chomsky really. Reading MC first would make mine easier to understand though. nt

[idgiehkt]

23. I tried reading the Jungle again recently and

I just could not do it. I think because the first time I read it was in high school and I have since worked in factories and it is somehow just that much more real to me or something. I find I have a stomach for a lot less as I grow older. I don't know why.

[XemaSab]

20. Steinbeck, particularly Grapes of Wrath

:(

[buddhamama]

21. Amy and David Goodman's

The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media that Love Them.

[GoneOffShore]

24. Here's a strange one

But a vitally important message that touches on ecology, health and culture.
The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

I've just started it but I'm already deeply drawn to what he's saying about the rise of corporate, industrial agriculture and how it's not only changing how and what we eat, but what we essentially are.

[YankeyMCC]

38. Very Good Suggestion

"Omnivores Dilemna" is an important book. It addresses the important issues of the climate crisis, human health, ecological health, the morality of eating meat, building stronger communities...all of which are connected and point to the need for grass roots action on this whole spectrum of issues and in particular the climate crisis that is currently the focus of these issues.

[GoneOffShore]

42. I was beginning to think I was the only person on DU who had read this book

I've been reading Pollan in the NYT for several years and always found him consistently informative and readable.

I can only hope that we Americans get a hold on our national eating disorder before we destroy everyone else's food culture.

[hellbound-liberal]

26. Here are five that you may not see listed anywhere else but I think they are important

for all of us to read to make us better citizens and consumers:

MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change from MoveOn.Org This book is full of practical suggestions for making a difference in your community.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins An eye-opening expose of the role that multinational corporations play in globalization and the impoverishment of people around the world.

War Talk by Arundhati Roy A series of essays written before the invasion if Iraq that examines the issues of social justice and world peace.

Trust Us We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future (Paperback) by Sheldon Rampton An expose about how the Public Relations Industry manipulates science in order to shape public opinion

How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff This book, written in 1954, is a wake-up call for people unaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe to grind, a point to prove, or a product to sell.

[graywarrior]

31. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
and
The Education of Oversoul 7 by Jane Roberts

[Redneck Socialist]

37. Is the Moore book new?

His stuff is freakin' hysterical. I haven't read that one, so off to the bookstore I go tomorrow. Thanks.

[graywarrior]

43. No, it's a few years old and it is hilarious.

I laughed all the way through it. Biff is a hoot.

[enigmatic]

32. "The Razor's Edge"- Somerset Maughm (1944)

Probably my favorite novel of all-time:

http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-Somerset-Maugham/dp/1400034205/sr=1-2/qid=1171758582/ref=sr_1_2/102-0708882-5171321?ie=UTF8&s=books

[Hugin]

33. Kurt Vonnegut...

"Cat's Cradle" specifically, but, almost all of his writings are relevant.

[Redneck Socialist]

36. I would have gone with Slaughter House Five

"...and so it goes."

[Radical Activist]

34. Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky

[Redneck Socialist]

35. Walden and...

Civil Disobedience by Thoreau

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson (Still the best campaign history ever written.)

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

That'll git'cha started.

Hell, let's toss in Catch 22 by Joseph Heller while we're at it too.

[YankeyMCC]

39. "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

"Changes in the Land" by William Conon
"Our Ecological Footprint" by Mathis Wackernagel and others
"Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond
"Collapse" by Jared Diamond


"Uneasy Kingdom" by Rhys Isaac - This may seem an odd one but it really demonstrates clearly the right-wing mind set in a historical perspective
"Race and Reunion" by David W. Blight
"Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution" by Eric Foner

I'm also going to include "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick and "Divided Ground" by Alan Taylor because they put in perspective an important part of the initial formation of our nation.

"1984" by Orwell
"Brave New World" by Huxley

And I'm also going to say the Red, Green, Blue Mars novels by Kim Stanley Robinson - really good examination of current society taken forward say 100 years then good exploration of alternatives that I think may people here would find interesting and thought provoking to say the least.

[TroubleMan]

40. None Dare Call It Treason by Vincent Bugliosi

Complete destroys the 2000 election - even without using all the stuff that Palast uncovered.

[InternalDialogue]

41. I haven't read Guthrie's book, but on the folk music bent:

Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground, by Scott Alarik.