If you had to pick one essential book that every liberal should read, what would it be?

[marmar]

I'm in major reading catch-up mode right now (I'm working thru Marx's 'Capital' now), but if I had to pick the one that's had the biggest impact on me, it's Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine."

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy"

by Greg Palast is pretty mind opening in getting someone to realize how bad the situation really is.

[Aragorn]

9. all good picks IMO

But I'll say "Jailbird" by Kurt Vonnegut.

[hfojvt]

80. at least I have read that one

"Sally in the garden, sifting cinders ..."

This earworm brought to you by Ramjac Inc.

[timeforpeace]

98. Orwell predicted our current situation (all government, all the time) so 1984 and Animal Farm since

the warnings contained therein have been ignored.

[tosh]

119. Thanks for the memory.

I think it's time to revisit this one.

<and into my Alibris wish-list it goes>

[tekisui]

2. I like Shock Doctrine. One I really like right now is "Why Social Justice Matters"

by Brian Barry.

It really lays out the reasons to be a Liberal.

[unhappycamper]

3. At the moment, Janes Mayer's "The Dark Side".

It's taking me a very long time as I get really pissed after one or two pages and I have to put it down.

[marmar]

4. I had to do that with the "Shock Doctrine".....

Mayer's book is on my list.

[Call Me Wesley]

5. It's three books, though:

Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope.

[slackmaster]

6. The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore

Essential to understanding the real meaning of what we are being fed throught the media.

[AspenRose]

84. That's a good one...was required reading in my comm class in college

[Posteritatis]

127. McLuhan's tough enough to wrap one's head around to constitute good brain candy in general, too. nt

[Brigid]

7. "Opposing the System" by Charles Reich

An eye-opening look at corporatism.

[Warpy]

8. If you can kick and claw your way through "Capital,"

there is nothing beyond you. The book is genius, but the prose is, um, dense.

One book I'd recommend for any burgeoning liberal is "Lies my Teacher Told Me," the basic, tear-the-wool-off-your-eyes history book. It's a great quick read and packed with information. http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868

Another is "A People's History of the United States." http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257173612&sr=1-1

Once you get through these, you'll have a working knowledge of your own history and can proceed to read anything and everything critically.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. When we take long drives we try to get exactly that type of audio book

We listened to Lies My Teacher Told Me and it kept us mesmerized for hours. Certainly changed my opinion of Woodow Wilson! Who knew he was such a virulent racist?

[blindpig]

35. It can be tough..

Am participating in an online reading of it now, lots of back & forth, very helpful. It is daunting, linen & coats, different forms, but it all comes together when the theory is revealed as description of the historical process.

[bunkerbuster1]

43. Lies My Teacher Told Me really is required reading.

I don't know if it is really the ONE book everyone should read--I'm not sure what that book is.

but LMTT came immediately to mind.

[CTyankee]

62. I had to read a chunk of Capital in an Econ grad course I took.

Actually, compared to the Austrian School guys, Von Wiser et. al., Marx was funny. He had some witty zingers for capitalists!

[saltpoint]

10. Many book titles, but not least this photograph:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/316062.html

[DiverDave]

24. That image haunts me

It could have been my granny, as they lived that life when I was very young.
I remember the shacks and the communal showers and getting my arm stuck in a wringer washer, in a line of them, she knew which to unplug.
I didn't know you let go before it grabbed your hand.

[saltpoint]

32. Hi, DiverDave. "Haunts" is exactly the word.

The narratives this photo brings up ought to shape someone's personal social and political views as strongly as almost anything else.

[TicketyBoo]

77. The description of that photograph

comes from the book No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy, and, although I haven't read the book, it looks marvelous.

[harun]

12. 1984

With A People's History of the United States a close second.

[marmar]

13. I read "1984" in 7th grade.....in the Raygun '80s.....with the backdrop of nuclear war.

I forget sometimes what a big impact that book had on me then.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. Dr. Ravi Batra: The New Golden Age

Subtitled: The coming revolution against political corruption and economic chaos

Dr. Batra called the end of Communism and the economic collapse years before they happened. This book explains how he knew and why the ruling overclass is about to crash. This isn't fist-waiving populism like Sirota is famous for - Batra just explains how history repeats itself. This isn't economic wonk policy either.

The closest I could compare it to would be Disaster Capitalism (which is another staple as you noted).

[cali]

15. Without a doubt, "Two Cheers for Democracy" by E.M. Forster.

Timeless and brilliant.

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Canadian Guide to Immigration

[Greyhound]

72. LOL!

:rofl:

[Brickbat]

17. "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis.

I highly recommend it.

[OnyxCollie]

25. "It Can't Happen Here" is highly prophetic.

Liberty cabbage, anyone?

[AlinPA]

156. A lot of ignorant "teabagger" type in that book that make up Buzz's base.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

48. I've not read that one

but he also wrote "Oil" which is a very good book.

[blm]

18. The BCCI Report at National Security Archives. I wish EVERY citizen would read it so BushInc could

be jailed once and for all. And toss in their Dem protectors, too.

[Brickbat]

19. Oh, also, the USA trilogy by Dos Passos.

[closeupready]

20. Animal Farm.

Short, easy to read, some hard-hitting truths that are impossible to avoid.

[the other one]

21. Howard Zinn - Peoples History of the U S

[dysfunctional press]

22. yep.

that would be my choice.

[devilgrrl]

31. but but but but that book biased!

:cry:

Just heading off the Zinn haters here....

[marmar]

34. I'm surprised they haven't shown up.....

Last week I read one of those "....Zinn presents a very biased view of history" posts....

Like the one we've been bombarded with all of our lives is so inclusive and balanced. :wtf:

[devilgrrl]

39. Oh, I know. Fricken ridiculous!

Notice that they are never unable to dispute the claims in the book, so they cry "BIAS" because that's the only thing they can do.

[Toucano]

52. True. It's very telling the the facts are not disputed.

So the tone or perspective gets assailed.

[Greyhound]

70. Facts have a populist bias. n/t

:rofl:

[QC]

45. I guess the dissent alarm hasn't rung

back at Centrist Headquarters yet.

[the other one]

42. Zinn lays out his bias at the outset

All history books are biased; as long as the writer discloses his own, then the detrimental effects of bias are greatly diminished.

[QC]

44. Yeah, Zinn's not very popular since the right wing takeover of this site.

I wonder why that might be?

[graywarrior]

115. +1,000,000,000

[rucky]

117. +1

[Orsino]

139. +1 n/t

[derby378]

23. Since 1984 has already been spoken for, I recommend ANIMAL FARM

It illustrates how fragile a new democracy can be, and honestly, the United States is no exception, what with the Whiskey Rebellion and the inherent flaws in the original Articles of Confederation. It is so easy for a new dictator to assume power, whether by accident or by design, and this novel serves as a warning against such.

[davekriss]

26. Chomsky & Herman, Manufacturing Consent

A close second is Harry Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capital

[PretzelWarrior]

135. yes. there are a couple like that I highly recommend by Chomsky

[NNN0LHI]

27. Tossup between Slaughterhouse Five and Catch-22

[blindpig]

28. Capital

Trust me, the basic understanding of how things work in our economy, and thus in our society is to be found in Capital. Ms Klein really should have read it, there is no good or bad capitalism, there is just capitalism.

[Toucano]

51. I agree 100%. n-t

[RadiationTherapy]

59. Are your comment and username connected?

[blindpig]

63. Ah, the voice of ignorance

Why don't you take in up with Mr Marx instead of petty snarkery?

Have you read and understood it or are you talking out of your ass?

[RadiationTherapy]

73. Your username is 'blindpig' and your comment implied there

is no good or bad capitalism. It's not a stretch and it is not indicative of my understanding of economics.

[blindpig]

85. Let me try again...

There is no 'disaster capitalism' or 'corporate capitalism', it's just plain capitalism. There is no point in reforming capitalism, FDR gave it a shot and here we are again. Capitalism is insatiable, it cannot help but steal our labor and turn it to profits for the parasitic owners.
We should kill it.

[RadiationTherapy]

96. Ah. Thank you for clarifying.

It is easier, for me, to simply say there is no 'good' capitalism.

[blindpig]

116. My apologies

for jumping the gun.

You're right, there is no good capitalism.

[bvar22]

103. The New Deal was a success.

It produced a Middle Class that prospered until the late 70s.

In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, a person willing to work part time could attend State University and graduate Debt Free.

A non-college educated individual could:
*Raise a family in relative comfort with One person working.

*Provide excellent Health Care to his family

*Buy and pay-off a comfortable home in the suburbs

*Own and operate two relatively new automobiles

*Take a REAL vacation every year

*Send his children to a State University

*Save enough to retire in comfort.

There have been forces at work to disassemble the New Deal.
Reagan was very successful, followed by the "New Democrats" in the 90s.
This is WHY "here we are again"..NOT something wrong with FDR's New Deal.

As we are speaking, there is an element planning to "reform entitlements" (Social Security), which is really the last piece of The New Deal we have left.

[blindpig]

109. It's demise was inevitable as long as the capitalist

were left standing. They had to destroy it, it stands in the way of maximizing profit.

The "middle class" of our youth was a historical anomaly, the result of being the only industrial power left intact after WWII, and the following Cold War. In the Cold War it was necessary to 'bribe' the working class to prove the superiority of the capitalists system. With that motivation gone...well, you see what's happened, bidness as usual. It could be said that the Red Army was the best friend that the American Middle Class ever had.

[bvar22]

111. You make some valid points,

..but we will never really know for sure since there is nothing to compare it to.

Highly regulated capitalism (blended Socialism) worked (and works) pretty well.
The demise began when the regulation was removed by those selling the "Free Hand of the Marketplace" which had the inevitable and predictable results.


The MIC needed the "bogeyman" to justify the TRILLIONS they wasted, but I'm not convinced that the American Working Class needed it.

[blindpig]

114. If regulation works so well how did we arrive in this state?

Regulation will always fail, it's part of the business model. It was seemingly effective only as long as it was necessary to keep up the charade and that time has passed.

[OnyxCollie]

29. "War Is A Racket" reads like it was written yesterday.

"They Thought They Were Free" gives great insight into the ideology that allows dictators to come into and stay in power.

"Chain of Command" was slow to read because I would get pissed off after every page.

[hayu_lol]

33. A couple books that should be required reading...

Mark Twain: Letters Penned In Hell

and of course: It Can't Happen Here

[Greyhound]

71. Another excellent choice.

My heavily military, reich-wing family nearly exploded when I introduced this booklet to the younger generations.

He wrote military heresy, but demands their attention through his record.

Similar to Zinn but can't be dismissed out of hand...

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Toss up between Unequal Protection and The Shock Doctrine. n/t

[leveymg]

36. C. Wright Mills, "The Power Elites"

A good, modern complement to what you're reading. If you want to understand post-War American government and society, that's the one.

Also, read Schumpeter's essays, "The Creative Destruction of Capitalism"

[Greyhound]

79. Does he name names? n/t

[leveymg]

91. More about institutions. Hint: If G.H.W. Bush was a member, it's in there: Andover, Yale, CIA, CFR

US House of Representatives, Skull & Bones, all old-school tie and Navy Blue sport coats, khaki trousers, tassled loafers, and Episcopal High Mass. If you're in, you're in for 2 generations, minimum, until you make the mistake of not sending the kid who suffered fetal alcohol syndrome to the special school for troubled adolescents, but instead he goes to Andover and Yale, and from there gets handed his ticket to the White House. That's how power elites and civilizations fall, but C. Wright Mills didn't write that book. Try Chalmers Johnson's "Blowback" for that.

[Greyhound]

95. I'm interested in/ looking for a summation of the parasites that rule

and have ruled most of the world for centuries. The BCF is certainly one of them, but there are so many that few have ever heard of, let alone all the crimes they have committed.

I think that perhaps if people realized that all these people (with a few exceptions) are related and are the same families that have leeched off of societies, they might begin to understand the cause of their misery. One fact that needs to be made clear is that political parties are nothing but another facade for them to hide behind.

[Hannah Bell]

108. try this guy. some of his books are on-line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Myers

http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/myers/myers_index.html

[Greyhound]

148. Thanks, I will. n/t

[leveymg]

97. Try Josephson's "The Robber Barons" available on Google Books at:

The robber barons: the great American capitalists, 1861-1901 - Google Books Result by Matthew Josephson - 1962 - Business & Economics - 474 pages
Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Harriman, Gould, Frick...this is the story of the giant american capitalists who seized economic power after the ...
http:books.google.com/books?isbn=0156767902...

Still as fresh today as the when it was first published in 1934.

[izzybeans]

128. William Domhoff takes the Power Elite thesis and provides some contemporary

evidence. It's about as close to naming names as there will be. "Who Rules America?" Is the title of the book.

[Greyhound]

147. Thanks, I'll check it out. n/t

[meegbear]

37. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

[TicketyBoo]

81. Excuse me?

Asking a Mac user to critique Windows 7 is like asking a teabagger to critique Obama.

Excuse me? You're equating Mac users with teabaggers? REALLY offensive!

[OxQQme]

38. Ecotopia n/t

[11 Bravo]

40. Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny got His Gun".

[AspenRose]

86. Another classic.

[Initech]

41. Farenheit 451

[Javaman]

46. "The Ugly American". nt

[TexasObserver]

47. Grapes of Wrath. As a story, it's more interesting that straight data or history.

It's a story that is compelling, and effectively weaves into it the key components of the struggle between the powerless and the powerful. I love reading History, but many citizens don't. They like stories, so this one is a story that tells them the themes they need to understand.

[eleny]

49. My pick as well

[TexasObserver]

53. That one covers domestic issues. For foreign policy? The Ugly American.

That one really tells the hubris, the arrogance, of US foreign policy in so many places. This notion that other countries want to change to be like the USA is always wrong. They want things we have, but they do not want to make their country like ours.

The Ugly American helps us see ourselves as others see us.

I joined the military at 18 in 1968, and was soon in Southeast Asia, technically in the war zone, although practically speaking I was not. Like many other GIs, I could not understand why so many seemed to hate Americans, even people we were supposedly helping. As I read book after book about the history of the US and its wars, I learned the sordid back story for most of those incursions. But when I read The Ugly American, it really made me see the problem from their side. That, and Heart of Darkness by Conrad both speak to outside manipulations by Western influences.

[robinlynne]

50. bookmarking this wonderful OP to save.

[Mithreal]

150. second that and done the same, thanks everyone, keep em coming

[mrbarber]

54. Fahrenheit 451.

[nolabear]

55. Oddly enough, the Bible.

Note that even I, a non-believer, capitalized it becaues that's proper grammatically. I think it's absolutely important to know what the book says, how many people believe they are basing their opinions on it when really they're basing them on what a conservative with an agenda has told them it says, and how influential it is on a truly stunning number of people. And it's also worth noting that it's got some pretty great, archetypal stories in it and some good advice, taken on face value (whatEVER that is!).

[stanwyck]

65. The Bible is also very environmentally conscious

not that the global warming deniers would agree. There are a couple of references to homosexuality in The Bibles. There are hundreds of references to being the caretakers of animals and plants. And, yet, the fundamentalists and conservatives prefer to ignore what doesn't fit their agenda.

[morffin]

56. The Media Monopoly.. Ben Bagdikian

its a bit old but lays it out

[Beacho]

57. Wealth And Democracy In America-Kevin Phillips

While there are a lot of great books on the subject of politics, I find this one is a great weapon against the "Eff You, I got Mine" Libertarian Free Market hocus pocus.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

58. "Catch-22" the best anti-war, anti-establishment, book ever written.

[FSogol]

67. Yup, Catch-22 would be my rec too. n/t

[etherealtruth]

136. Most definitely!

[Gman2]

60. The Book of Five Rings

We have forgotten, how to sacrifice dignity, health, safety, to fight for political goals. That whole business is seen as seedy, crass, undignified, To be avoided.

I wish we learned how to engage, to take every advantage of our enemies weaknesses. To throw off the GOP enshackeled term pacifist. We need to be the teabaggers, only intelligent. We could really rock this joint, if we just learned to engage.

[Prophet 451]

61. "What's The Matter With Kansas?"

Retitled "What's The Matter With America?" here (Britain) by Thomas Frank. Goes a very long way to explaining the fundemental disconnect between the ultraright and everyone else, a lot of the people and forces he highlights are behind the teabagger crowd.

[Brigid]

64. I have this one.

Hven't had a chance to read it yet.

[goodboy]

66. On The Origin Of Species - Charles Darwin (nt)

[EndersDame]

68. No Logo- by Naomi Klein a great insight into media and Free trade

My own personal Bible when I was in high school.

[marmar]

69. Yup. No Logo is indeed another good one.

nt

[hfojvt]

82. does it count that I bought that one?

I am not sure I will get around to reading it. Maybe I will take it to my insurance sign up, to read while I am waiting for the mandatory talk with AFLAC.

"The most sophisticated culture jams are not stand-alone ad parodies but interceptions - counter-messages that hack into a corporation's own method of communication to send a message starkly at odds with the one that was intended." p. 281

[gratuitous]

74. "The Profit" by Kehlog Albran

"Who reads this book and understands it should read no other."

[Octafish]

105. That was one funny book.

I had it on my shelf next to the smallest book in my library, "The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro T. Agnew," written by David Duchovny's dad.

[Kablooie]

75. My Pet Goat.

[MajorChode]

122. A timeless classic suitable for all ages

Just be careful trying to read it and eat pretzels at the same time.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

76. Agree

with "The Shock Doctrine," "Catch 22" but also am currently plowing through "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet. Pick it up every chance I get.

[Jankyn]

78. "Why Not Socialism?" by G.A. Cohen...

...just published in a new edition by the Princeton University Press.

[hfojvt]

83. so far I have read many of them

Lies my teacher told me
People's history
Animal Farm and 1984
Jailbird
Catch 22 (although why somebody would suggest that book rather than Heller's "Picture This" is beyond me)
Slaughterhouse 5
Bury my heart at wounded knee
What's the matter with Kansas?


In fact, now that I think of it, I will nominate "Picture This" by Joseph Heller. It is very easy to read and it covers history, economics, greed, war, Socrates and Rembrandt.

edit: I've also read "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Ugly American" (okay, the last one I thought was a biography of me)

Also, I might add honorable mention to "The Other America", "Looking Backward", "The American" (by Howard Fast) and "Education of a radical" (by Scott Nearing, I may not have the title exactly correct) and the fiction of Michael Collins.

[YvonneCa]

87. "Assault on Reason" by Al Gore. His new book...

..."The Choice" is another I am looking forward to reading. The first is not an easy read...he's a really smart guy, and he writes like it! :7

[marmar]

89. I read "Assault on Reason" and it was indeed a good book.

nt

[kaehele]

88. Two votes

I would first nominate Lionel Trilling's The Liberal Imagination. Written in the 40's, it is a series of essays that, in my mind, capture the breadth of what it means to be a liberal rather than a wonk. Trilling's writings evoke the spirit of liberalism in its humanistic and conceptual ways.

And, if I could sneak in a film, the new documentary on Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten in the good old days of the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) attempt to ferret out commies in the movies and the heartland. Listening to Trumbo's interviews and witnessing what he went through
because he refused to rat out friends sure reminded me dramatically of what this country is supposed to be about and what liberals have historically worked for.

[earth mom]

90. Confessions of an Economic Hitman and Nickel & Dimed...

as well as others already mentioned...

1984

Animal Farm

Shock Doctrine

[HamdenRice]

92. Samuelson, "Economics". Before critiquing the system, at least understand it. C+I+G+(X-I)=GDP

If you don't understand this equation, any "critique" of yours of the existing system and distribution is irrelevant, because you don't understand what the parties are arguing over.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

93. The United States Consitiution?

Not sure it qualifies as a book though.

I think not only all Liberals should know it, but all Americans regardless of political affiliation.

[Are_grits_groceries]

94. Know thine enemy:

God in the Corridors of Power: Christian Conservatives, the Media, and Politics in America

[alfredo]

99. "Conservatives without Conscience" by John Dean. "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet

Read Dean's book, then Jeff Sharlet's.

Naomi Klein's book, "The Shock Doctrine", then Jane Mayer's "The Dark Side."

Reading those four books in the order I give will give you a good understanding of the right, and show the stark differences between Liberals and Conservatives.

[marmar]

102. John Dean has penned a couple of gems.

nt

[alfredo]

123. His style is nice and clear.

[alfredo]

100. "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.

[edwardian]

101. "The Politics of Friendship",

by Jacques Derrida, "The Human Mind", by Robert Wilson, "The Origins of Totalitarianism", by Hannah Arendt...

[Octafish]

104. JFK and the Unspeakable -- Why He Died and Why It Matters

by James Douglass.

The great DUer MinM told me about it.

Here's an excellent review of the book from an expert in the field:

JFK and the Unspeakable

by James W. Douglass

Reviewed by James DiEugenio

This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy. Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960's. The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

This is one of the few books on the Kennedy case that I actually wished was longer. In the purest sense, Jim Douglass is not a natural writer. But it seems to me he has labored meticulously to fashion a well organized, thoroughly documented, and felicitously composed piece of workmanship that is both comprehensible and easy to read. These attributes do not extend from simplicity of design or lack of ambition. This book takes in quite a lot of territory. In some ways it actually extends the frontier. In others it actually opens new paths. To achieve that kind of scope with a relative economy of means, and to make the experience both fast and pleasant, is quite an achievement.

I should inform the reader at the outset: this is not just a book about JFK's assassination. I would estimate that the book is 2/3 about Kennedy's presidency and 1/3 about his assassination. And I didn't mind that at all, because Douglass almost seamlessly knits together descriptions of several of Kennedy's policies with an analysis of how those policies were both monitored and resisted, most significantly in Cuba and Vietnam. This is one of the things that makes the book enlightening and worthy of understanding.

One point of worthwhile comparison would be to David Talbot's previous volume Brothers. In my view, Douglass' book is better. One of my criticisms of Talbot's book was that I didn't think his analysis of certain foreign policy areas was rigorous or comprehensive enough. You can't say that about Douglass. I also criticized Talbot for using questionable witnesses like Angelo Murgado and Timothy Leary to further certain dubious episodes about Kennedy's life and/or programs. Douglass avoided that pitfall.

One way that Douglass achieves this textured effect is in his quest for new sources. One of the problems I had with many Kennedy assassination books for a long time is their insularity. That is, they all relied on pretty much the same general established bibliography. In my first book, Destiny Betrayed, I tried to break out of that mildewed and restrictive mold. I wanted to widen the lens in order to place the man and the crime in a larger perspective. Douglass picks up that ball and runs with it. There are sources he utilizes here that have been terribly underused, and some that haven't been used before. For instance, unlike Talbot, Douglass sources Richard Mahoney's extraordinary JFK: Ordeal in Africa, one of the finest books ever written on President Kennedy's foreign policy. To fill in the Kennedy-Castro back channel of 1963 he uses In the Eye of the Storm by Carlos Lechuga and William Attwood's The Twilight Struggle. On Kennedy and Vietnam the author utilizes Anne Blair's Lodge in Vietnam, Ellen Hammer's A Death in November, and Zalin Grant's Facing the Phoenix. And these works allow Douglass to show us how men like Henry Cabot Lodge and Lucien Conein did not just obstruct, but actually subverted President Kennedy's wishes in Saigon. On the assassination side, Douglass makes good use of that extraordinary feat of research Harvey and Lee by John Armstrong, the difficult to get manuscript by Roger Craig, When They Kill a President, plus the work of little known authors in the field like Bruce Adamson and hard to get manuscripts like Edwin Black's exceptional essay on the Chicago plot. Further, he interviewed relatively new witnesses like Butch Burroughs and the survivors of deceased witnesses like Thomas Vallee, Bill Pitzer and Ralph Yates. In the use of these persons and sources, Douglass has pushed the envelope forward.

But it's not just what is in the book. It is how it is molded together that deserves attention. For instance, in the first chapter, Douglass is describing the Cuban Missile Crisis at length (using the newest transcription of the secretly recorded tapes by Sheldon Stern.) He then segues to Kennedy's American University speech. At this point, Douglass then introduces the figure of Lee Harvey Oswald and his relation to the U-2 (p. 37). This is beautifully done because he has been specifically discussing the U-2 flights over Cuba during the Missile Crisis, and he subliminally matches both Kennedy and Oswald in their most extreme Cold War backdrops. He then switches back to the American University speech, contrasting its rather non-descript reception in the New York Times with its joyous welcome in Russia, thus showing that Kennedy's efforts for détente were more appreciated by his presumed enemy than by the domestic pundit class.

These artful movements would be good enough. But the design of the book goes further. As mentioned above, in his first introduction of Oswald Douglass mentions the Nags Head, North Carolina military program which launched American soldiers into Russia as infiltrators. Near the end of the book (p. 365), with Oswald in jail about to be killed by Jack Ruby, Douglass returns to that military program with Oswald's famous thwarted phone call to Raleigh, North Carolina: the spy left out in the cold attempting to contact his handlers for information as how to proceed. But not realizing that his attempted call will now guarantee his execution. Thus the author closes a previously prepared arc. It isn't easy to do things like that. And it doesn't really take talent. One just has to be something of a literary craftsman: bending over the table, honing and refining. But it's the kind of detail work that pays off. It maintains the reader's attention along the way and increases his understanding by the end.

CONTINUED...

http://www.ctka.net/2008/jfk_unspeakable.html

It's a must-read for everyone who gives a damn about the United States of America.

[justabob]

106. They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer

Very good book about what it was like living under the Nazis, and how/why different people became Nazis(or not).

[Mithreal]

151. And a warning to us all. Powerful read.

[Ardent15]

107. "White Protestant Nation" by Allan Lichtman

Goes into detail the long history of our enemy.

[marmar]

110. That's one I've been intending to read for the longest.....

..... but never get around to it.

[opihimoimoi]

112. I would strongley suggest THE ASCENT OF MAN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Man

Answer for the Whole and you answer for the small

[Cleita]

113. Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

It's not what you were taught in school and it pretty much points to what is wrong with this country and those who sacrificed to make it right.

[slampoet]

118. "Fear and Lothing on the Campaign trail '72" or "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence"

[slampoet]

120. Wait... I change my vote to "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

[Unvanguard]

140. James Loewen? Yeah, I'll second that one. n/t

[PretzelWarrior]

121. I recommend Dreams From My Father as a description of the liberal ethic

[PretzelWarrior]

124. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

[izzybeans]

129. +1

[izzybeans]

130. +1 (dupe aka +2)

[Posteritatis]

125. A book on basic logic - thinking well is where a lot of good starts

I'd bet if this thread came up once a year the book recommendations would be whatever was currently or recently big ideologically in the stores and reading lists, but I'm also pretty sure my suggestion would be just as good fifty years from now (or ago).

[anonymous171]

126. Brave New World

[izzybeans]

131. The Philosophy of Social Hope - Richard Rorty

Some good one's are named above.

Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom

The People's Lobby - Liz Clemons

The Good Society -Bellah, Swidler, et al.

just some contemporary examples...

[mikeSchmuckabee]

132. Paul Fussel or Thorstein Veblen

"Class" or "Theory of the Leisure Class".

[bertman]

133. Great thread, marmar. Bookmarked for when I finish the ten books on the JFK assassination

that I am currently working my way through.

My personal list would have to begin with "A People's History of the United States" and "Shock Doctrine".

Rec.

[PretzelWarrior]

134. you're reading 10 books on the JFK assassination?

I guess you didn't want to seem a lightweight by only reading 8.

[bertman]

138. You hafta draw the line somewhere, PretzelWarrior.

Now that I'm actually counting them, it would be eleven, not counting "JFK and the Unspeakable" which I intend to buy or borrow any day now. It has come highly recommended from several DU'ers whose opinions I respect.

[Fly by night]

137. Living the Good Life (Nearings), Dharma Bums (Kerouac), Rules for Radicals (Alinsky)

How to live

How to view life

How to get things done

[Samantha]

141. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

It explains everything.

Sam

[zonkers]

142. Adventures of Huck Finn

[bobbolink]

143. Empathy Gap, JD Trout, 2009

p. 30 In the research of Fisk and her colleagues, people were asked how different social groups are viewed by their society. When asked a series of questions about social warmth and the competency of different social and ethnic groups, the answers clustered around four emotional responses: pity, envy, pride, and disgust. For example, people routinely reach to the homeless with disgust. This is puzzling enough. You might have thought people would pity the homeless, empathize with their position, and feel sorry for them. Not at all. And in a functional MRI study, when study participants were presented with pictures of members from each social and ethnic group, the medial prefrontal cortex--the site that registers the potential for an object's social action--popped for all but one group: the homeless. The homeless maybe seen as human, but not fully so, not as social actors.14

[cynatnite]

144. There are several, but I would rec My Life by Bill Clinton...

It's an excellent primer on the difficulties he faced in the WH and was brutally honest about the difficulties he faced when it came to issues that liberals care about. IMO, he was gracious and forthright. This is something every liberal should read and will at least give folks an idea of some of what Obama is facing right now.

The one that impacted me personally the most was Al Franken's Lying Liars book. It's an excellent read!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

145. Amusing Ourselves to Death, The Republican Noise Machine and American Fascists

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, the classic and prescient analysis of news media history from print to teevee and the resulting wreckage of critical thinking.


The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock, on how the right wing has sabotaged journalism, democracy, and truth.

American Fascists, by Chris Hedges, outlining the Christian Conservative sick and dangerous mindset.

Blinded by the Right, David Brock. His memoir of his time as a r.w. "journalist", the operatives he ran with and how he came to realize the deceit.

Those were four I got alot out of. Also, Bush on the Couch, a psychoanalysis of commander potato-crotch. Not really an overview of the American zeitgeist (or parts thereof but still, it was interesting. (but, hmmm, on the other hand, regarding Amer. zeitgeist --- the fact that many US citizens didn't detect anything wrong with flagrant, repeated lies and blatant psychological warpage and DOES actually give insight into a serious problem.)

[change_notfinetuning]

146. "Endless Enemies" by Jonathan Kwitny

This masterpiece, by a Wall Street Journal reporter yet, tells how US policy got us into war after war after war (for all the wrong reasons). In its quest to make the world safe for hypocrisy, this War as Usual policy produces enemies everywhere (and you thought we don't produce anything anymore).

The book was released in 1984, and updated once by the author, who died in the late 90's. But, if you read the book and have followed our more recent escapades abroad, you will know the pattern and be able to provide your own update.

Imagine what this country could be if we hadn't squandered those trillions of dollars and good will on unnecessary, self-destructive wars. And yet, nothing has changed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

149. Call me old fashioned but if you are to understand the foundations of the Country

and I mean the actual ones...

Cicero's Commentaries, the US Constitution, as well as John Locke on government... add Little Richard's Almanack as well as Franklin's Autobiography.

Once you understand what those mean... and how they connect to each other... then by all means move to the Wealth of Nations by Smith (and realize our "capitalism" is not)... go through the debates on the national bank on the early republic, which relate directly to NAFTA... and how NAFTA is fully against the rise of industry in the country. And by all means then go on and read Marx, Engels, and of course anything you can get on the New Deal... particularly the economic doctrine behind it, that is Keynes.

Nicked and Dimed, and the Shock Doctrine are good... but to truly understand the Shock Doctrine you need to understand where we've been before... and that includes the philosphy of the New Deal as well as what is what... philosophically. And you need to be very careful about language.

[old mark]

152. ANY book by Rush, Newt, Sarah, or Glenn-If that does not strengthen

your "liberal" (human, sensible, decent) political beliefs, you are lost anyway. The opposition is a bunch of really sick bastards and the more you understand who they are, the better for all of us.

mark

[thepeopleunited]

153. Utopia in an honest translation.

Makes Marx and Engels look like the good-hearted plagiarists they were.

[glitch]

154. Agenda for a New Economy - David C. Korten

It's short and easy to read a real eye-opener. It even offers a path forward out of the mess we're in, as well as an explanation of how we got here.

[alittlelark]

157. I liked the book you recommended - I ordered it on Amazon

I got an option to do express checkout with the phrase "Gina's Grandiose Pretensions".


I gotta say, it was kinda weird.


Is Amazon gettin' freaky, or is it just a fluke?

[glitch]

159. That is weird! I got mine through Yes! Magazine so I don't know about what is going on at Amazon

in this case. Sounds like Amazon might be getting a little freaky :) Still, it's a good book, worth wading through a little freak for, I guess.

[Kaleva]

155. The K.J.V. Bible

[ddeclue]

158. The Gospel According to RFK.

A collection of Robert F. Kennedy's speeches from his 1968 Presidential Campaign.

This is THE Gospel for any true liberal.