Below is a list of some of the books that I have found particularly
significant and helpful,
and some comments about each one to provide you with a sense of what
they are about. I will be adding more to the list from time to time.
Enjoy!The Culture of Make Believe
Derrick Jensen
Context Books
Using a Socratic method of questions and then searching for answers,
Jensen
ranges amid an extraordinary universe of sources to build his rather
sobering
hypothesis: that underlying our culture, virtually invisible, lie roots
that explain our
addiction to violence, marginalization of others, destruction of the
environment and
widespread cultural failure. Deeply personal and rigorously academic, this
book
left me reeling for months!
The End of Politics
Carl Boggs
The Guildford Press, 72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
Boggs documents the dramatic decline of
citizen involvement with public issues
over the past few decades, and proposes the reasons behind this decline.
Democracy
is suffering due to the mood and attitude of anti-politics which now
pervades our culture.
Clear, concise, revealing.
The New Nuclear Danger
Helen Caldicott
The New Press, 450 West 41st. Street, New York, NY 10036
Founder of Physicians for Social
Responsibility and courageous leader of the effort
to prevent the further development and proliferation of WMD, Helen
Caldicott describes
the psychopathic nature of the men who have placed the entire world at
risk. She also
provides and exhaustive list of weapons systems created or under current
development.
A powerful indictment of the reckless and power hungry.
Discipline & Punish - The Birth of the Prison
Michel Foucault
Vintage Books, Division of Random House
Though dense and often difficult, Foucault dissects modern culture like
few ever have.
Bringing his rigorous scholarship to bear, he examines the roots of our
"disciplined"
society, the nature of the outcast, modern modes of control, and
ultimately the
role of power relationships in molding cultural attitudes. A stunning
work.
Savage Dreams
Rebecca Solnit
Sierra Club Books, San Francisco
The perspective of an art historian provides different view of the world.
In this book,
Solnit recounts the devastation and removal of the native Americans from
Yosemite
Valley, and links that story with the westernized concept of nature and
parkland.
Woven into the tale is her experience talking to ranchers who lives and
livelihood
have been destroyed by nuclear testing in Nevada. Beautifully written, a
real eye-opener.
Upside Down
Eduardo Galeano
Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York
Latin American poet and writer Galeano spent years in exile from his
native Uruguay.
This book is a collection of snippets, rants, rages and torments about
ways in which
the powerful and the rich continue to dominate and exploit those with
less. It gave me
the courage to keep writing.
One Market Under God
Thomas Frank
Anchor Books, A division of Random House
Chronicling the rise of "market populism", Frank sticks it to the
corporations right
where they deserve it, in the gut. He deftly punctures the
well-constructed myths that
have come to dominate economic dialogue, and carefully eviscerates the
belly of
the corporate beast and the politicians who so comfortably reside there.
Fabulous.
The Post-Corporate World
David C. Korten
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA
Despite those who subscribe to Fukuyama's premise that we have reached
"the
end of history" and that all that remains is to mop-up the rest of the
economic
systems that don't work, Korten reveals that our only hope is in a
reconstructed
post-corporate world. A hopeful book for a dismal situation.
The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli
This short book of advice written in 1513 is the basis of the term
"Machiavellian", used
to describe one who's actions are dishonest and geared to succeed at all
costs.
In these times, it is always wise to read the original material; what's
remarkable is
how the advice applies to our modern world and how readily the powerful
take to it!
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