Long road trip, recommend books

[OGirly]

Well I'll be driving out to California this weekend (leaving tomorrow morning) with one of my partners. Just a trip to catch up with friends. Anyway, I can't drive because of my schizophrenia (at least not yet, the doctor would like me on medication for another 6 months before I can have driving privileges back) and so I'm looking for some book recommendations for the drive. It'll be about 6 or seven days and I"m a quick reader so I'm looking to take two or three books with me.

I'm new to socialism, and communism, in general. I've looked through the list of books in the stickies of this section...but there are a lot. I've read the "A very short introduction to socialism" as well as the communist version as well this week. I was hoping some of you could recommend a few choice books either from that list or from your own list of sources. I hope to work through the whole list in the stickies...but thats an intimidating list and I don't know where to start for a beginner.

Anyway, I"ll be going to the library tonight to pick out some reading materials for the trip. Any recommendations would be wonderfully welcome :)

[The Idler]

I think I'd feel a bit carsick reading a book on a long drive. How about a magazine? How about some audiobook or podcast? Anyway, library books, you could just go to the selection on socialism and see what they've got that takes your fancy. The only works that can be recommended here are probably too obscure for you find in a library.

Demanding the Impossible by Peter Marshall is a big read that I enjoyed.

[Hit The North]

Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" is a rivetting read and one of the best examples of historical materialist analysis written in the twentieth century. You'll learn a lot about Marxism, imperialism and revolution as you read it.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Something that they'd probably have in your local library is Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. There's a lot to be said about some of Zinn's weaknesses in politics but I found this book to be very entertaining.

[Oenomaus]

I mentioned Draper's "The Two Souls of Socialism" in another thread - to that recommendation I would add Marx's "Critique of the Gotha Programme", Lenin's "The State and the Revolution", Trotsky's "In Defense of Marxism", and I would support the recommendation of cmrd. HtN, "History of the Russian Revolution".

[OGirly]

Thanks for the recommendations. I was able to pick up the zinn history of the united states book. Im looking forward to reading it. I know what you mean by getting sick while driving, but I seem to be okay when it comes to reading in cars. Just lucky I guess. Thanks again! May have to stop at a barnes and nobels when I hit cali to pick up something else to read so keep the recommendations coming if you have more. I absolutely love to read so Ill get to them all sooner or later :)

[Czy]

Why Marx was Right by Terry Eagleton

An enjoyable read, where Eagleton decimates most of the common criticisms of Marxism.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I read Arm The Spirit by Dianna Block a little while ago, and really recommend it. It's a total page-turner - a really engaging narrative. It's also grapples with a lot of important theoretical and practical issues, and in a way that adds to the plot rather than feeling like a didactic digression.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Che: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson (by far the best biography I have read).

Fascism and Big Business by Daniel Guerin

A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russel (someone already mentioned Zinn)

off the top of my head

[Decolonize The Left]

Speaking as someone who was just on the road for almost half a year, I'd encourage you to explore audiobooks as an alternative. Reading in a car can be very unpleasant after a while but audiobooks allow you to read and space out at the same time.

[Leftsolidarity]

Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" is a rivetting read and one of the best examples of historical materialist analysis written in the twentieth century. You'll learn a lot about Marxism, imperialism and revolution as you read it.

It is a massive fucking book though at 1500 pages haha

Some fundamentals that'd I always suggest are Principles of Communism and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, both by Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto as always and Wage-Labor and Capital by Marx.

Those are all fairly short but sometimes it takes a few reads to feel like you actually understand what was just read.

[Red_Banner]

Marx's General The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels by Tristram Hunt

[OGirly]

oh my gosh thank you all so much ill be stopping at barnes and noble in la so ill reup on more books audio books...good thought ;)

[Firebrand]

If all the hardcore theory gets too much there's a novel called "god's bits of wood" by Sembene Ousmane, which is about a railroad strike on the Dakar-Niger railway, which is pretty good.