Most important political books?

[JimmyJazz]

What do you think are the most important books for new radicals or people curious in radical thought? What were most influential on you personally?

For me...


Transcending the narrow liberal/conservative framing of American parliamentarian politics:

A People's History of the United States (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html) by Howard Zinn


the most important part of this book, for me, was learning that discrimination is just one extremely tiny part of "racism"

Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman


You don't have to agree with that their "model" explains everything; much more important is the myriad of examples proving how narrow and culturally biased our mainstream media are--they simply do not question certain fundamentals.



Understanding the farcical nature of the "law and order" concept:

Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order (http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=HLgaz5c05XQC&dq=disobedience+and+democracy+howard+zinn&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=ahsDeEyONy&sig=LOiAhOrvjNeIVrhlHtiITi6rwAI&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) by Howard Zinn

"The Myth of the Rule of Law" (http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/gtwebsite/MythFinalDraft.pdf) by John Hasnas


I was aware of the radical/Marxist critique of the legal superstructure--that it is merely a tool of class rule, that it plays a justifying role for an exploitative economic system, etc.--but I was not fully convinced until I read this. I believe this essay is what made me from a pacifistic/reform-minded socialist to a revolutionary socialist. There is simply nothing true or redeeming about the concept of the ''rule of law''!



Understanding the extent to which nationalism pervades our outlook on international politics:

Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (http://books.google.com/books?id=FLEupYPwv_8C&dq=vietnam:+logic+of+withdrawal&pg=PP1&ots=P-CFeZcNXP&sig=AiyfxZb5NxjpprAiqVF8y2BYPjo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA4,M1) by Howard Zinn


particularly the chapter, "The View from Afar: Japan"



Recognizing that Capitalism is built on a specific conception of (private) property rights, which is not universal, and to which there are alternatives:

The Great Anarchists: Ideas and Teachings of Seven Major Thinkers Ed. by Paul Eltzbacher


Check out my review of it on Amazon.com (mine is the only one)



I urge anyone who's interested in radical thought to check these books out from a library, or online--Myth of the Rule of Law and People's History of the U.S. are online for free in their full unabridged versions.

And for anyone who is not just starting out, what is your required reading list for people who are?

[Sam_b]

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

This book is absolutely amazing on so many levels. Definite read for an insight into resistance in America.

I'll also give a big shout to "What's Wrong With America?" by Jonothan Neale

[F9]

ABC of Anarchism by Alexander Berkman is a great book
Conguest of bread by Kropotkin also

There are and others but i think those too are crucial for Anarchists!;)

Fuserg9:star:

[GPDP]

The books that most influenced me:

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - Introduced me to political economy

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx - Introduced me to radical theory and socialism

Profit over People by Noam Chomsky - Opened my eyes to the threat of neo-liberalism and got me into thinking of the US as an imperialist power

Realizing Hope: Life Beyond Capitalism by Michael Albert - Though I no longer fully agree with Albert, he got me (most likely unintentionally) into anarchism through this book

After that, I read a lot of books on anarchism, US imperialism, and the media. And then I found RevLeft. :)

[Benos145]

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Critique of the Gotha Program by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The State and Revolution by V I Lenin

What is to be Done? by V I Lenin

Imperialism:The highest stage of capitalism by V I Lenin

Foundations of Leninism by J V Stalin

Also, as I probably understand Stalin is a controversal figure around here, but personally I love reading his works, the guy is a solid materialist and Marxist in his theory, and his style and approach is almost exactly that of Lenin. I would also recommend Dialectical and Historical Materialism by him if your looking for a read that wouldn't take that long.

But the text that most influenced me is State and Revolution, I still love to read it, mostly because Lenin's style makes Marxism easy to grasp and understand.

[YadaRanger]

On democracy, (and therefor socialism)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract.

On leftism in America

Liberalism and social action by john dewey:)

[trivas7]

I'll take the literary turn (in no particular order):

The Dispossessed, Ursula LeGuin
Utopia, Thomas Moore
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein
The Shape of Things To Come, H.G. Wells
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, James Agee, Walker Evans
Woman On the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood

[Benos145]

I would however categorically rejected individual 'novels' or fictional 'stories', because they are a literary outgrowth of postmodernism specifically, and bourgeois property in general.

Seriously people, read Marx, read Engels, read Lenin, don't read non-representational bourgeois fiction, it can only infect you and entrench itself in your thinking, making you more individualist and less dialectical.

At a very simple level, there's a difference between stories that primarily focus on the struggle of the protagonist to reach their goal by drawing on some quality intrinsic to themselves as an individual, and stories that primarily focus on the relationship of the protagonist(s) to others and to society, and how that helps or hinders their struggle.

Thus why Rand, Solzenitzen and other bourgeois propagandists wrote short individual-focused stories.

[gla22]

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

No Gods, No Masters by Various Anarchists

A History of Latin America by Benjamin Keen

[JimmyJazz]

I'll also give a big shout to "What's Wrong With America?" by Jonothan Neale

Ha, I'm reading that one now (http://www.revleft.com/vb/you-reading-t60583/index.html?p=1220747#post1220747). The only problem is that it's sort of built around the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, and I don't know much about the economics behind that. Neale is a good, straightforward writer though.

[Decolonize The Left]

I would however categorically rejected individual 'novels' or fictional 'stories', because they are a literary outgrowth of postmodernism specifically, and bourgeois property in general.

:lol: Yeah... definitely don't read Orwell's 1984 because it will infect your soul! While we're at it, everyone should wear a red leotard and a giant star on their heads while reciting The Communist Manifesto...


Seriously people, read Marx, read Engels, read Lenin, don't read non-representational bourgeois fiction, it can only infect you and entrench itself in your thinking, making you more individualist and less dialectical.

More fun. "Less dialectical?" I should hope that this happens more often. Furthermore, "non-representational bourgeois fiction"? What are you thinking of - Lord of the Rings? Even that book is representative of something...


At a very simple level, there's a difference between stories that primarily focus on the struggle of the protagonist to reach their goal by drawing on some quality intrinsic to themselves as an individual, and stories that primarily focus on the relationship of the protagonist(s) to others and to society, and how that helps or hinders their struggle.

Thus why Rand, Solzenitzen and other bourgeois propagandists wrote short individual-focused stories.

Unless you're reading a book which involves only one character, isolated from all human contact, you're going to find a book in which the protagonist has relationships with others and society which help or hinder their struggle.

Even The Stranger, by Albert Camus - one of the most quintessential existentialist texts is full of individual via. social struggles.

- August

[Benos145]

:lol: Yeah... definitely don't read Orwell's 1984 because it will infect your soul! While we're at it, everyone should wear a red leotard and a giant star on their heads while reciting The Communist Manifesto..
Typical liberal nonsense.


Unless you're reading a book which involves only one character, isolated from all human contact, you're going to find a book in which the protagonist has relationships with others and society which help or hinder their struggle.

Yes but the focus is individual in basis.


Even The Stranger, by Albert Camus - one of the most quintessential existentialist texts is full of individual via. social struggles.

- August
Irrelevant mostly, fiction abstracts and alienates the reader, in fact that's it's job, to provide an 'escape'.

I am not talking about the 'storyline' of such a novel, but it's class basis and context.


More fun. "Less dialectical?" I should hope that this happens more often. Furthermore, "non-representational bourgeois fiction"? What are you thinking of - Lord of the Rings? Even that book is representative of something...
Non representational in that it doesn't come from a Marxist perspective, and has no real basis in the real world (and if it does it's a bourgeois distortion of the world).

[trivas7]

I would however categorically rejected individual 'novels' or fictional 'stories', because they are a literary outgrowth of postmodernism specifically, and bourgeois property in general.

Seriously people, read Marx, read Engels, read Lenin, don't read non-representational bourgeois fiction, it can only infect you and entrench itself in your thinking, making you more individualist and less dialectical.

Nonsense; who do you think Marx, Engels and Lenin read?

[JimmyJazz]

who do you think Marx, Engels and Lenin read?

German philosophers, French socialists and British political economists?

eta but seriously I don't think there's any great risk of anyone taking Benos145's advice who is not already inclined to do so. If you're going to argue with him you have to make up for it by posting your reading list for noobs!

[Black Sheep]

A biography of che
Che guevara's Various Texts
State and revolution
The god delusion (:D)
Modern burgeoisie ideologies and refutation

[rocker935]

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

A Young People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (For those comrades like myself that don't have the attention span to read the original one :laugh:)

Although I like Orwell, I don't think I would consider it one of the most important political books.

Pretty much anything by Che, Lenin, Marx, Chomsky, Zinn, and Mao is worth reading.