Recommend Political Books You Think Everybody Should Read Here

I recently read the biography on Joseph Kennedy which I thought was really well done. I also read The Eve of Destruction, How 1965 Transformed America which was how LBJ started the year off so strong with his legislative achievements while trying to hide what was really going on in Vietnam and how it caught up with him by the end of the year.
 
cawacko said:
I recently read the biography on Joseph Kennedy which I thought was really well done. I also read The Eve of Destruction, How 1965 Transformed America which was how LBJ started the year off so strong with his legislative achievements while trying to hide what was really going on in Vietnam and how it caught up with him by the end of the year.
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and destroyed his Presidency. A lesson W didn't learn. The lesson to be learned here....don't vote for a Texan for President. They will lie to you about the basis for war. The worst sin a President can committ.
 
"The Dream and the Nightmare" by Myron Magnet.

This is critical reading for everyone. We can not understand the United States of America toda without understanding the cultural earthquake visited upon us by the Sixites, both in mainstream culture and misguided government "solutions" like LBJ's "War on Poverty," which should actually read, "war on poor, mostly black families" and The Great Society.

This is an honest, fair and academically rigorous take down of how good intentions can go so wrong. Magnet is not some angry, raging right winger. He's someone who has genuine respect and admiration for people who wanted to alleviate povert and injustice. And he doesn't say it all went wrong, just a lot of it.
 
Let's start with the the Greeks. First, Lysistrata. Then the Oresteia In US writings, the Federalist Papers. History - everything by Barbara Tuchman. That should lead to a slightly more informed discourse.
 
Falcon said:
"The Dream and the Nightmare" by Myron Magnet.

This is critical reading for everyone. We can not understand the United States of America toda without understanding the cultural earthquake visited upon us by the Sixites, both in mainstream culture and misguided government "solutions" like LBJ's "War on Poverty," which should actually read, "war on poor, mostly black families" and The Great Society.

This is an honest, fair and academically rigorous take down of how good intentions can go so wrong. Magnet is not some angry, raging right winger. He's someone who has genuine respect and admiration for people who wanted to alleviate povert and injustice. And he doesn't say it all went wrong, just a lot of it.
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Meh.....not impressed. Cuture war warriors like Magnet are as much to blame, if not more so, than good intentions.
 
open mind said:
Let's start with the the Greeks. First, Lysistrata. Then the Oresteia In US writings, the Federalist Papers. History - everything by Barbara Tuchman. That should lead to a slightly more informed discourse.
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and for the George W. Bush supporters out there, there is fun with Dick and Jane.
 
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I honestly recommend "Decision Points" by George W. Bush. I am a conservative who never liked Bush Jr... But that book gives insight on why he made decisions he did and I admire the guy now.
 
Rose said:
The Other America: Poverty in The United States by Michael Harrington
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This is an excellent choice. Harrington's main problem is that he inserts a little of the pathological reasoning into his distinction between those who experience long term or continuous unemployment and those who only experience temporary unemployment but apart from that he is well worth reading; the idea that we were in the same kind of capitalist transition in the early 60s as we are today, when people were being displaced and the elderly, the uneducated and unskilled workers were being scuttled and unable to find future employment is instructive for those willing to open themselves to his themes and thesis.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Specious reasoning. It's also factually wrong. It has been the Republican party, since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which has carried the populist and agrarian torch....or maybe that excaped your notice?
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This would only refute his claim if the history of America began in something like 1964! American political history and even the history of the word, "Liberalism" versus the word "liberalism" is far more complicated, dynamic and dialectical than either of you seem willing to admit or consider.

A good place to start to disentangle some of your seeming misunderstandings might be Domenico Losurdo's Liberalism: A Counter-History (2011) from my favorite left publisher Verso.

For Marxists here are two recent additions:

Terry Eagleton: Why Marx Was Right (2011)

Eric Hobsbaum's last book: How To Change The World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism (2011)

Both from Yale University Press
 
TheFray said:
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
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Gag me! Yes let the capitalists take their money and go live in some covered and hidden commune-like setting in the Rocky Mountains! That idea is so purile, banal and inane that only high school students would fall for it.

The best statement on Ayn Rand is still this classic comparison:


"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a life-long obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

Originally from a post that no longer exists at Kung Fu Monkey!
 
brazenhussy said:
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle McGuire. A difficult but very important read if you are an American. Especially if you are a woman of any race.
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Thank you! This sounds like something I might enjoy and find informative!
 
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