Let's build the ultimate DU Library - what books should be in it

[LynneSin]

Maybe we can put together a list just like the Movies

Some that I would include:

Lying Liars - Al Franken
Stupid White Men - Michael Moore
Blinded by the Right - David Brock
All the President's Men - Woodward & Bernstien
Politics of Truth - Joe Wilson
Fortunate Son - James Hatfield


What other books should be in the DU Library?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Farenheit 451, 1984, Animal Farm

[LynneSin]

2. Not up on the fiction - but Slaughterhouse Five

And Valley of the Dolls by Jaquelinn Susann :eyes:

[Ron Green]

6. and Brave New World!

[Left Is Write]

38. Yes - definitely.

The comments the other day about how frozen embryos need only "food and climate control" to develop into people was quite reminiscent of Brave New World.

[JimmyJazz]

3. Worse than Watergate - John W. Dean

[TyeDye75]

4. The Motorcycle Diaries, 1984, The Handmaids Tale

[JimmyJazz]

5. Out of Control: The Story of the Reagan Administration's Secret War in

Nicaragua, the Illegal Arms Pipeline, and the Contra Drug Connection
by Leslie Cockburn

[babylonsister]

7. Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins.
The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About ...9/11 by David Ray Griffin
Anything by Howard Zinn or Bill Moyers

[Demit]

8. Shrub - Molly Ivins; Republican Noise Machine - David Brock

a personal fave:

Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants: The Looting of the News in a Time of Terror - James Wolcott (in which he shreds to pieces many rabid lying RW pundits in the most delicious language)

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Howard Zinn.

Peoples History of the United States.

[Squeech]

12. Loved that book

In a related vein, I'd recommend A Peace to End All Peace, by Daniel Fromkin (sp?). The premise is that the Allies in WWI, having "won" the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire, made a bunch of stupid and contradictory decisions that ensured it would be a trouble spot for the rest of history.

[El Fuego]

32. I was going to say that one.

It is almost the only book we need.

[FizzFuzz]

10. Pallast: Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Bush On the Couch
The Wimp Factor
BushWomen: Laura Flanders
Backlash: Susan Faludi
The Hunting of The President

[SCDem]

11. All Daniel Quinn books

and The Life of Pi (forgot author) and everything from Jostein Gaarder (Sophie's World, The Solitaire Mystery)

[babylonsister]

13. Yann Martel ---> Life of Pi. nt

[enlightenment]

14. "The Jungle" - Upton Sinclair

on a lighter note, any (all) of the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes. Neither terribly deep nor in any way political -- but some of the most wonderful, intelligent, sparkling, downright tasty characters, plots, and interchanges out there.

[Sabriel]

15. The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan n/t

[NinetySix]

35. That's an especially important one, especially these days.

What with one side forcing the Interior Department to add caveats to signs at Yellowstone and elsewhere to the effect that "not all accept the geological age of the Earth as billions of years," not to mention the "New Age" kooks on our side blathering on about astrology and karma, we really need the moderating voice of science and reason Sagan provides to help us to understand the operation of the REAL world.

A democratic society cannot blind itself to science and empirically supported theory in favor of subjectivism and hope to survive.

[underpants]

16. Big Lies-by Joe Conason

I am slowly rereading it. Great book.

[underpants]

19. and of course-"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Harper Lee's classic

[Richardo]

17. Catch-22

[sniffa]

18. art of war - sun tzu (sp?)

[DS1]

20. The art of the sensual massage

:-)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. All the works of William Shakespeare;

The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and Tuesdays With Morrie, both by Mitch Albom. Just for starters...

[Squeech]

22. Maybe

some stuff about advertising and PR.

Toxic Waste is Good For You, and Trust Us, We're Experts! Written by the same couple of investigative reporters (and they have a couple other books too), they're about the ways that corporate poisoners and polluters game the media to promote their crappy products.

On a somewhat related note, Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent.

I wonder if we still need Vance Packard's work. (I'm spacing out on the titles now.) He's the guy who discovered that advertising art had suggestive imagery morphed into it-- the shading on ice cubes in cocktail glasses would be manipulated into resembling naked breasts, in a subliminal attempt to convince you that drinking this product would get you laid. Seems to me I saw an example just last month.

[Richardo]

23. BOSS: Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago - Mike Royko

The book that got me into politics.

[Zuni]

24. The Gulag Archipelago

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn. A Nobel prize winner, btw.

[Zuni]

25. Rise and Fall of the Third reich by William Shirer

[Lady Effingbroke]

26. "It Can't Happen Here" -- Sinclair Lewis

"The Geography of Nowhere" and "The Long Emergency" -- James Howard Kunstler

"The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" -- Thomas Hartmann

"Collapse" and "Guns, Germs, and Steel" -- Jared Diamond

"Beyond Oil-The View From Hubbert's Peak" -- Kenneth Deffeyes

[TheCentepedeShoes]

41. Great choices, LE

I've got "It Can't Happen Here" and just bought "Long Emergency." Just finished "Geography of Nowhere," read "Last Hours..." and "Beyond Oil..." a few months ago, all from the library. I'd add Kevin Phillips' "American Dynasty."

[bridgit]

27. The Satyricon of Petronius...

Gravity's Rainbow http://www.themodernword.com/gr
Catcher In The Rye

[forgethell]

28. How about

some "How-to-Survive" books for when the Repukes provoke a nuclear war with somebody, and we all have to live off the rabbits we can kill?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

57. Pffft

[deadparrot]

29. What's the Matter with Kansas? nt

[hfojvt]

39. I just got an autographed copy

but I cannot say I am a big fan. I did not really like "Stupid White Men" either.

I probably would add "The Big book of Tomorrow" and "Perfectly Legal" although I have not read that, nor have I read Dean Baker's book about social security. I have not read "What Liberal Media?" either, but it sounds very good.

[ralps]

30. Books in my DU Library would be

Lies & the Lying Liars - Al Franken
Dude, Where's my Country - Michael Moore
Bushwacked - Molly Ivins
Shrub - Molly Ivins
The Great Unraveling - Paul Krugman
What Would Jefferson Do? - Thom Hartmann
Don't Think of an Elephant - George Lakoff
Snake Bites - The Plaid Adder
:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

31. Ishmael, Daniel Quinn... The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Hartmann

[RandomKoolzip]

33. The SCUM Manifesto

[NinetySix]

34. Our Long National Daydream: Sidney Blumenthal

It's the first book of contemporary political observations I ever read. It's an enthralling perspective on the Reagan era, and includes penetrating analysis of the '84 election. I've been a fan of Blumenthal's ever since.

[KamaAina]

36. Nickel and Dimed. Fast Food Nation.

Which reminds me, Super Size Me goes in the DU video library -- but that's a whole 'nother thread...

[Left Is Write]

37. Jon Stewart's America.

[welshTerrier2]

40. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man / Sorrows of Empire

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins
Sorrows of Empire, Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic - Chalmers Johnson

[northzax]

42. the New Testament

the most liberal manifesto ever.

love thy neighbor, take care of people, share the wealth.

[dajoki]

43. anything by

kurt vonegaut, especially "slaughterhouse 5" and " breakfast of champions".

[edbermac]

44. Playboy's Party Jokes - Volume 23...

Ranks right up there with the writings of Bill Shakespeare...

[swag]

45. I nominate three by Gore Vidal

"United States" - Collected Essays
"The Decline and Fall of the American Empire" - Collected Essays 1992 - 2000
"Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Bush/Cheney Junta"

[Duncan Grant]

46. "I Will Bear Witness: 1933 - 1941" - Victor Klemperer

If you're interested in fascism, then read this book. :thumbsup:

[ghostsofgiants]

47. "Hegemony or Survival" by Noam Chomsky

"The Bush-hater's Handbook" by Jack Huberman

[GalleryGod]

48. New York in the 50's by Dan Wakefield

It's as good as being there:cry:

[enigmatic]

49. These 3 for sure:

"The Razor's Edge"- Somerset Maughm

"Winesburg, Ohio"- Sherwood Anderson

"The Heart Is A Lonley Hunter"- Carson McCullers

And everything by Charles Bukowski, of course..

[valis]

50. Where are the books?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

58. You're supposed to suggest one

why don't you get thee to the Somerville library and come back and suggest one. Which branch do you go to? some are better than others...

[Dastard Stepchild]

51. Naked Economics is a good read....

I think it would do well in a DU library.
I am just about to begin Freakonomics. I'll let ya know what I think of it. :)

[peekaloo]

52. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt

[ralps]

53. Evening Kick

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[leftofthedial]

54. Freeper Trolls for DUmmies

seriously,

Lost History by Robert Parry

[elshiva]

55. Theology section:

Writings of Matthew Fox especially "Original Blessing"
"She Who Is" by Elizabeth Johnson
"Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton
"Godding" by Virginia Mollenkott
"Touching Out Strength" by Carter Heyward
"Prayer for America" by Dennis Kucinich

More please?

[ghostsofgiants]

56. This list would probably be useful

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/libLeftBooks.php

[ralps]

59. Afternoon Kick

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[VelmaD]

60. Well obviously we have to have...

"The Greatest Sedition is Silence" by Will Pitt. :)

[RevolutionaryActs]

61. The Harry Potter books.

America(the book) - Jon Stewart.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown.

I think The Lord of the Rings has a good pro-nature theme. :D

[lumberjack_jeff]

62. Anything by Thom Hartmann, but especially "Unequal Protection" n/t

[DrDan]

63. The Pet Goat

For its historical relevance

[Catchawave]

64. John Edwards' Four Trials...

...and all George Carlin and Andy Rooney books!