Reading List

Over the last six or seven years, I've read a few good books. The best are listed here, grouped by topic. The majority are nonfiction.

(A few are listed twice because they fit into two categories.)

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Economics, Economic History
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
The Money Mandarins: The Making of a Supranational Economic Order, Howard M. Wachtel (1990 revised edition) A clear and concise introduction to international finance.
Secrets of the Temple, William Greider (1987). All about the Federal Reserve, the recession of the early 1980s, and the Latin American loan crisis.
Not So Free to Choose, Elton Rayack (1987). The fallacies of Milton Friedman.
Triumph of the Market, Edward S. Herman (1995)
The Vampire State, Fred L. Block (1996)
One Market Under God, Thomas Frank (2000). A history of the business culture in the US in the 1990s.
Economics Explained, fourth edition, Robert Heilbroner and Lester Thurow (1998)
Selling Free Enterprise, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf (1992)
Everything for Sale, Robert Kuttner (1997)
Peddling Prosperity, Paul Krugman (1994)
The Politics of Rich and Poor, Kevin Phillips (1990)




Biology, Evolution
Bully for Brontosaurus, Stephen Jay Gould (1991)
The Red Queen, Matt Ridley (1994)
Full House, Stephen Jay Gould (1996)




Science
Almost Everyone's Guide to Science, John Gribbin (1998)
Cranks, Quarks, and the Cosmos, Jeremy Bernstein (1993)
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, Dr. Dean Edell (1999). Until I have a section on medicine, this will go under Science. You could put the last chapter in the Life and How to Live It section.
The Origin of Humankind, Richard Leakey (1994)
Flanagan's Version: A Spectator's Guide to Science on the Eve of the 21st Century, Dennis Flanagan (1988) A good basic science book, written by the former editor of Scientific American.
Asimov on Science, Isaac Asimov (1989) One of many essay collections by Asimov.
Relatively Speaking: Relativity, Black Holes, and the Fate of the Universe, Eric Chaisson (1988) This is one of the best books on Relativity that I've read (but I still don't understand it).
Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified, Richard Wolfson (2003)
Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space, Isaac Asimov (1991)
Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry, Cathy Cobb (2002)




Psychology
Madness on the Couch, Edward Dolnick (1998)
Life and How to Survive It, Robin Skynner and John Cleese (1994) Yes, that John Cleese.




Psychics, Pseudoscience and Skepticism
Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer (1997). The section on Holocaust denial is very good.
The Faith Healers, James Randi (1989)
The Mask of Nostrodamus, James Randi (1990)
Flim-Flam, James Randi
Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus, Martin Gardner (1981)
Voodoo Science, Robert Park (2000)
The Psychology of the Psychic, David Marks and Richard Kammann (1980). Forward by Martin Gardner. The second edition came out in 2001.
Skeptics and True Believers, Chet Raymo (1998)
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, Martin Gardner (1957). A bit dated and scattered, but important. The modern skeptical movement began with this book.




Making Movies
Losing the Light, Andrew Yule (1991). The making of Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
John Sayles Interviews, edited by Diane Carson (1999)
The Movie Business Book, second edition, edited by Jason E. Squire (1992)
Sayles on Sayles, edited by Gavin Smith (1998)
Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam 1970-1979, David A. Cook (2000). Volume nine in a ten-volume history of American movies (one book for each decade).
Flashback: A Brief History of Film, fourth edition, Louis Giannetti and Scott Eyman (2001). This is a complete history in 600 pages. It's well-written and full of photos. It doesn't cover everything, but it comes close.
The Devil's Candy, Julie Salamon (1991). The making of Bonfire of the Vanities.
Robert Altman Interviews, edited by David Sterritt (2000)
Cronenberg on Cronenberg, edited by Chris Rodley (1997). Originally published in 1992, this book was revised for paperback in 1993. The 1997 edition adds a (very weak) chapter about Crash.
Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood, Jon Lewis (1995)
Incredibly Strange Films, V. Vale and Andrea Juno (1986). A RE/Search book. Essential reading if you want to know about low-budget, independent American movies.
Flying Through Hollywood by the Seat of My Pants, Sam Arkoff (1992). The autobiography of the man who ran American International Pictures — the company that made classics like I Was a Teenage Werewolf and Beach Blanket Bingo.
Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinemas of Times Square, Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford (2002).
Off-Hollywood: The Making and Marketing of Independent Films, David Rosen, with Peter Hamilton (1990). The nuts and bolts of getting "small" movies into theaters, advertising them, and trying to make your money back.




Biography and Autobiography
Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman (2001). Growing up in the Midwest listening to heavy metal.
Einstein: A Life in Science, Michael White and John Gribbin (1994)
Post Office, Charles Bukowski
Women, Charles Bukowski (1980). The Bukowski books in this category might be considered novels. But who cares? Just read 'em.
Factotum, Charles Bukowski
Run With the Hunted, Charles Bukowski (1969-1993)
Rivethead, Ben Hamper (1991)
Introducing Camus, David Zane Mairowitz and Alain Korkos (1998)
The Bending Cross, Ray Ginger (1949). Biography of Eugene Debs.
Palm Sunday, Kurt Vonnegut (1981). This includes Vonnegut's interpretation of an important Biblical passage, in the final essay of the book.
The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank Zappa (1989)
The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day (1952)
The African American Century, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West (2000). One hundred biographies of black Americans. Ten for each decade, from WEB DuBois to Tiger Woods.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley (1965)
Chomsky's Politics, Milan Rai (1995)
You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Howard Zinn (1994)
The Missionary Position, Christopher Hitchens (1995). A book about Mother Teresa.
Marx in Soho, Howard Zinn (1999)
Shock Value, John Waters (1981)
A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking, Samuel Fuller (2002)




Novels
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs (1959)
The Stranger, Albert Camus (1946)
Joe, Larry Brown (1991). Larry Brown is a guy from Mississippi who writes like Bukowski.
Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo (1939)
From Hell, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (1989-1999). A very big comic book. All about the Jack the Ripper murders.
Dr. Strangelove, Peter George (1963). I found this on the Barnes & Noble clearance rack. I like the novelization better than the movie.




Short Story Collections
Big Bad Love, Larry Brown (1990)
Facing the Music, Larry Brown (1984-1988)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver (1974-1981)




Iran-Contra
Fooling America, Robert Parry (1992). Written by one of the reporters who broke the story in the US (and continued to follow it).
Firewall, Lawrence E. Walsh (1997). Written by the special prosecutor for the case.
The Culture of Terrorism, Noam Chomsky (1988)
The Secret Government, Bill Moyers. This brief book is a companion to a television special. It's a good introduction.
And Weapons for All, William Hartung (1994). This book is about the international arms trade, but it contains a lot of information on Iran-contra.
Sleepwalking Through History, Haynes Johnson (1991; 1992 edition with afterword). This book is about the Reagan years, ending with a few chapters on Iran-contra.




Media
Inventing Reality, second edition, Michael Parenti (1993)
Letters from Lexington, Noam Chomsky (1990-1993)
Manufacturing Consent, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988)
The Myth of the Liberal Media, Edward Herman (1999)
Distant Voices, John Pilger (1992). This book covers many subjects, with the media coverage of Britain, the Persian Gulf War, and Cambodia as a running theme.




Corporate Propaganda, Public Relations
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy, Alex Carey (1997)
Selling Free Enterprise, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf (1994)
The Selling of "Free Trade", John R. MacArthur (2000). Selling NAFTA
PR!, Stuart Ewen (1996)




US Foreign Policy, General
In the study of politics, this is where the action is. These are the books that make you angry. They describe the way the US government treats other countries — and why.

Power and Terror: Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews, Noam Chomsky (2003)
The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism, Rahul Mahajan (2002). A brief analysis of the September 11 attacks — why they happened and how the US responded.
The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger (2002). Mass murder in Indonesia, the US war against Iraqi civilians, US imperialism in Afghanistan, Australia's racist Aboriginal policies.
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel (2002)
Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, William Blum (2000)
Hidden Agendas, John Pilger (1998). Burma, Vietnam, British labor struggles, and arms merchants.
Blackshirts and Reds, Michael Parenti (1997). Short book on anticommunism and the absence of class analysis in mainstream politics.
Powers and Prospects, Noam Chomsky (1996)
Killing Hope, William Blum (1995). Updated version of CIA: The Forgotten History.
Deterring Democracy, Noam Chomsky (1992)
The Sword and the Dollar, Michael Parenti (1989). Includes chapters on the arms race and nuclear weapons.
Language and Politics, Noam Chomsky, edited by CP Otero (1988, reissued in 1999). A long book of interviews with Chomsky from 1968 to 1988, covering linguistics, science, and lots of politics.
Confronting the Third World, Gabriel Kolko (1988)
On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures, Noam Chomsky (1987). One of the best places to start if you want to read Chomsky.
Pirates and Emperors, Noam Chomsky (1986). Like The Real Terror Network, this book focuses on the distinction between "retail" and "wholesale" terrorism (terrorist groups vs. terrorist governments).
The Real Terror Network, Edward S. Herman (1982)
Radical Priorities, Noam Chomsky (1981)
Towards a New Cold War, Noam Chomsky (1973-1982). This includes a good chapter on Israel and the Palestinians, plus a chapter on Henry Kissinger's memoirs.




US Foreign Policy: Latin America

Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World, Eduardo Galeano (1998)
Weakness and Deceit, Raymond Bonner (1984) El Salvador and the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
At War in Nicaragua, E. Bradford Burns (1987)
The Uses of Haiti, Paul Farmer (1994)
Cry of the People, Penny Lernoux (1980, 1982)
Turning the Tide, Noam Chomsky (1985)
Inevitable Revolutions, second edition, Walter LaFeber (1984, updated 1993)




US Intelligence Agencies
Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press, Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair (1998)
The Puzzle Palace, James Bamford (1982). A book about the National Security Agency.
The FBI and Martin Luther King, David J. Garrow (1981)




The Military-Industrial Complex and the Arms Trade
And Weapons for All, William Hartung (1994). All about the international arms trade.
The Pentagonists, A. Ernest Fitzgerald (1989). Fitzgerald documents massive waste in military procurement, but he doesn't ask if this waste is a necessary part of the economic system.
Harry S. Truman and the War Scare of 1948, Frank Kofsky (1993).




Foreign Policy and International Finance
Profits Over People, Noam Chomsky (1999)
Mortgaging the Earth, Bruce Rich (1994). The World Bank and the myth of development.
World Orders Old and New, Noam Chomsky (1994). The first half examines the post-Cold War world. The second half is about Israel and the Middle East.




Foreign Policy and the Middle East
Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948, Tanya Reinhart (2002)
Palestine, Joe Sacco (1993-1996, two volumes). This is a big comic book.
Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, edited by Anthony Arnove (2000)
World Orders Old and New, Noam Chomsky (1994). The paperback edition (1996) includes a 26-page epilogue.




History, General
The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991, Eric Hobsbawm (1994)




History of War and Genocide
A History of Bombing, Sven Lindqvist (2001)
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, Philip Gourevitch (1998). The Rwandan genocide.
Dark Continent, Mark Mazower (1999). A history of 20th century Europe.
Safe Area Gorazde, Joe Sacco (2000). A 200-page comic book about Bosnians trying to survive in the 1990s.
A Time for War: FDR and the Path to Pearl Harbor, Robert Smith Thompson (1991). The author documents US involvement in World War II before the Pearl Harbor attack.




Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear War: The Facts on Our Survival, Peter Goodwin (1981)
At Work in the Fields of the Bomb, Robert Del Tredici (1987). A collection of interviews and black-and-white photographs.
The Missiles of October, Robert Smith Thompson (1992). The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This book begins with an overview of US foreign policy.
One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture, Kenneth D. Rose (2001)
With Enough Shovels, Robert Scheer (1982). Interviews with US leaders on nuclear war, including Reagan and Bush.
By the Bomb's Early Light, Paul Boyer (1985)
With Hiroshima Eyes, Joseph Gerson (1995)
No Reason to Talk About It: Families Confront the Nuclear Taboo, Greenwald and Zeitlin (1987)
To Win a Nuclear War, Michio Kaku and Daniel Axelrod (1987)
Last Aid: The Medical Dimensions of Nuclear War, edited by Chivian, Chivian, Lifton, and Mack (1982)
Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895-1984, Paul Brians (1987)
Swords Into Plowshares: Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J. Laffin and Anne Montgomery (1987)
Hammer of Justice: Molly Rush and the Plowshares Eight, Liane Ellison Norman (1989)




Crime and Prisons
Capital Crimes, George Winslow (1999)
Power, Politics, and Crime, William J. Chambliss (1999). Short book on class aspects of crime.
Lockdown America, Christian Parenti (1999)
Crime Control as Industry, third edition, Nils Christie (2000)




Anticommunism and Red Scares
Red Hunting in the Promised Land, Joel Kovel (1994)
Red Scare, Griffin Fariello (1995)




US History
Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen (1995)
Polemics and Prophecies, I.F. Stone (1967-1970)
The Haunted Fifties: 1953-1963, IF Stone (1963)
The Zinn Reader, Howard Zinn (1997)
Declarations of Independence, Howard Zinn (1990)
A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980). The original edition is a paperback with a yellow cover. It was updated in 1995 (dark blue cover). The latest edition (1999) has a white cover. A large excerpt was published as The Twentieth Century.
History as Mystery, Michael Parenti (1999). Includes an interesting chapter on the death of President Zachary Taylor.




The Vietnam War
The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990, Marilyn B. Young (1991). The best place to start on this topic.
In a Time of Torment, I.F. Stone (1961-1967)
For Reasons of State, Noam Chomsky (1973)
Anatomy of a War, Gabriel Kolko (1985). Dense, detailed, and impersonal. Comparable to Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.




Karl Marx
Marx in Soho, Howard Zinn (1999)
Karl Marx: A Life, Francis Wheen (2000) Well-written and lively. This is the personal life, not the analysis of capitalism. The sources are very good, ranging from Marx's correspondence to Monty Python's Flying Circus. The rivalry between Marx and Bakunin in the First International is reversed — Bakunin is depicted as the bad guy and Marx is the victim.
To the Finland Station, Edmund Wilson (1940). Skip the first half-dozen chapters — and skip the final chapters (on Lenin). The chapters in between are about Marx, Engels, and Bakunin.
Karl Marx: His Life and Thought, David McLellan (1974)
Marx for Beginners, Rius (1990)
The Marxian Revolutionary Idea, Robert C. Tucker (1969)




Religion
When Time Shall Be No More, Paul Boyer (1992)
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, John Shelby Spong (1991)
2000 Years of Disbelief, James A. Haught (1996)
History as Mystery, Michael Parenti (1999). The first half is about the history of Christianity.
Don't Know Much About the Bible, Kenneth C. Davis (1998)




Cultural Studies
The Way We Are, Margaret Visser (1996)
Vampires, Burial, and Death, Paul Barber (1988)
Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich (1997). A loose and open-minded investigation into the origins of war. It combines political considerations with human evolutionary development.
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches, Marvin Harris (1974). Except for that final chapter . . .




Resistance and Activism
Disturbers of the Peace, Colman McCarthy (1973)
Swords Into Plowshares: Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J. Laffin and Anne Montgomery (1987)
Hammer of Justice: Molly Rush and the Plowshares Eight, Liane Ellison Norman (1989)
War in the Neighborhood, Seth Tobocman (1999). A 300-page comic book on activism in New York City.




Life and How to Live It
Working, Studs Terkel (1972). We need a hundred books like this one.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig (1974)
Involvements, Colman McCarthy (1984)
Brain Droppings, George Carlin (1997). See page 217.
All of One Peace: Essays on Nonviolence, Colman McCarthy (1994)
I'd Rather Teach Peace, Colman McCarthy (2002)




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