What Books Would You Consider “Required Reading” for America?

April 24, 2012

Earlier this month, the American Library Association posted its annual list of “most challenged” books — books receiving the most requests to be pulled from library shelves. As we reported, the top 10 included To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World and The Hunger Games.

We wondered what you would say if we turned the question around, asking what books you would make required reading for Americans — so we asked on BillMoyers.com and on our Facebook page.

Here’s a list of the top 15 books you named, many inspired by the ALA’s list. Feel free to keep making suggestions.

What books would you add to this list? Write your suggestions in the comments section below.

Related Features

TOPICS: Culture, Poets & Writers

TAGS: 1984, hunger games, library, orwell, orwellian, reading, to kill a mockingbird

Are you aware of our Comment Policy?

Jnmcbrown
Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers – The Power of Myths
No Logo – Naomi Klein
The Absence Of The Sacred – Jerry Mander
Coloradocaprice
On Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau
Civil Disobedience by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
My Antonia by Willa Cather
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
When Legends Die by Hal Borland
House Made of Dawn by M. Scott Momaday
The Jungle by Sinclair Lewis
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
‘Tis by Frank McCourt
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Democracy in America by Alexis de Toqueville
Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
No Time on My Hands by Grace Snyder
Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
This House of Sky by Ivan Doig
Arundel by Kenneth Roberts
Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Poetry of Robert Frost
Lfewkes
“The Imperial Cruise” by James Bradley, “Supercapitalism” by Robert Reich
Kenegbert3rd
All very fine books here! I’m glad to see this list assembled. A lot of eyes pass through this Web site, and if anybody picks up any of these mentioned books, it’ll all have been worth the pixels. If I may, here’s a few more. All have America as a subject, at least peripherally.
V by Thomas Pynchon
BABBITT by Sinclair Lewis
LIBRA by Don DeLillo
INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
SAILOR SONG by Ken Kesey
And there are many more, so let’s come up with them, folks. Oh, yeah: for honorable mention, all the books in the list of those most banned by schools (elsewhere in this Web site, naturally); there must be something in them that somebody doesn’t want somebody else to know… Thanks for a great topic!
Dave
The Camp of Saints by Jean Raspail
The Collected Works of Flannery O’Connor
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Trendisnotdestiny
Local Knowledge                                                 (Clifford Geertz)
The Affluent Society                                           (John Kenneth Galbraith)
Disabling Professions                                         (Ivan Illich)
Pedagogies of the Oppressed                            (Paolo Freire)
University in Chains                                           (Henry Giroux)
Blackwater                                                            (Jeremy Scahill)
Nickled & Dimed                                                  (Barbara Ehrenreich)
Propaganda                                                           (Edward Bernays)
Life in Schools                                                      (Peter McLaren)
Best way to Rob a Bank is to Own One           (William K. Black)
Acts of Activism                                                   (Soyini Madison)
Their Eyes Were Watching God                       (Zora Neale Hurston)
The Limits of Power                                            (Andrew Bacevich)
Empire of Illusion                                               (Chris Hedges)
Manufacturing Consent                                      (Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman)
Capitalism Hits the Fan                                      (Richard Wolff)
Predictably Irrational                                          (Dan Ariely)
A Brief History of Neoliberalism                      (David Harvey)
Econned                                                                 (Yves Smith)
Short Changed                                                      (Howard Karger)
Ethnographic I                                                     (Carolyn Ellis)
Two-Income Trap                                                (Elizabeth Warren/Amy Tyagi)
The Great Risk Shift                                            (Jacob Hacker)
Web of Debt                                                           (Ellen Brown)
Confessions of Economic Hit Man             (John Perkins)
Secrets of the Temple                (William Greider)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life       (Erving Goffman)
Second Shift/Time Bind/Outsourced Self       (Arlie Hochschild)
Qualitative Inquiry Under Fire                          (Norm Denzin)
From margin to center                                       (bell hooks)
Families in Poverty                                               (Karen Seccombe)
Inverted Totalitarianism                                      (Sheldon Wolin) ** article
The Quiet Coup                                                      (Simon Johnson) ** article
***Anything by Molly Ivins & Matt Taibbi

My required reading demands a lot of people, but really that what word required means.
Jeffnindo
Both volumes of The Debate on the Constitution, published by the Library of America.
http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=32
http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=33&section=reviews
Tom Epling
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Modymo
Unfortunately, most of the Americans who should be required to read these or any other intelligent books, are much too busy whatching so-called REALITY SHOWS and all the other TRASH on TV, playing MINDLESS VIDEO GAMES, seeing VIOLENT or IDIOTIC films, TEXTING, TWEETING,etc.
At this point, our general populace has been “DUMBED DOWN”, that it won’t take much effort for the enemies of America to finish taking control.
GOD BLESS AMERICA?
GOD HELP AMERICA!!!!
guest
God Loves Fun (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
Rwilson
The Legacy of Hiroshima, by Naomi Shohno
A Workable Moral Strategy for Achieving and Preserving World Peace: A Strategy That Can Create Over 500,000 American Jobs, by R. G. Wilson
All Things Nuclear, by James C. Warf
Cherrie
When Johnny Comes Marching Home by Dixon Wecter
Judygranny
‘Small Is Beautiful’ , Huxley’s ‘Island’ (more an essay than a novel), Wm Greider’s books, Limits to Growth and Thoreau’s essay on “Civil Disobedience.” Tomases Paine and Jefferson would be nice additions.
Bookpedlar
Heller’s Catch-22 because its dark humor so beautifully illustrates the folly, futility and stupidity of war.
Hemi Boso
A profound work of philosophical and scientific synthesis: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Gloria Levitt
THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE BY BETTY FRIEDAN
Annepinkerton800
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry; She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb; Gone With the WInd by Margaret Mitchell; Pillars of the Earth by Ken FOllett
Nyuout
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. Henry Reeve
Electronic edition deposited and marked-up by ASGRP, the American Studies Programs at the University of Virginia, June 1, 1997
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html
What does America really looke like?
Ronald Kuykendall
The “USA Trilogy” by John Dos Pasos.
Dschwinghamer
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Gulag Archipelago – Alexlander Solhenitsyn
hue
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
PMD
Tony Morrison: Beloved
Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac
John Updike: Rabbit Run
Norman Isaacson
“Amusing Ourselves To Death – Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business”" by Neil Postman.
A Viking Book. Published in 1984 .
It is an exact picture of what is now happening to our country.
Mike
Catch 22. My Antonia. War to end all Wars. All the 15 above are wonderful.. Mike
aone
Actually, what Americans really need to read is translations of books by and about people from other countries, especially the Middle East. Most US citizens and politicians and soldiers are terribly ignorant about the rest of the world!!
David
Aftershock, by Robert Reich. A More Perfect Constitution, by Larry Sabato. Free Lunch, by David Cay Johnston. Re-inventing Government, David Osborne. Community Power Structure, by Floyd Hunter.
Anonymous
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown
Eleanor Roosevelt (Volume 2, 1933-1938) by Blanche CookWar is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Anyplace but Here by Mona Simpson
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
http://www.facebook.com/arsenault.anne Anne G. Arsenault
Alexis de Tocqueville
patricia
the immortal life of henrietta lacks by rebecca skloot/the new jim crow by michelle alexander/slavery by another name by douglas a. blackmon/anything by jonathan kozol
Fred Mathes
Overthrow, by Stephen Kinzer, the World as it is, Chris Hedges, The Great American Stick-up, Robert Scheer, Backlash, Will Bunch, Hopes and Prospects, Noam Chomsky, Dismantling the Empire, Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis, Chalmers Johnson, People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Paul Kennedy, The Imperial Cruise, James Bradley, American Fascists, Chris Hedges, The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman, The Cry for Justice, Upton Sinclair, The Great Divergence, Timothy Noah, Supercapitalism, Robert Reich, While America Sleeps, Russ Feingold, anything written by Paul Krugman, anything written by Jonathon Kozol
http://twitter.com/AzEagletarian Arizona Eagletarian
The Social Contract by Rousseau; all essays by Thomas Paine.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Mason/705689570 Catherine Mason
The Federalist Papers
Anonymous
All of Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!)’s books -
The Exception to the Rulers (co-written with David Goodman),
STATIC (co-written with David Goodman),
Standing Up To the Madness (co-written with David Goodman), and
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Consumed- How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole by Benjamin R. BarberCan’t Buy My Love, How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel (also published as “Deadly Persuasion”) by Jean KilbourneBacklash, The Undeclared War Against American Women – Susan Faludi (The “war on women” we are hearing about is not at all new)The Terror Dream – Susan FaludiThe Beauty Myth, How Images of Beauty are used against Women – Naomi WolfThe Healing of America – T.R. ReidStuffed and Starved – Raj PatelThe Value of Nothing – Raj PatelA few novels -A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer EganThe Corrections – Jonathan FranzenGilead – Marilynne RobinsonSome lighter fare -I Am America (And So Can You) – Stephen ColbertThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book), A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction – Jon Stewart and the writers of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book), A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race – Jon Stewart and the writers of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”With the countless abundance “celebrity” books that currently in existence, there are, amazingly, two that I recommend, and that they are perhaps the only ones that are essential in any way -Just Kids – Patti SmithBossypants – Tina Fey I also recommend many others that have already been mentioned such as “A People’s History of the United States,” ” To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” “The Hunger Games,” etc …
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-R-Huff-Jr/521169987 John R. Huff Jr.
Any of Willa Cather’s novels. Including One of Ours. Winner of a Pulitzer prize.
Danettelittleton
Molly Ivins
MaryS
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown
Selflynda
i would add toni morrison’s beloved, shirley hazzard’s the great fire, gabriel garcia marquez’s love in the time of cholera, j. m. coetzee’s disgrace. i would delete tom sawyer as it does not carry the human weight of huck finn.
Pop Murray
I would add Uncle Tom’s Cabin…. It’s a fast paced story and moved abolitionist ideas to the center stage in a powerful and moving way. Many ideas and phrases we use in everyday language came from this book. It is a must read for anyone wanting to understand race relations in our country and a great story to boot.
Richard Hattwick
My recommendations, all non-fiction, are
1. Jeffrey Sachs, THE PRICE OF CIVILIZATION
2. Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, WINNER TAKE ALL POLITICS
3. Joseph ‘Stigler, FREEFALL
4. Jared Diamond, COLLAPSE
5. James MacGregor Burns, PACKING THE COURT
6. Doris Kearns, TEAM OF RIVALS
7. Jean Edward Smith, GRANT
8. Robert Kuttner, EVERYTHING FOR SALE
9. Robert Caro, MASTER OF THE SENATE
10. Ha Joon Chang, BAD SAMARITANS
http://www.facebook.com/people/Rebecca-Phillips/1453204265 Rebecca Phillips
I would put at the top of my list, It can’t happen here____
Felicia325
The Things They Carried- Tim O’Brien
On the Beach- Nevil Shute
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jschmigel
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Alonbar47
“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. It’s all about our most probable
destiny.
Dorothy
I would add The Price of Civilization by Jeffrey D. Sachs and The Whistleblower by Kathryn Bolkovac
Ninagiske
In my opinion, Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller, is the “Great American Novel “of the 20th. century.
Ninagiske
You have only seen the superficial America. We’re out there!
AuburnCeltie
VULTURES PICNIC – by Greg Palast, OMNIVORES DILEMMA, by Michael Pollan, FAST FOOD NATION (author?)
Anne Curtis
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
This book is like reading poetry, with the cadence of the language and beautiful, wise comments throughout. Through the character of Janie, we experience the development of a young woman becoming a wise and self assured woman by the end of the book. It is also a beautiful love story told by an African-American woman who writes for Every Woman.
Victoire
Mein Kampf, so we can understand Karl Rowe and what they are doing to us.
Paula
The Cairo Trilogy by Nagiub Mahfouz. Yes we do need to understand the Eastern mind and culture.
Reddoor2
My list is drawn from the classics of enlightenment thinking-drawn from the classics of humanity.
My list begins with the essay written in response to Machiavelli, by Ettiene de la Boetie called “Discourse on Involuntary Servitude.” I would follow that with a reading of our own Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution.
I would tie in the reading with Homer’s Illiad and Oddessey, and the Greek myths and tragedies to which De la Boetie refers.
Shakespeare-ALL OF IT, including King Lear, Hamlet and MacBeth as an exercise in understanding the politics of Human Nature.
The Fables of Aesop.
I would recommend, at least the first part of D’Toqueville’s “On Democracy” in which he discusses how he viewed the cause and effects of the American Democracy.
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations-with emphasis on his cautions against unregulated corporations.
I would include works, such as Schindler’s List, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Color Purple, to impress upon people the dangers of HATE and the suffering it causes-the suffering that is not forgotten even after generations.
A Team of Rivals, By Doris Kearns Goodwin-and an introduction to the writings, speeches and letters of Lincoln.
Ghandi.
Joseph Campell’s Power of the Myth, along with American Indian myths, Confucious, and Buddha, and the Bible.
Americans need REAL HERO’s, not notoriety and wealth to aspire to and we have so many in our history from which we can choose. We need to go back and remember who they were, and why they are among those we most revere.
I would like to see at least these books REQUIRED for High School graduation so that all Americans would understand, appreciate, and respect the roots from which our nation arose, and the shoulders upon which we stand. Then I would require two years of community or military service in this nation to get Americans out of their neighborhood and expose them to different views and cultures, hardships and the value of sacrifice before they go on continue their education and determine how they will make a contribution to society and civilization.
Reddoor2
I want to add an observation that the books, such as Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Orwell’s 1984, Animal Farm, and other cautionary tales seem NOT to be taken as cautionary, but rather to provide insight into Machiavellian means of gaining power and control. I would therefore, NOT include books of this nature in a high school curriculum but would reserve the lessons available in these books for readers with a more mature understanding of cause and effect of human nature and it’s consequences. Atlas appears to be the play book we are currently following, and she rightly predicted the consequences. Atlas Shrugged, read too early appeals to the arrogance and greed of human nature before civic duty, responsibility and empathy are sufficiently developed, and effectively prevents the development of these very qualities necessary for leadership, responsibility and duty. Though we see it all around us, we still don’t see Wall Street, lobbyists, and our current government as the James Taggert-like parasites and cronies that Rand intended them to be.
MadCar
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
Barbara Klingover, Lacuna
MaryS
I think people should bear in mind the context of the question, which is not asking what our personal favorites are, but what Americans should be reading. I’ve seen such unlikely, although wonderful, titles mentioned here without an explanation as to why they should be widely read. One example is “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” which is one of my favorite novels, but I can’t say why all Americans should read it, so I omitted it.
If you’re going to recommend novels, I suggest those by the immortal American writers such as Dickens, Steinbeck, Dos Passos, Twain – their works reflect a history of America’s culture. Marquez, though a phenomenal writer, is Columbian and his books don’t have anything to do with the US.
The idea is that good books will somehow circumvent the dumbing-down of America. I sure hope they do.
Bert
Michael Harrington’s “The Other America: Poverty in the United States”. Talks about the plight of the invisibile poor. Written in 1962; still relevant.
Anonymous
Most of these lists are pretty “earthbound”, which is great, but I think we need more Philosophy and more introspective writings. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” started me thinking a long time ago about an integrated life. Kristnamurti’s “Think on these Things” and “Commentaries on Living” helped me try to do that.
Anonymous
The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
Twobacdocs
I’m wondering why “Black Like Me” isn’t on your list. I read this book in junior high, to give a hint of my age, and it had a profound effect on me.
Ima Patriot
I did not see Atlas Shrugged on that list
Anonymous
Thankfully, there are three women authors of the 15. Does anyone know of a book written about all the talent lost to the world all those thousands of years when women were chattel and not allowed to participate in the arts and public life? Yet, today, we stand dumbly by while forces work at driving women backwards beyond the Dark Ages and towards the resurgence of ownership of not only women, but black and Latino slaves.
charon
Thankfully. Ayn Rand was a paranoid nutjob and mediocre talent at best.
Texasjelly
Elizabeth Cady Stanton “The Women’s Bible”
Michael Geerts
The Republic, by Plato is a must read for everybody!
To praise the folly by Desiderius Erasmus
Utopia by Thomas More
J.P.
Yes,Carole there are alot of us that agree with you. We must voice our actions in the coming elections. PEACE
Alvinw96
It is a very good question, but I think what would be the best for the health of this Planet and it’s Inhabitants, THE TRUE HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH AND WHERE THE GREED OF MAN HAS LEAD HER. along with HOW THE GREED OF A FEW DESTROYED GODS GIFT TO MAN. ” FREE WILL “. I MADE A LONG LIST BUT HAD TO DELETE IT. WHAT SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS ALL AROUND THE WORLD IS ** HUMAN RELATIONSHIP ** IF PEOPLE WHERE TAUGHT HOW TO GET ALONG INSTEAD OF HOW TO HATE EACH OTHER. THERE WOULD BE NO WARS. * GOD * DID NOT TEACH HATE MAN TAUGHT MAN HOW TO HATE. CHILDREN ARE NOT BORN WITH HATE, **
PARENTS TEACH HATE TO THERE CHILDREN………………… **
THE BEST TEACHER OF HATE IS ** ………. ……………………………….. **** THE NETWORK NEWS MEDIA ****…………………. ………………………………………**.ALSO BEST TEACHER OF LIES **……………………………
Wsbumbalo
I would add William Manchester’s, “The Glory and The Dream”. Maybe our present generation would understand what some people gave up and fought for to try to make America the kind of country we once dreamed of it being.
Gg03us1
I would add “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck.
Cybersagacious
Was it Balducci who says he reads a new book every three days. What joy! Oh, to read ALL the books listed here!
With my new kindle I have downloaded many books I missed as a youth.
What psychologcal depth in THE SCARLET LETTER; so beautifully written.
Loved all the O’Henry stories; laughs and sorrows.
Glad to see no one mentioned THE BIBLE; the greatest fiction book ever written.
Cgmunchkin
The Spirit Level-Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett show how many of the issues today are actually symptoms of the growing inequality, whether it is in Europe or between states within the United States.
C. Rodman
For the required reading booklist I would add:
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
The Atlantic – Simon Winchester
All the president’s Men – Woodward & Bernstein
and almost anything by Barry Lopez.
guest
Charny’s “Fascism and Democracy in the Human Mind”
http://twitter.com/OConnellDenver Tim O’Connell
For the required reading list: The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe
http://www.agililty3r.com Jennifer Sertl
Non-Fiction :
Too Big Too Know ~ David Weinberg
The Age of Heretics ~ Art Kleiner
The Power of Pull ~ John Hagel
Organizing Genius ~ Charles Handy
The Butterfly Effect ~ Andy Andrews
A Whole New Mind ~ Daniel Pink
Strategy Leadership & the Soul ~ Jennifer Sertl & Koby Huberman
Fiction :
One True Thing ~ Anna Quindlen
She’s Come Undone ~ Wally Lamb
The Language of Flowers ~ Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Atlas Shrugged ~ Ayn Rand
Lord of the Flies ~ William Golding
Never Let Me Go ~ Kazuo Ishiguro
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ~ Robert Pirsig
Short Story:
All Summer in A Day ~ Ray Bradburry
Poetry
Self Portrait ~ David Whyte
The Moment ~ Margaret Atwood
Wild Geese ~ Mary Oliver
Holidaydarin
Democracy Inc. by Sheldon Wolin — no book I’ve read more accurately explains the current monstrosity of governance in the US.
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn — once you see where we come from, it’s not so difficult to face the questionable motives of our current leaders.
Wends
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Slaughter House V by Vonnegut
Anything by Sherman Alexie
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’ Engle
The Book Thief by Zusak
Masswoman2002
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara E — not sure of last name
Brenda
Most of these were required reading when I was in high school in the 70s.
Anonymous
Dickens isn’t American!
Anonymous
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Grand Inquisitor,” The Brothers Karamazov, 1880.
Alexis de Tocqueville, “Philosophical Method of the Americans,” Democracy in America.
John C. Livingston, Robert G. Thompson, The Consent of the Governed, Third Edition, 1971. (a good explanation of democratic theory; furthermore, the authors explain the gap between what is and what ought to be – which is the crisis of American politics).
The Lord of the Flies (a good antidote to Ayn Rand).
Richard Hofstadter, Social Darwinism In American Thought.
______________ , Anti-Intellectualism In American Life.
______________ , The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays.
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, 1951.
Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great.
IreneTH
J.D. Salinger – Catcher in the Rye
Dalton Trumbo – Johnny Got His Gun
Joseph Heller - Catch 22
Meme Conversationalist
The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris
Time’s Arrow by Stephen Jay Gould
Mind and Nature by Gregory Bateson
It’s a Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin
Into the Cool by Schneider and Sagan
Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
Dharma Gaia by Allan Hunt Badiner and the Dalai Lama
Meme Conversationalist
And this -
The Art of Peace by Morihei Ueshiba and John Stevens
Karenpyne1
I read it a couple years ago and got a different understanding of “Uncle Tom “. What a great book.
Karenpyne1
For sure!
Penelopehunt
Fairy tales; mother goose stories; nursery rhymes; Jonothan Livingston Seagull; Celestine Prophecy; King James Bible (easy to read) ; for starters.
http://profile.yahoo.com/VVR7HDNQZHMIWYQRCC7FIJUCUY Duner
Democracy Inc. – probably no single better book to understand what American democracy is today and where it is going.
Also
- The Shock Doctrine
- People’s History of the United States
http://profile.yahoo.com/VVR7HDNQZHMIWYQRCC7FIJUCUY Duner
So, I put my top three down and then scrolled to find we are same recommendations! The third was shock doctrine
Leschreur
I would add “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver and “EcoMind” by Frances Moore Lappe. also “Bead on an Anthill” by Delphone Red Shirt, “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser,
“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, and “The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: by Louise Erdrich.
19obert63
hi
did you loose my list?
19obert63
My top writings
1. Hamlet
2. King Lear
3. Romeo and Juliet
4. Mathematica Principae-Newton
5. Law of Relativity-Einstein
6. Origin of a Species-Darwin
7.Moby Dick-Mellville
8. Brothers Karamozov-Doystevesky
9 To the Lighthouse-Virginia Woolf
10 Ulysses-James Joyce
11.Death of a Salesman-Arthur Miller
12 Guns of August-Tuchman
13 Rabbit Trilogy-JohnUpdike
14 Poems of Emily Dickinson
15 Autobiograpy of Frederich Douglas
moderator
Should be up now. Got hung up in the filter, sorry about that
thanks,
sean @ moyers
Fred Mathes
Anything by Barbara Tuchman
Fred Mathes
Cherrie-ginger
and that “nut job” from communist Russia deeply influenced many of our
nation political figures. Most importantly Allen Greenspan, the past chair man
serving from Clinton through G. Bush.
It is not enough to dismiss people as nut-jobs. You have to become aware of the
opposing position and be able to debate it. Well, you have to get the other side to
listen which may be the more difficult !
Barbara Renaud Gonzalez
Borderlands, by Gloria Anzaldua
Gking1970
I would add Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent and Vonnegut’s Cats’ Cradle and Mother Night, but also Evgeny Zamyatin’s We, Ousmane Sembene’s God’s Bits of Wood, James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, Kenzaburo Oe’s The Silent Cry, john Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls and Marge Piercy’s Gone For Soldiers, as well as E. Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News and Jane Smiley’s Moo.
Anonymous
There is only one really. Democracy in America by Alexis deTocqueville.
Alice
Maus by
Art Spiegelman
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’ Engle
Forgive me, there are many others. I’m only half way through my first cup of coffee.
Steve H
This will get you started with informative Entertainment, Civics, Economics and some potential Solutions:
“In Dubious Battle”, John Steinbeck
“Cat’s Cradle” Kurt Vonnegut
“Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and A Plan to Stop It “, Lawrence Lessig
“13 Bankers -The Wall St Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown”, Simon Johnson & James Kwak
“America’s Constitution – A Biography”, Akhil Reed Amar
“Freefall”, Joseph E Stiglitz
“Capital Offense”, Michael Hirsch
“Reinventing Fire – Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era”, Amory Lovins
“The Magna Carta Manifesto”, Peter Linebaugh
“The Tao of Physics” & “The Web of Life”, Fritjof Capra
“Agenda for a New Economy”, David Korten
“The End of Work”, Jeremy Rifkin
JenniferGS
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was one of the most influential books of the 20th century and should be included.
Barry A.
Thoreau’s “Walden” and Emerson’s first series of essays, including “Self-Reliance” should be required reading.
Annie
The Bible and the Koran
Anonymous
Two books by the late Mortimer Adler: “We Hold These Truths: Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution”, and “Six Great Ideas” [truth, goodness, beauty, liberty, equality and justice]
C.D. Bowen’s “Miracle at Philadelphia”
Good biographies of the major Founding Fathers: Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin and Madison
Current edition of George Lackoff’s “Moral Politics”
http://willowsmarsh.com Karen Masullo (OPCGal)
I just finished Reclaiming School in the Aftermath of Trauma: Advice Based on Experience (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) Authored and edited by Carolyn Lunsford Mears – Everyone should read this book. (disclaimer, Carolyn Mears and I serve on the same Expert Council for http://firestorm.com , but I would recommend this book regardless of our connection – it is a touching, empathetic, and healing collection of essays by people who have experienced significant trauma; from Columbine to 911 – exceptionally insightful.
Rick Theile
I would strongly recommend the book, “A Little Matter of Genocide” by Ward Churchill.
Jose
Good book. “American Genocide” by David Stannard is great book too.
Edith
I would also recommend the Pulizter Prize winner of 2009, Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon.
michael Kenney
If you want to understand why the world is coming apart at the seams and what we can do to lay the foundations for a peaceful and sustainable society, read this book. ” A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization” by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Executice Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Developement. Also go to: http://www.nafeez.blogspot.com and http://www.iprd.org.uk You might want to reference: Occupy Planet Earth. Ahmed say’s: That there is a certain unwillingness of experts to look outside their own fields which explains why there is so much disagreement about particular problems. This book investigates these crises as trends that belong to a single global system, rather than treating them as isolated events. This book provides a stark warning about the consequences of failing to take a broader view-and shows how catastrophe can be avoided.
Arnold
I concur!
Anonymous
Here are my 15 books. 15. The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp. Sharp’s essay: “From Dictatorship to Democracy” helped inspire the Arab Spring. This three volume work, describes 198 different types of nonviolent action from throughout history from all over the world. 14. Being Right is Not Enough, by Paul Waldman. What progressives can learn from from conservatives to win elections. 13. Doing Democracy: The Movement Action Plan for Conducting Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigns and Movements by William Moyer(not the PBS guy) Even Glenn Beck did a segment on him before he went off the air on Fox News. You can also view both Moyer and Beck on YouTube on the MAP Model. 12. Back to Work by William J. Clinton. Ideas, solutions and strategies for making things better in our country in Washington, DC and in the state and local government to serve the greater common good. 11. Who Rules America? by G. William Domhoff. Now in its 6th edition, it is vitally important to understand how power and money is used to control the world and us. 10. The Political Brain by Drew Weston, understanding how emotion controls the political thinking and voting of Americans. 9. The Political Mind by George Lakoff. How to frame your message and create the meme’s that move the electorate and win elections. 8. Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show by Geoff Nunberg. A linguist’s analysis of how liberal’s have been labled or “branded” as not “American” or “patriotic”, or “weak”, “soft” etc. 7. The Soul of a Citizen: How to Live With Conviction in a Cynical Time. by Paul Loeb. 6. Strategy for a Living Revolution by George Lakey. How to organize and lead a 5 stage nonviolent living revolution on the planet, not just the US. 5. Revolution 2.0 The Power of the People is Greater than the People in Power by Wael Ghonim. The story of how a Middle East Marketing Executive from Google, helped inspire and lead a revolution in Egypt via Google, Facebook and Twitter. 4. Winner Take All Politics by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, how money is controlling and ruining our democracy. 3. The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman Nobel prize winning economist from Princeton and New York Times OpEd Columnist views on being a liberal based on his blog. 2. Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky helped inspire Barack Obama into community organizing and politics. Both Hilary Rodman Clinton and Barack Obama wrote research papers on Alinsky in college. Hillary actual interviewed the man before he died as part of her research. They came to opposite opinions on his methods. 1. Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Really Mattered by E.F. Schumacher, an economic, technological and scientific system to live more sustainably and in harmony with the Earth and it’s citizens. A practical way to “think globally and act locally” that is sustainable for the planet.
Frank Healy
I would drop Tom Sawyer. It is nowhere near Huck Finn, which is an allegory for America with many repeated themes from Pap’s tirade on government to religious revivals etc. From an historical perspective I would replace it with The Great Gatsby. Faulkner also deserves consideration as does Melville. Better yet I’d have an historical 15 and a contemporary 15.
19obert63
Nice list, I especially like the addition of Cold Mountain and Grapes of Wrath.
I would have picked Angela Ashes over Tis but Frank McCourt is great. If you like McCourt
I think you would love John Updike’s Rabbit triolgy and I think I’ll give Toni Morrison another try with Beloved.
19obert63
Not bad, a good selection for top American novel; I’m thinking Faulkner’s Sound
and Fury or Moby Dick by Melville
berneredfeather
There are many on the list that I agree with.
I would add:
Masaru Emoto, THE HIDDEN MESSAGES IN WATER
EmJayDubu
     I was pleased to see that the list focused on fiction which, I believe, tends to give us more insight into the human society and how we interrelate. The study of history is a necessary adjunct for understanding the issues raised in these books, but the particular sources used are less significant (barring those that are too strongly propagandist unless taken with the proverbial grain of salt).
     The list is also a reasonably good one given the limitation of 15 books; there are many others that should be read for a variety of reasons both fiction and non-fiction. Being of that age (subject to the draft for Vietnam) I would particularly recommend Stanley Karnow’s – Vietnam: A History and A Bright And Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (I think) and The Fifties by Halberstam since they give background and insight into many of the issues that we are dealing with today.
     Regardless of the specifics of the list I can only suggest that you read anything and everything that holds your interest for more than a couple of pages (give many books a lot more time to develop their themes).
Gail Longo
SILENT SPRING by Rachel Carson, after reading her book: A SENSE OF WONDER and EDUCATION AND PEACE by Maria Montessori
Gaillongo
I added two more to the list and noticed someone else wrote Rachael Carson.
Karen Nawn-Fahey
the Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw
John Covaleskie
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. A haunting and beautifully written reflection on how good people can do terrible things with the best of intentions.
tenstring
John Perkins, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”
Terry
only two women out of ten? all great books to be sure, but I am reminded of how my mother, an English teacher, always gave her four daughters the female author “antidote” to all the male scribed books we were required to read in school. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar – after Catcher in the Rye – comes to mind.
19obert63
Sorry, I must add:
1984-George Orwell
CATCH 22-Heller
Mrs. Dalloway-Virginia Woolf
Death of the Liberal Class-Chris Hedges
Johnny
Siddhartha and Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse should be read by all those,who like books with ethical and profound views on life.though both are very different , both are masterpieces.
Denise Ring
The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
Wingwalker1976
That Used to be Us, Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
Winston Churchill trilogy by William Manchester
World War II history by Winston Churchill (6 volumes)
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Thomas Jefferson biography by Dumas Malone
History of Civilization by Will Durant (16 volumes)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathleen-Ulku-Wood-Laurila/1207020906 Kathleen Ulku-Wood Laurila
Finnish Lessons: What the World Can Learn from Educational Change in Finland by Pasi Sahlberg…forty years ago the level of education was one of the lowest in the developed world and today its a leader. How did this happen?
William RAISER
I suggest:
Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina by Marina A. Sitrin.
We know far too little about what’s happening in South America, and Marina introduces us to groups doing the hard work of creating societal alternatives.
RAZ
As the immediate concern of most Americans is the economy, I would recommend the following books:
The Party is Over by Mike Lofgren
Who Stole the American Dream? by Hedrick Smith
I would also recommend:
Drift: the Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow
All of these books will amaze you as to the extent that our politicians are not working for the good of most Americans. They are working for their re-elections and the interests of the super-rich, powerful few!
S Raoul
One could argue that America needs to listen to voices other than their own.
One could also argue that the joy of reading (and writing) is in not being constrained by petty tribal concerns of nation/clans/gender. It’s the ability to read anyone or anything of worth (not merely be able to read) that is important here.
w4g
I am so happy to see the recommendation of books written by Maria Montessori! She was a transdisciplinary genius!!!
Irene Abrego
“Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women’s History of the World” by Rosalind Miles