Books to Be Read Together
Grappling with Power and Fear
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Psychic Life of Power by Judith Butler
The Silence of Animals by John Gray
Together, these works confront the intricate ways power is both imposed and internalized, urging us to rethink control, meaning, and our place in a contingent world.
This collection begins with Becker’s The Denial of Death, which examines humanity’s existential fear of mortality and how this fear drives the creation of symbolic systems to impose order and meaning on an unpredictable world.
Nietzsche’s The Genealogy of Morals expands this analysis, tracing the historical origins of moral frameworks and exposing how they function as tools of power, shaped by resentment and designed to control human behavior.
In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche builds further, challenging us to reject binary moralities and embrace a more fluid understanding of existence, free from the rigid systems that constrain us.
Butler’s The Psychic Life of Power shifts the focus to how power operates internally, shaping identity and self-regulation, and how even resistance is intertwined with the very structures it seeks to oppose.
Finally, Gray’s The Silence of Animals takes the conversation to its most radical conclusion, questioning humanity’s relentless search for meaning and offering an alternative: to live without illusions, embracing the interdependent and dreamlike nature of existence.
Foundations for a Cooperative Future
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Modern Crisis by Murray Bookchin
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin
Post-Scarcity Anarchism by Murray Bookchin
Island by Aldous Huxley
Together, these works combine practical strategies with aspirational visions, providing the theoretical and imaginative groundwork for building a cooperative society rooted in mutual aid, decentralization, and collective well-being.
This collection begins with Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, a powerful exploration of the struggles and triumphs of creating and sustaining an anarchist society under conditions of systemic scarcity and oppression. It sets the stage for a nuanced understanding of the challenges and possibilities of cooperative living.
Bookchin’s The Modern Crisis follows, examining the environmental and societal decay caused by hierarchical systems and emphasizing the need for decentralized, community-led governance to achieve sustainability and resilience.
Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread then provides a foundational framework for mutual aid and equitable resource distribution, offering practical solutions rooted in anarchist principles.
In Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Bookchin expands the conversation, imagining a future where technological advancements and ecological awareness enable a society free from scarcity and focused on collective flourishing.
The collection concludes with Huxley’s Island, presenting a visionary society that harmonizes interdependence and cooperative principles, offering an inspiring blueprint for how anarchist ideals can manifest in a thriving, balanced world.
The History and Impact of Racism
David Walker's Appeal by David Walker
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
James by Percival Everett
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Together, these works offer a comprehensive understanding of how racism functions as a tool of control and exploitation, while also illuminating paths toward resistance and justice.
This collection opens with David Walker's Appeal, a powerful and uncompromising critique of racism and systemic oppression from the perspective of the enslaved, highlighting how these injustices are rooted in the pursuit of power and profit.
Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning builds on this foundation, mapping the deliberate construction of racist ideologies to uphold economic and political systems throughout history.
Everett’s James provides a nuanced, fictional exploration of the ways racism infiltrates identity, culture, and relationships, showcasing its deeply personal and societal consequences.
Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth expands the focus to global colonial systems, analyzing how racism and violence have been tools for exploitation and wealth accumulation, leaving lasting scars on individuals and nations.
The collection concludes with Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, a groundbreaking examination of how modern mass incarceration continues the legacy of systemic racism, revealing how power and profit still drive racial oppression in the guise of legality.
Resilience, Culture, and Joy in the Face of Struggle
Black Movements in America by Cedric J. Robinson
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich
Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised by Carmelo Anthony
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
What Is the What by Dave Eggers
Together, these works illuminate how resilience, culture, and joy serve as indispensable forces of survival and resistance. They challenge us to see these elements not as escapes from hardship but as sources of power and renewal, essential for imagining and building a more just and equitable future.
This collection begins with Black Movements in America, offering a historical overview of collective resistance, cultural innovation, and resilience among Black communities in the face of systemic oppression.
Ehrenreich’s Dancing in the Streets broadens the lens, exploring the history of communal joy as a form of defiance and survival across societies, highlighting the role of celebration in resisting dehumanization.
Anthony’s Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised brings a personal perspective, chronicling his journey of navigating structural racism and finding strength in community, culture, and perseverance.
Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying moves into the realm of fiction to explore themes of dignity, redemption, and the transformative power of human connection in the face of systemic dehumanization.
Finally, Eggers’ What Is the What bridges personal narrative and historical context, telling the harrowing yet inspiring story of resilience and community among the Lost Boys of Sudan.
The Logic and Contradictions of Capitalism
Capital, Volume I by Karl Marx
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism by John Gray
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber
Together, these works reveal a system that adapts to survive even as it undermines its own foundations. These books provide a layered understanding of capitalism’s internal logic, its historical trajectory, and its profound impact on societies and individuals.
This collection begins with Capital, Volume I, where Marx dissects the mechanics of capitalism, laying bare its reliance on the extraction of surplus value and the contradictions that lead to systemic crises.
Lenin’s Imperialism builds on this, situating capitalism within its global context, showing how imperialism becomes a necessary extension to sustain accumulation as contradictions intensify at the national level.
From there, Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century brings the analysis into the modern era, illustrating how wealth concentration has become a structural feature of capitalism, exacerbating inequality and stagnation.
Gray’s False Dawn critiques the ideological underpinnings of contemporary capitalism, exposing how neoliberalism deepens these contradictions by prioritizing market expansion over social cohesion.
Finally, Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs zooms in on the human experience within capitalism, exploring how the system generates meaningless labor to maintain its structure, alienating workers and perpetuating dissatisfaction.
Tracing the Path to the Present
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
A People's History of the World by Chris Harman
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome by Michael Parenti
World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction by Immanuel Wallerstein
Together, these works reveal how the decisions, struggles, and power dynamics of the past continue to shape the inequalities and possibilities of the present, inviting us to see history not as fixed but as an ongoing process we can influence.
This collection examines the historical forces and power structures that have shaped our world, offering a sweeping view of societal evolution from ancient times to today. In The Dawn of Everything, Graeber and Wengrow dismantle myths about early societies, challenging assumptions about hierarchy and progress while highlighting human agency in shaping social orders.
Harman’s A People's History of the World broadens this view, tracing global struggles and revolutions, centering the role of ordinary people in challenging systems of domination.
Zinn’s A People's History of the United States narrows the focus to American history, exposing the systemic inequalities and resistance movements often omitted from mainstream narratives.
Parenti’s The Assassination of Julius Caesarcomplements this with a case study from ancient Rome, illustrating how elites have consistently wielded power to suppress the voices of the marginalized.
Finally, Wallerstein’s World-Systems Analysis ties these threads together, offering a framework for understanding how global systems of exploitation and inequality operate and evolve.
The Tension Between Being and Doing
Zhuangzi (Ziporyn Translation)
The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray
Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life by John Gray
God: A Biography by Jack Miles
Together, these works explore the tension between being and doing, urging us to embrace growth not as an end in itself but as a natural unfolding, free from the illusions of purpose or permanence.
This collection begins with Zhuangzi, offering a foundation in the Taoist understanding of effortless action and harmonious living, challenging our attachment to rigid concepts of self and purpose.
Huxley's The Perennial Philosophybuilds on this by connecting timeless spiritual insights across cultures, emphasizing the universality of interconnection and the wisdom of transcending ego.
Gray’s Seven Types of Atheism deepens the inquiry by examining humanity’s search for meaning through secular frameworks, exposing the pitfalls of clinging to abstract ideals.
His Feline Philosophy complements this with a lighter yet profound perspective, suggesting that living authentically, as animals do, offers a path to freedom from existential burdens.
The collection culminates with God: A Biography, which examines self-consciousness through the evolving personality of God in scripture, revealing the paradoxes of striving, transformation, and the human condition.
Witnessing Humanity
Couldn’t Keep It to Myself by Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Soul of a Butterfly by Muhammad Ali
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Together, these works examine the depths of human nature, from cruelty and absurdity to resilience and redemption, compelling us to witness and reflect on the realities of existence.
This collection begins with Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, a series of powerful essays from incarcerated women that expose the brutality of the prison system while revealing the strength and humanity of those within it.
Camus' The Stranger follows, presenting an unflinching look at existential detachment and the absurdity of a world that punishes those who refuse to conform to its expectations.
Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle expands on this critique with dark satire, dismantling the illusions of progress, religion, and power in a world teetering on the edge of destruction.
In The Soul of a Butterfly, Muhammad Ali offers a deeply personal reflection on faith, struggle, and transformation, showing how resilience and self-discovery shape a life of purpose.
The collection culminates with Just Mercy, where Bryan Stevenson confronts the failures of the justice system, urging us to recognize the power of compassion, advocacy, and the fight for human dignity.