Political Books
 

Political books are hard to write. They almost always just play on party lines like Coulter or they make outlandish claims that can never be proven. Anyway, I was thinking that everyone could post the political or pseudo-political book that they feel had the most impact on their beliefs and ideologies. My choice would have to be Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I read that in my freshman year of highschool and I never looked at American history the same again. The untold stories of strikes and unions and riots and protests just changed my outlook on everything and opened my eyes to the injustice done by "the system."

So what book influenced your views on politics the most?

Ayn Rand's "We the Living", though fiction, is a good read if you want a detailed reference of life in the USSR.

Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know that Liberals Don't (George Lakoff) - cognitive psychological theory on the basis of liberal and conservative ideology

Democracy's Discontent (Michael Sandel) - evolution of American politics in response to changing times

Nicked and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a fantastic book that everyone should read.

She takes on several entry-level jobs (waitress, etc...) and tries to get by on the money she brings in. The book is just amazing, and should help convince anyone that the mythical conservative idea that "anyone who wants to work, can work and can get by just fine" is not true, not by a long shot.

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, by Greg Palast.

Anything by Alexis de Tocqueville.

What Liberal Media? by Eric Alterman.

That last one is a bit partisan, I admit, but it's wonderfully sourced and extremely thorough.

Plato's "Republic"...

as for the community: 'it is our need that will create it'

It covers a political era long gone -- most of you weren't even born when Nixon was president -- but my favorite book on politics is still "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail." Thompson was at his peak at that point, both as an author and journalist.

there is currently a book out called Nickled and Dimed. It deals with the myth that one can support a family while working at menail jobs like McDonalds...a good read for liberals and perhaps an eye-opener for conservatives.

Warrior Politics by Robert Kaplan.

It's more forigen policy than politics, per se, but i think it's an important facet of political life. He makes a strong case for american intrest in taking intrest and intervention in the affairs of other nations, since it will always come back to bite us in the ass when disorder spreads.

I haven't read the book, but intervention in Iran and Afghanistan certainly came back to bite us, so I'd be curious to see how the author thinks that political intervention in other countries is in any way a historical success.