Essential Readings

Essential readings to enhance your understanding of the issues. See also Videos for teach-ins and video explanations of political issues.

Black Radical Tradition

Articles

• The Defection of Eldridge Cleaver & Reactionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton
• Beyond Vietnam by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• [1] by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• I've Been To The Mountaintop by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The Transformation Of Silence Into Language by Audre Lorde
• What Did Cedric Robinson Mean By Racial Capitalism? by Robin D. G. Kelley
• Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
• Women, Race, & Class by Angela Davis
• Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
• A Dying Colonialism by Frantz Fanon

Books

• I Write What I Like by Steve Biko
• Malcolm X: The Last Speeches
• The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by CLR James
• Urbane Revolutionary: C. L. R. James and the Struggle for a New Society by Frank Rosengarten
• There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack by Paul Gilroy
• Die Nigger Die : A Political Autobiography by H. Rap Brown (Jamil Abdullah Al Amin)
• Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
• The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah by Ama Biney
• The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas
• How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
• Black Power: The Politics of Liberation by Kwame Ture & Charles V. Hamilton
• Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

Documentaries / Speeches

• Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution by Stanley Nelson
• 13th by Ava DuVernay
• "Black Power" by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), UC Berkeley, 1966
• "Lynch Law in America by Ida. B Wells, Chicago, 1900
• "Not just an American problem, but a world problem" by Malcolm X, Rochester, NY, February 1965
• Power to the People - The Black Panther Speeches by Fred Hampton
• Documents of the Fifth Pan African Congress edited by George Padmore, Manchester, England, 1945
• It's A Class Struggle Goddammit! by Fred Hampton, November 1969

Syllabi and Reading Lists

• A Time for Treason, see Black Liberation section

Authoritarianism/Threats to Democracy

Articles

• The rise of American authoritarianism by Amanda Taub, March 1, 2016
• Against Normalization: The Lesson of the 'Munich Post' by Ron Rosenbaum, February 5, 2017
• You're the fact checker now by Stanford Alumni, January 24, 2017
• America’s system of checks and balances might struggle to contain a despot by The Economist, February 4, 2017
• Why the world is turning to Hannah Arendt to explain Trump by Elizabeth Grenier, February 2, 2017
• Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco, June 22, 1995
• Autocracy: Rules for Survival by Masha Gessen, November 10, 2016
• We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the Age of Trump by Sarah Kendzior, November 18, 2016
• Neoliberalism: the deep story that lies beneath Donald Trump’s triumph. by George Monbiot, 14 November 2016
• Ctrl-Alt-Delete: The origins and ideology of the Alternative Right by Matthew N. Lyons, January 20, 2017
• How to Culture Jam a Populist in Four Easy Steps by Andrés Miguel Rondón, January 20, 2017

Books

• The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton
• Captured: The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy by Sheldon Whitehouse and Melanie Wachtell Stinnett
• Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
• Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy by Frederick A.O. Schwartz Jr.
• The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, Alastair Smith
• Fascism: A History by Roger Eatwell
• The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy by Zachary Roth, 2016
• It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
• Media Bias, Perspective, and State Repression: The Black Panther Party by Christian Davenport
• Obedience to Authority by Stanley Milgram
• The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
• Ratf**cked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy by David Daley
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
• Against Fascism and War by George Dimitrov, account of opposition to fascism in the 30s by an organizer that Nazis tried to frame for the Reichstag fire, and who beat them in court
• Lectures on Fascism by Palmiro Togliatti, author fought Mussolini as fascists, with help from the rich, seized power
• Truth & Liberty: 33 Ways to Fight Lies, Propaganda & Oppression by Guy Bergstrom

Syllabi

• Understanding the authoritarian turn in US Politics by Brendan Nyhan
• A Time for Treason, see Anti-Fascism/Fascism History and US Repression and McCarthyism sections
• Sarah Kendzior, expert on authoritarianism

Building Movements and Organizing

Articles

• A Conversation with Noam Chomsky on Organizing
• Fighting Authoritarianism: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder
• When Does Protest Actually Work? by Erica Chenoweth
• The Art of the Protest by Tina Rosenberg
• Why Some Protests Succeed While Others Fail by Jesse Singal
• 5 Practical Principles to Guide Our Work Under Trump by Stephen Lerner and Maurice Weeks
• Preparing for President Trump by Peter Dreier
• We're About to See States' Rights Used Defensively Against Trump by Heather Gerken
• An Inside-Outside Strategy for Defending the US Republic by Maria Stephan
• Interviews for Resistance, The Baffler magazine

Books

• Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World by Srdja Popovic and Matthew Miller, 2015
• Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow by Daniel Hunter
• Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff
• From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation by Gene Sharp
• Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in Twenty-First-Century America by Michael Ratner and Margaret Ratner Kunstler
• How Nonviolent Struggle Works by Gene Sharp, 2013 (free online)
• No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey
• Rules for Resistance edited by David Cole and Melanie Wachtell Stinnett
• Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything by Becky Bond and Zack Exley, 2016
• This Is an Uprising by Mark and Paul Engler
• Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky
• Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential by Gene Sharp
• When We Fight, We Win: Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World by Greg Jobin-Leeds

Syllabi and Reading Lists

• Albert Einstein Institution: readings on nonviolent action
• A Time for Treason, Comprehensive reading/documentary list
• Jury X: Deliberations for Social Change, Harvard and EdX
• Fearless Books for Perilous Times, list of Resistance-related and other relevant books
• Impact College, courses on social impact
• Organizing: People, Power, Change by Marshall Ganz
• Practicing Democracy by Marshall Ganz
• Radical Political Action reading list
• Resistance School
• A Time for Treason: see Resistance Tactics section
• Rights, Action, and Social Responsibility book lists

Economic Issues / Capitalism / Socialism / Poverty

Books

• Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha Joon Chang
• The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer by Dean Baker
• Evicted by Matthew Desmond
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
• The Least Among Us: Waging the Battle for the Vulnerable by Rosa DeLauro
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

Syllabi

• History of capitalism, particularly in America—syllabi and resources
• Race, Justice and Urban Design reading list

Education

Books

• Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Environmental Justice

Articles

• The Hard Facts About Fracking
• Desmog Blog
• A Practical Guide for Resisting The Trump De-regulatory Agenda by former EPA staffers

Syllabi and Reading Lists

• Decolonizing Science Reading List
• Energy within Environmental Constraints, from Harvard and EdX

Foreign Policy and International Affairs

Books

• The Accusation by Bandi: Short stories smuggled out of North Korea that are "heartbreaking yet hopeful"

Articles

• Eyes on Aleppo: Visual Evidence Analysis of Human Rights Violations Committed in Aleppo
• Syria News: collection of articles, blogs, and other information on Syria

General Readings

Articles

• Comprehensive Noam Chomsky Articles Archive
• Noam Chomsky on Trump's Election
• Democracy Now: Harry Belafonte in Conversation with Noam Chomsky, December 2016
• Kathleen Cleaver and Noam Chomsky at MIT, 1997
• The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein
• No Logo, Naomi Klein]
• As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade by Mark Thomas]
• The United States Since 1980 by Dean Baker
• Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
• Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky
• Footnotes to Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky

Books

• Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Davis, 2016
• Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America by Richard Rorty, 1998
• We Gon' Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang, 2016
• A Message to Garcia by E. Hubbard, 1899
• A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-violent Conflict by Peter Ackerman, Jack DuVall
• Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice by Martha C. Nussbaum
• The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl R. Popper
• The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution by Micah White
• The End of Protest: How Free-Market Capitalism Learned to Control Dissent by Alasdair Roberts
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence by Gary A. Haugen (specifically, chapters 7–10 on colonial legacies in extractive vs. inclusive policing, historical & intentional corruption in police forces, and broken justice systems)
• Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky
• Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
• Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky
• Noam Chomsky Bibliography & Archive
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

Syllabi

• American Government, Harvard/EdX
• Standing Up for Racial Justice, political education site

Immigration and Refugee Issues

Books

• We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future by Deepa Iyer

Syllabi and Book Lists

• I'm Your Neighbor, children's books and reading projects to build bridges between communities
• Immigration Syllabus, University of Minnesota
• 25 Great Books by Refugees
• 12 Nonfiction Books about Immigration
• A Time for Treason: see Resisting ICE and Deportations section

Intersectionality

Syllabi

• 15 Indigenous Feminists to Know, Read, and Listen To
• Black Disabled Woman Syllabus by Vilissa Thompson
• Decolonize All the Things: Freedom School Syllabus
• Decolonizing Science Reading List
• Hidden Figures Syllabus
• Library of Resistance
• Radical Reads
• A Seat at the Table syllabus
• Women of Color Feminisms syllabus from the University of Pittsburgh

Jewish Issues

Antisemitism

• A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism by Phyllis Goldstein
• A Rumor About the Jews by Eric Bronner
• Anti-Judaism: A Western Tradition by David Nirenberg
• Antisemitism: Myth and Hate from Antiquity to Present by Marvin Perry and Frederick Schweitzer
• Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue by David Berger
• That's Funny, You Don't Look Anti-Semitic: An Anti-Racist Analysis of Left Anti-Semitism by Steve Cohen

Zionism and Israel

• Liberal Zionism in the Age of Trump

Media and Surveillance

See also Media Literacy

• Calling Bullshit syllabus
• A Time for Treason: see Security Culture/Surveillance State section

Muslim Issues/Islamaphobia

Articles

• I Was A Muslim In Trump's White House
• A People’s History of Muslims in the United States

Syllabi and Reading Lists

• A Time for Treason: see Muslim Surveillance/Muslim Resistance section

LGBTQ+

Articles

• ACT UP Oral History Project (see esp. "Interviews")
• Notes on "Camp"
• A Clockwork Trauma
• Why Equality Is Toxic to the Transgender Movement

Books

• LGBTQ Stats by David Deschamps and Bennett Singer
• That's Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation

Syllabi

• LGBTQ+ topics syllabi
• A Time for Treason: see Feminist History, Reproductive Health, Trans and Queer Rights section
• Transgender Studies syllabus from the University of Pittsburgh

Native American/Indian Issues

Native American History

• Violence Over the Land
• Custer Died for Your Sins (chapter: The Disastrous Policy of Termination)
• The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

Police and State Violence

• The Colonialism of Incarceration
• Standing Rock Syllabus

Tribal Sovereignty

• Sovereignty Matters
• A Tribal Perspective on Taking Land
• Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States

Two-Spirit Issues

• Decolonising the Native Body

Other

• A Time for Treason: see Indigenous Resistance section

Race

Articles

• Our Kind of Ridiculous: Yous, Me and Blackness as Probable Cause
• Paper Tigers: What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?
• See also Institutional Racism

Books

• Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal by Cybelle Fox
• Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
• Faces and Masks by Eduardo Galeano

Syllabi

• Black Lives Matter Reference Guide by Malcolm Teller
• Black Lives Matter Syllabus by Frank Roberts
• Charleston Syllabus—racial violence
• The Charlottesville Syllabus: to educate readers on the history of white supremacism in Charlottesville, Virginia
• Race, Justice and Urban Design reading list
• A Time for Treason: see Chicano Oppression and Resistance; The Border, The Wall; and Black Migration sections

Policing and Prison Reform

Articles

• Immigration Policing In the Age of Trump
• Must Local Police work for ICE?
• Why the ATF is hobbled in their Ability to Fight Gun Crime
• The Tiahrt Amendment

Books

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Race, Police, and the Making of a Political Identity: Mexican Americans and the Los Angeles Police Department, 1900-1945 by Edward J. Escobar

Syllabi

• Prison Abolition Class from Black and Pink
• Prison Abolition Syllabus

Trump/Trumpism/The Right

Articles

• Post-Election Response Paper
• 20-Point Guide to Defending Democracy
• Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resisting Trump's Agenda
• I Misunderstood What Happened on Election Day
• Explaining White Polarization in the 2016 Vote for President, by B Schaffner, M MacWilliams, & T Nteta
• A Guide to Resistance for Youth, with an emphasis on emotional and sexual health by Scarleteen
• I Spent 5 Years with Some of Trump's Biggest Fans by Arlie Hochschild
• Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions by Christopher Famighetti, Douglas Keith, and Myrna Pérez—debunking reports of voter fraud in the 2016 election

Books

• Dark Money by Jane Mayer
• The Republican Noise Machine: (history of) Right-Wing Media and How it Corrupts Democracy by David Brock
• Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Hochschild
• Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty by Daniel Schulman
• Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean
• Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency by Joshua Green

Syllabi

• Trump Syllabus: How Trumpism fits within a legacy of racism, sexism, nativism, and imperialism
• The Stop Trump Reading List from Haymarket Books
• Trump Syllabus 2.0
• Fuck Trump Reading List from Verso Books

White Privilege

Articles

• Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
• The Complexity Of Identity
• Invisible Privilege, What White Men Don't See
• I, Racist
• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard To Talk To White People About Racism
• The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Privilege: A Quick and Dirty Guide by Sian Ferguson
• Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is by John Scalzi
• Why Pretending You Don’t See Race or Gender Is an Obstacle to Equality by Elizabeth Weingarten

Books

• You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
• White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race by Gloria Wekker

Syllabi

• Curriculum for White People to Educate Themselves
• A Time for Treason: Alt-Right/U.S. Neo-Nazis reading list

Women and Feminism

Articles

• Fear of a Feminist Future by Laurie Penny

Books

• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
• Wolf Whistle Politics: The New Misogyny in America Today, edited by Diane Wachtell
• Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis
• Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks

Documentaries

• Miss Representation by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Kimberlee Acquaro
• She's Beautiful When She's Angry by Mary Dore

Syllabi

• Feminist Action Brigade Book Club
• Feminism 101 reading list by Autostraddle
• Women in Computing History—includes readings on meritocracy
• A Time for Treason: see Feminist History, Reproductive Health, Trans and Queer Rights section

Learning Modules/Curricula

• WriteaWinningCampaignPlan is a 7-hour self-led online training in campaigning & organizing, free with discount code "democracy"
• Organizing: People, Power, Change
• Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies Core Curriculum