Books

Essential reading

Blood and Money: War, Slavery, and the State
David McNally
“David McNally’s new book makes an important contribution to the growing critical literature on such basic components of contemporary capitalism as markets and money. His historical perspective makes the contribution especially insightful.” — Richard D. Wolff In most accounts of the origins of money, we are offered pleasant tales in which it arises to the […]
Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy
Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian
Global Discontents is a compelling new set of interviews with Noam Chomsky, who identifies the “dry kindling” of discontent around the world that could soon catch fire. In wide-ranging interviews with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider “the world we are leaving to our grandchildren”: one imperiled by the escalation […]
Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs
Peter Andreas
Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs examines both legal and illegal drugs in relation to warfare. Andreas demonstrates that the drugs-war relationship goes back not just decades but centuries, and in particular how alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, opium, speed and cocaine shaped wars from the imperial conquests of Alexander the Great to the […]
Bit Tyrants: The Political Economy of Silicon Valley
Rob Larson
“Highly informed, lively and readable, this is a badly needed study of the giant high tech corporations that increasingly dominate the means of work and social interaction, amass and scrutinize the details of our lives, seek to shape attitudes and behavior, and like the great virtual monopolies of the past both rely on state power […]
Can the Working Class Change the World?
Michael Yates
Spoiler alert: Michael Yates not only answers his question with a resounding “Yes,” but insists that the working class must change the world. Our very survival as a people and a planet depend on it. What makes this book invaluable, however, is not its grand conclusion but Yates’s clear-eyed, global analysis of capitalism (historically and in […]
The Democracy Fix
Caroline Fredrickson
In The Democracy Fix, the president of the American Constitution Society argues for progressives to focus on winning by learning from the Right that policy follows power, not the other way around. Caroline Fredrickson points to judicial elections, state power, election law and other policy areas that change the rules of the game. Fredrickson shows […]
Is Inequality in America Irreversible?
Chuck Collins
We are living in a time of extreme inequality: America’s three richest people now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the population. Although most accept that this is grotesque, many politicians accept it as irreversible. In this book, leading US researcher and activist Chuck Collins succinctly diagnoses the drivers of rampant inequality, […]
Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said
Edward Said, David Barsamian
Edward Said is interviewed by David Barsamian on the importance and centrality of popular resistance in the framework of culture, history, and struggle. Prof. Said discusses the war on terrorism and the invasion of Afghanistan. On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he lays out a compelling vision for a secular, democratic future in the Middle East. He proposes a radical […]
The Pen and the Sword: Conversations with Edward Said
Edward Said
David Barsamian interviews Edward Said. Introduction by Eqbal Ahmad. With a new preface by Nubar Hovsepian. Haymarket Books, March 2010; 180 pages. Gathered here are five wide-ranging interviews with the internationally renowned Palestinian scholar and critic Edward Said (1935-2003). In conversation with David Barsamian, director of Alternative Radio, these interviews cover a broad range of […]
A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present
Howard Zinn
This 729-page masterwork by the legendary historian is a must-have for your library and the perfect gift. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People’s History of the United States tells America’s story from the point of view of – and in the words of – women, factory workers, […]
You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train
Howard Zinn
Is change possible? Where will it come from? Can we actually make a difference? How do we remain hopeful? Howard Zinn—activist, historian, and author of A People’s History of the United States—was a participant in and chronicler of some of the landmark struggles for racial and economic justice in US history. In his memoir, You Can’t Be […]
A Young People’s History of the United States
Howard Zinn
In paperback with illustrations, this is the young adult edition of Howard Zinn’s classic telling of American history. A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn with Rebecca Stefoff brings to U.S. history the viewpoints of workers, people who are enslaved, immigrants, women, Native Americans, and others whose stories, and their impact, are rarely included […]

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