Book Club on whatever new social issue(s) we’re facing tomorrow

June 7, 2020 8:21 PM

I want to start an online book club. Given the current societal issues, what are some good books to start with?

I had an excellent zoom with some friends, just discussing our thoughts on race, policing, health, society, etc. I’m thinking of starting a (monthly? bi-monthly?) chat about a relevant book related to all that’s going on. I’m leaning more non-fictional. I’m going broad on topics (race, health, pandemic, law and policy) but readings that inform our understanding of where we are now and where we may be going as a society would be nice.

The challenge is varying levels of experience and knowledge on these topics. But I’d imagine most of us have probably already done your usual, foundational readings.

Any recommendations?

posted by inevitability to Education (11 answers total)

I have no recs, but I predict a lot happening on the intersex rights front in the next couple of years. Between the internet once again enabling contact between members of gender and sexual minorities and a slowly growing number of parents and doctors making human-rights informed decisions re assigning sex at birth, there should be some interesting work being done by various activist groups. My understanding is there’s a bit of fightyness going on as to which groups consider which legit (as with any/many young grassroots movements) so maybe don’t just hop on the first set of book recs you find.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 8:56 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
May I join your book club?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:00 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

Just finished John Barry's The Great Influenza. It's disturbingly relevant.
posted by bearwife at 9:10 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's probably relevant to know whether your book club is multiracial?

If it's all white folks, some good books are:
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
So You Want to Talk About Race by Iljeoma Olua
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Maybe if you want something more creatively inclined, consider Eve Ewing's poetry collections or her Marvel contribution Ironheart?
posted by thelastpolarbear at 9:26 PM on June 7, 2020 [2 favorites]

Franklin Foer also suggests From Dictatorship to Democracy in this recent Atlantic essay: "The most important theorist of nonviolent revolutions is the late political scientist Gene Sharp. A conscientious objector during the Korean War who spent nine months in prison, Sharp became a close student of Mahatma Gandhi’s struggles. His work set out to extract the lessons of the Indian revolt against the British. He wanted to understand the weaknesses of authoritarian regimes—and how nonviolent movements could exploit them. Sharp distilled what he learned into a 93-page handbook, From Dictatorship to Democracy, a how-to guide for toppling autocracy." And it is available online from The Albert Einstein Institution.

Also: Do the work: an anti-racist reading list (Layla F Saad, Guardian), Books about race and racism are dominating bestseller lists (WaPo)
posted by katra at 9:29 PM on June 7, 2020 [3 favorites]

Spies of Mississippi. I highly recommend it. The documentary is excellent too.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Discussion of modern medicine, end of life care, ethics and death. A must read for anyone who plans to die someday.

The Healing of America. Excleent book on where the US is and where it could go in terms of health care. Very well researched. Where Does it Hurt is a good companion read.

Its 20 years old now but The Envy of the World by Elliott Cose is still mostly relevant.
posted by fshgrl at 10:07 PM on June 7, 2020

I run a social justice book club and we crib heavily from the Amnesty International book club list and related discussion guides. Right now I am finding people are having trouble with longer, more intense works but some YA novels are really hitting the sweet spot for them (like the Marrow Theives - and I believe the author has a new book just out)
posted by saucysault at 10:07 PM on June 7, 2020

Anything at Verso Books

The Jacobin set is great for introductions to topics.

Verso often runs great sales - the .pdfs of books are cheaper, and sometimes free.

Alex Vitale's The End of Policing is free right now as a .pdf.
posted by vitabellosi at 4:36 AM on June 8, 2020

Response by poster: Yes, it’ll be a diverse group. Thanks for the recs so far!
posted by inevitability at 6:54 AM on June 8, 2020

Something that I think is incredibly important right now is the way in which big data is maintaining and exacerbating inequalities by informing so-called "data-driven" policy-making. A couple of books to recommend on this topic: Race After Technology - Ruha Benjamin and Automating Inequality - Virginia Eubanks.
posted by thebots at 12:22 PM on June 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

More from my favorite reading list source. I particularly loved The Nickel Boys (or anything else by Whitehead.).
posted by bearwife at 12:22 AM on June 9, 2020