political education 101 but i don't want to be bored edition?

November 18, 2024 11:19 AM

i realized that i have big gaps in my political education/understanding of systems or histories or revolutionary/radical ideology. i prefer narrative to theory. what should i read/listen to/watch to get a better sense of political systems now and through history?

context: books/things that have influenced me politically:

poverty and evicted by matthew desmond, on the line by daisy pitkin, killers of a flower moon (the book), podcasts: the kids of rutherford county (about systemic racism through the lens of a racist judge jailing children), rumple strip vermont (every day, deeply empathetic stories from people in vermont), ear hustle (deeply human and interesting stories from incarcerated people), radical instagram or online education posts and essays (obviously not ideal/comprehensive, but a starting point).

things i'd like a better understanding of: what is capitalism, *exactly*? what is socialism, what is fascism, what are some histories of radical organizing or strategy? what about labor organizing? what about anti-punishment frameworks? specifically: i get bored by heavy theory or too much insular political stuff and much prefer narrative storytelling.

what would help me develop a fuller understanding of systems and how they work and how to work against them? what would help me explain some of these systems and frameworks simply to say, students who don't have a full grip of it?

books i'm considering/have tried reading but might lose interest in: a people's history of the united states, the dawn of everything. i want to learn more but i do genuinely get bored by too much ideology or history! help!

posted by lightgray to Education (9 answers total)

The dawn of everything is excellent. I don't know how you can approach fascism without theory, ideology, or history, but one way you may approach this is by reading Did it happen here? Its an edited volume on different perspectives on whether we have been, or will be under, a fascist regime. Its going to be heavy on these things that you may be bored by but they're shorter pieces and they're all talking to each other and debating things, so that may be useful.

If you're interested in Nazism specifically, Evans' trilogy is very good reading.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:44 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]

Some I've read or listened to lately that have given me a better perspective on a thing and might hit:

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibrahim X Kendi
Alabama v King by Dan Abrams & Fred D Gray
The Destructionists by Dana Milbank
Zero Fail by Carol Leonnig
posted by phunniemee at 11:44 AM on November 18

Best answer: Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton is exactly what it says on the cover. Eagleton presents an introduction to Marx for a presumed audience that was raised in the social order he critiqued. It's simple but not simplistic, illuminating but not overpowering.

Hypernormalisation, or Really any of Adam Curtis' narrative-essay-documentaries is worth your time. This one in particular makes clarifying claims about the present state of the world in the post-cold war era.

Direct Action by L. A. Kauffman gives a history of its subject in the U.S. in the 20th century, but also touches on the general development of the radical left in that period.

The Youtuber Shaun is maybe exactly what you don't want, a very reasonable sounding british man talking about politics for a long time, but if I were to dump you in the deep end, I'd say try his video on the nuking of Japan in WWII.

At a certain point you do have to read the heavy stuff to actually answer your questions, but I find that the reason why the heavy stuff is boring is because the novice reader doesn't really have a sense of what they want out of it. Using what you've already read and watched and learned to give you that will make the next steps much easier to absorb.
posted by jy4m at 1:14 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]

Thomas Piketty [wiki] writes about capitalism; a recent book of his for a general audience is A Brief History of Equality [g]

A People's History does have a graphic adaptation [zinneducationproject]
posted by HearHere at 2:12 PM on November 18 [1 favorite]

Lies My Teacher told Me has a lot of stories about organizing and direct action.
posted by soelo at 2:24 PM on November 18

Try China Miéville's October: The Story of the Russian Revolution. It's not poli sci, it's a day-to-day history of 1917, but that's precisely why I recommend it. You have to study not just political theory but what happens when people attempt to put it in practice. And the focus of Miéville's book is not what went wrong later, but why it was an exciting and unprecedented thing. Plus he's a novelist so he knows how to tell a story.
posted by zompist at 3:59 PM on November 18

This is very general and broad and maybe too simple, but I honestly learned more about how the US government functions watching The Wing Wing than I ever did from any civics class. I know you’re asking more about concepts, but there are a lot of history lessons covered off on in that series that I found valuable.
posted by greta simone at 7:53 PM on November 18

Best answer: This is my jam.

You can read some history on History Is A Weapon, but I'm making a new present just for you. First, let me push back a little on left theory. You may have to eat your vegetables. Some of it may not be as sugary and entertaining as everything else. On the other hand, you start reading a few things and what was once off-putting and clunky, starts to coalesce and make sense, not just in the prose but in the world around you.

I'd start with some easy stuff: Try out the Yellow Parenti lecture (google it), listen to some Richard Wolfe and Vijay Prashad, and maybe read some of Jodi Dean's Comrade. Some of the specific questions you have can be answered in readings on History Is A Weapon, it's organized by time and category, but some of it you'll pick up through osmosis as you read and listen to the rest of this stuff.

I'm currently reading a great book, Red Plenty by Francis Spufford, that is interesting and has a narrative structure and will get you going. Another two excellent books that will answer a number of questions you are thinking about and are a thrilling read are Meredith Tax's excellent Rivington Street and Union Square. Those books are candy, great reads, great stories, and manage to get a lot of interesting history and historical figures in there without feeling pedantic.

Oy. Now, here's the present. Like all of us, you should read some left theory. It is incredible both how clarifying it is for our world and how much the dogma of anticommunism has done to discredit some really amazing gifts. The problem is that it's overwhelming and a little frightening. So I made a website that is building towards a years worth of accessible left theory (with a smattering of history thrown in there). The catch? Everyday the site updates with a new reading, each reading is only fifteen minutes or less, and it starts up again January first. We're deep into the year, but put it on your calendar for January first. A little bit a day goes a long way. It's called Red Letter. I made it for you. Good luck.
posted by history is a weapon at 3:33 AM on November 19 [3 favorites]

I have not finished it yet, but "Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976 - 1980" by Rick Perlstein has been incredibly informative for me.
posted by sundrop at 8:07 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]