Books everyone should read

The libertarians seem to infest this section (:pac:) so I think I'll recommend a couple of books on the left, and from a left wing POV, to balance things up.

A good history of the West European left and social democracy in action is '100 years of Socialism- a history of the West European left' by Donald Sassoon, a brick of a book but very well researched and interesting with alot of figures, graphs, comparisons and policy case studies from most of the countries in western Europe in the latter half of the 20th century.

Another good one is the Prison Notebooks by Gramsci, probably the most influential and original Marxist theorist in the middle third of the 20th century.

Lenin's pamphlet 'Imperialism- the highest stage of capitalism' is also highly recommended, it's a good overview of how globalisation progressed and why poorer countries are unable to develop themselves by relying on FDI. Another good read by him is 'What is to be done?', the book in which he sets forth his ideas of how to organise a vanguard party- it has to rank as one of the most influential works on political organisation ever written, even if you disagree with its main premises.

James Connolly's book 'Labour in Irish History' is a must for anyone with an interest in Connolly and his place as a very accomplished political writer, with his own independent socialist positions. Another good book (at least in fact, if not in conclusions) is Liam Cahill's book 'The Limerick Soviet', about a general strike and mini socialist revolution in Limerick where workers ran the city for two weeks, continuing production and printing their own currency. (it can be found online incidentall, here's a link http://www.limericksoviet.com/Book.html)

Friedrich Engels, Marx's great companion, has a number of interesting works which helped develop dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the two non-economic facets of what came to be orthodox marxism: 'Socialism- Scientific or Utopian?', and 'The origins of the family, private property, and the state'.

Another good work on the Soviet Union, and how it degenerated to Stalinism, is Leon Trotsky's work, 'The Revolution Betrayed', which is quite an interesting work as a left-wing explanation of how Stalin took over the USSR.

There are a few other quite interesting books I can think of off the top of my head, 'Ship of Fools' by Fintan O'Toole is quite a good explanation of the causes of the crisis in Ireland, 'The Lost Revolution' is a good by about the Worker's Party and the influence they had in the past, and 'Devils' by Fyodor Dostoesvsky is quite a good fictional portrayal, albeit from a reactionary Slavophile perspective, of the political tensions and revolutionary politics in mid 19th century Russia.

Stumbled across this thread and figured I'd add my two cents...maybe we can get another round of recommendations?

William Easterly - The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics
This book is a good introduction to development economics and why it has failed over the last fifty years. It is very accessible, even for those without an economics background, but it also includes a scholarly overview of theories of growth and development.

Samuel Huntington - Political Order in Changing Societies
Goes a long way in explaining the failures of democratization in many post-colonial and developing societies.

E.E. Schattschneider - The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America
Very short, but a great treatise on pluralism and political conflict.

Mike Royko - Boss
Perhaps the best insight into big-city machine politics ever written.

Mancur Olson - The Logic of Collective Action
This book has heavily influenced economics, political science, and sociology. Makes an argument for the irrationality of collective action.

Ireland her own - T.A Jackson

Ten Men dead

And above all: "Northern Ireland - The Orange State" by Michael Farrell

I also increasingly don't understand most Austro-Libertarian posters complete lack of skepticism towards the texts (and often views) they promote; things that are supportive of Austrian economics/Libertarianism are given unquestioned credence, and only stuff that is critical of it is treated with skepticism, and when arguments countering criticism fall short, the criticism is then just ignored and not acknowledged.

Valmont wrote: »

A very concise and readable introduction to Austrian economics is Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. Considering many of you here have the indirect hobby of arguing with libertarians, this book may be an excellent source for some ammunition!

Have you any criticisms of 'Economics in One Lesson' yourself, or done any research on the credibility of book, or looked for criticism of it online?

I've encountered it before here and have been critical of it before (and a google search or two is quick to find ammunition), but I want to see if you are able to be skeptical or critical of it.

junder wrote: »

John pilgers 'hidden agendas'

Eamon Collins 'killing rage' good insight into the pira

Seriously, do you have anything better to do besides trying to turn threads on the politics forum into train wrecks about northern Ireland, that is actually all you do on this site.

It's pretty sad.

MOD NOTE:

FYI - I've pulled the posts on free thought vs. ideology out of this thread into their own thread in the Political Theory forum.