Books that impacted your worldview?

[Heidi]

In this era when we grasp for answers to why we are where we are in the US, I offer the titles of a few books that have impacted my worldview and continue to provide context. I hope you’ll share some titles, too, in the spirit of “the more you know.” There are many, but I’ll start with three:

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer
https://archive.org/details/truebeliever0000unse_u5j3

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
https://archive.org/details/wretchedofearthf0000fano

War against the weak: eugenics and America's campaign to create a master race by Edwin Black
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781568582580/mode/1up

(Hat tip to Kid Berwyn in particular for reminding me of the importance of this community. )

[cos dem]

1. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Reading it as a high school student, I learned that American history wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

[Heidi]

2. Thank you! That book was important for me, too.

Also: Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr.
https://archive.org/details/custerdiedforyou0000vine_o1m1

ETA: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown
https://archive.org/details/burymyheartatwou00brow/page/n13/mode/1up

[róisín_dubh]

22. Same. I went on to stufy

Indigenous peoples. Though the book is problematic, it’s a good primer for understanding US mentality.

[malaise]

33. Shocked me

Big time

Rec

[ultralite001]

3. Gandhi: The Story of My Experiments with Truth

It’s become quite tattered after many readings… His words still bring hope…

[Heidi]

4. I will check that out!

I’ll take all the hope I can get. Thank you!

ETA: https://archive.org/details/thestoryofmyexperimentswithtruthmkgandhi_558_t

[PatSeg]

24. Thanks for the reminder

I actually have that book on my Kindle and had forgotten about it.

[ultralite001]

26. I try to read it once a year...

as well as "The Once + Future King"...

[PatSeg]

29. That's quite an endorsement

I haven't read "The Once and Future King". I added it to my wish list. I did read the Merlin trilogy by Mary Stewart many years ago and loved it.

[Ping Tung]

5. Off the top of my head.

Catch-22
Tao Te Ching
In Dubious Battle
War and Peace
I Will Bear Witness
Zen in the Art of Archery

And many, many, more. (I'm 81 and learned to read when I was 4).

[Heidi]

10. Catch-22 has a special place in my heart.

Last edited Sun Aug 31, 2025, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

My (mostly humorless due to PTSD) Vietnam vet dad gave me a copy to read when I was in about ninth grade. It gave me a new understanding of war—and of my dad. Thank you for reminding me.

[Ping Tung]

11. I first read it when I was in the marines in the early '60s. I laughed my ass of. Then I read it again.

and discovered all the humor was very, very, dark. It started me on the way to being a pacifist.

“It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.” Yossarian

[cachukis]

155. He included a catch in every paragraph. Went mad

working to put it in every sentence.
Truly one of the greatest.

[chia]

66. I've finally met someone who has also read I Will Bear Witness!

I've never forgotten it, Victor Klemperer's daily diary of incremental loss of dignity and freedom under Nazi rule.

[Ping Tung]

74. I find it to be the very best book on what fascism/nazism is really about.

[anciano]

6. In addition to "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer (a very insightful work),

"The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine provides a thought provoking look into the influence of organized religion on society, and "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius draws attention to the concept of universal oneness and the cyclical nature of all things.

[malaise]

7. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa - Walter Rodney

Capitalism and Slavery -Eric Williams
Fanon - the Wretched of the Earth
Democracy for the Few Michael Parenti
Howard Zinn A People's History of the United States
Marx, Lenin, Fidel
Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society

Like you there are many many including some recent ones.

[Heidi]

9. Excellent list.

We’ve sometimes give “A People’s History” as a gift to apolitical friends.

[peggysue2]

8. Early readings

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Exodus, Leon Uris

The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis

My mother demanded I cover Last Temptation in brown paper so our Catholic family and friends wouldn't shun us.

White Fang, Jack London

My Antonia, Willa Cather

Scores of others, of course. But these were the first that came to mind. From a hundred years ago.

I was always an avid fiction reader. I believe to this day that fiction is the best teacher of empathy and an understanding of human dignity. Seeing through the eyeballs of another is a gift, a time machine, a looking glass into our humanity.

[Heidi]

16. I love good literary fiction,

especially in this era when empathy is perceived as a flaw.

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk said. “There it’s they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/elon-musk-rogan-interview-empathy-doge

[peggysue2]

21. Yup

To literary fiction and the endless assault on empathy.

Before Musk, Glenn Beck declared the word empathy the most dangerous word in the dictionary.

[Tree Lady]

12. Wasn't a book but I took a university class

On religions without god, from Naturalist to Buddhisim to Wiccan and more. Made me realize how close to those were my beliefs about getting spiritual energy from nature.

[Heidi]

14. Very, very formative experience, I agree.

I was raised Southern Baptist. University Philosophy 101 and an extremely patient and rational professor challenged my belief system, rocked my world, and opened my eyes. RIP, Prof. Murphy—rest in power.

[Tree Lady]

17. I was raised Presbyterian and mostly

Went to Sunday school dressed up with purse, white satin shoes and a hat. Very proper. My mom was all about manners and how things looked. Not overly religious but I got that in high school when friend took me to rightwing church to get saved, that led me down awful path for 10 yrs which thankfully I escaped from!

[berniesandersmittens]

13. The Arms Of Krupp by William Manchester

The longest book I've ever read. It's a history of the Krupp family in Germany.

Also:

From Tibet, With Love by Isabel Losada

An excellent account of activism.

I read Animal Farm at age 8 and it was the first time I remember thinking critically about politics and society as a whole.

[Heidi]

15. Thank you! I'd forgotten "Animal Farm."

It was for sure an early influence for me. And yet, here we are 80 years after it was first published.

[malaise]

18. Animal Farm

Yes

[Whiskeytide]

48. "All animals are equal, but some ...

… animals are more equal than others“.

What a great line. It says so much about authoritarian propaganda and hypocrisy.

[TheProle]

19. Machiavelli's The Prince

[Heidi]

49. YES!

Adding this to my list of books to reread. Thank you for the reminder, The Prole.

[TheProle]

116. Of course!

[keep_left]

20. Another vote from me for "The True Believer" by Hoffer.

It was one of President Eisenhower's favorite books, and he was known to give copies to friends. He also recommended the book to the general public in his "Biggs letter".

Written to a constituent in 1959, Eisenhower warned against the tendency of many Americans to prefer the certainty of dictatorship to the doubt and disorder of more democratic forms of government.

https://democraticunderground.com/100218281495#post4
https://web.archive.org/web/20111114143910/http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/1051.cfm

I often recommend the works of historian Morris Berman, particularly his "America trilogy", as well as Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm. The Twilight of American Culture (1999) is the first and probably the most accessible of Berman's trilogy.

https://democraticunderground.com/100220588578#post5
https://democraticunderground.com/100219840939#post29

[Heidi]

50. Excellent recommendations!

My reading list is getting longer--and I'm grateful for the Berman recommendation especially.

[keep_left]

113. You're welcome.

[róisín_dubh]

23. Open Veins of Latin America

I wouldn’t say it necessarily changed my worldview so much as it solidified it. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee opened my eyes in high school in the 1990s.

[Heidi]

51. I haven't read Open Veins of Latin America.

Thank you for the recommendation, róisín_dubh. I'll check this out.

[Dave says]

25. Books from early life

Books I read as a teenager or young man that stay with me through all this time (decades):

Norman O Brown, Life against Death: The Psychoanalytic Meaning of History

Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital

Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

Gary Snyder, The Back Country

Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Manufacturing Consent

Alan Watts, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Michael Harrington, The Twilight of Capitalism

Andre Malraux, The Voices of Silence

Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy

[Heidi]

52. Very interesting list, Dave says.

Pretty sure we own a few of those books, but the Alan Watts recommendation expecially intrigues me. Thank you!

[Walleye]

27. "Language in Thought and Action" by S. I. Hayakawa.

I’m still fascinated by the way people try to change reality with language

[Heidi]

54. Isn't that the truth?

the way people try to change reality with language

Have you read Word Virus: a William S Burroughs reader?
https://archive.org/details/wordviruswilliam0000burr

[BlueKota]

28. The Terrible Secret by Walter Laqueur

Suppression of The Truth Of Hitler's Final Solution.

It was assigned reading for a European history class. It told how the U.S and the allies pretended that they didn't know about the genocide until it was impossible to deny. Also that the Vatican turned away Italian Jews begging for sanctuary because "they killed Jesus." I guess they conveniently forgot "forgive them father they know not what they do." Not to mention the people asking for protection weren't around when Jesus was crucified.

It really taught me to never to have blind faith in anyone or anything again.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee moved me too.

[Heidi]

57. This sounds fascinating!

I'll definitely check it out. And I'm with you on the blind faith thing; I gave that up part and parcel to walking away from the Southern Baptist Church when I was very young.

[justaprogressive]

30. The Real Book and Story

about the engineer helping people in other countries.

That's who The Ugly American was.

The authors were disillusioned with the style and substance of U.S. diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia. They sought to demonstrate through their writings their belief that American officials and civilians could make a substantial difference in Southeast Asian politics if they were willing to learn local languages, follow local customs and employ regional military tactics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American

[Heidi]

58. Just read the Wiki entry; will definitely be reading this novel.

Thanks so much for recommending it, justaprogressive.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

31. What a great topic!

The Cry and the Covenant, novel by Morton Thompson (1949).

"...a fictionalized story of Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian-Hungarian physician known for his research into puerperal fever and his advances in medical hygiene."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cry_and_the_Covenant

This book broke my heart.



Red Notice, A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, by Bill Browder (2015).

"...focusing on his years spent in Russia and the Russian government's attacks on Hermitage Capital Management. Browder's responses to Russian corruption and his support of the investigation into the death of his attorney Sergei Magnitsky are at the heart of the book."

"Magnitsky's death was the catalyst for passage by the U.S. Congress, of the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on 14 December 2012. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder

This book broke me.


So many others, innumerable.

[Heidi]

59. Two books I've never even heard about!

I appreciate the recommendations, MorbidButterflyTat. I'll check them out. Feel free to weigh in with additional titles.

[Ping Tung]

32. A few more: To Kill a Mockingbird; Spartacus; All Quiet on the Western Front

[Heidi]

61. Both worth rereading.

I think I first read To Kill a Mockingbird in early junior high and have revisited it many times since. I continue to discover new themes every time I reread it; most recently, I noticed a feminist "red thread" in Lee's descriptions of Scout and the primary women in her life. In addition to the themes of racial injustice and class in the South, the strong woman characters must have been quite something in 1960 when the book was published. (Hell, I was raised in the Upland South and was still being advised by my granny to "sit like a lady" 20-30 years later.)

[Attilatheblond]

34. Ben And Me, a children's book that made me curious about looking at history a bit deeper for what I may otherwise miss

Started earlier than some, I was nine and that book got me thinking and looking at things that were harder to see, to consider there are possibilities beyond what is obvious.

A few years ago, my daughter bought new copies of some of my favorite childhood books. Ben and Me by Robert Lawson topped that list. Fun to go back to the root of my interest in history and nuances that travel a long way.

[Heidi]

62. What a lovely gift from your daughter!

I had never heard of that children's book and just now read a synopsis. Very cool introduction to Franklin's life.

[Attilatheblond]

76. It IS a very cool introduction to Dr Franklin for kids. Lawson also wrote Mr Revere and I

I loved his Rabbit Hill, another kid's book my dear daughter got me to enjoy again. Guess that was my intro into the idea that conservation should be good for all living things.

[Celerity]

35. 'A Theory of Justice' by John Rawls

The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper

Orientalism by Edward Said

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

The Republic by Plato

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

[berniesandersmittens]

41. +1 for Shock Doctrine and Art of War nt

[Heidi]

64. Excellent recommendations, Celerity.

The God Delusion and Black Skin, White Masks are two of the most insightful books I've ever read.

[H2O Man]

36. The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Carl Sagan said it was the most significant American book.

I agree with others' choices here, too.

Recommended.

[NoPasaran]

39. I was going to lead with that one myself

A few others:

Famous Long Ago Raymond Mungo

On The Road Jack Kerouac

The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell

Scoop Evelyn Waugh

Seven Pillars of Wisdom T E Lawrence

[MorbidButterflyTat]

43. Love Carl Sagan

[Heidi]

65. Absolutely agree!

Thank you, H2O Man!

[RainCaster]

37. A Team Of Rivals

[Heidi]

68. Thank you for the recommendation, RainCaster.

I don't actually think I've ever read a book about Lincoln outside of required reading in high school and university. Adding this to my list.

[meadowlander]

38. When I was young, Calvin & Hobbes and Doonesbury.

From about college age:

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States

Judith Butler's Gender Trouble

Susan Faludi's Backlash

Lots of sci fi and fantasy novels about dystopias, race relations, gender bending, fascism, etc.

To be honest though, I'm probably on the edge of the generation where TV and movies were more influential overall. Huge influences were the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Stephen Colbert Show, and Star Trek TNG.

[Heidi]

72. There are all kinds of ways to learn.

Books aren’t the only means of putting this shitty era in context. My husband—one of the most intelligent, empathetic, and perceptive people I’ve ever known—is a huge fan of comics and sci-fi. So, RESPECT for your recommendations!

[senseandsensibility]

40. Grapes of Wrath

I think it's time for a reread of that one.

[Heidi]

75. It was required reading in my family.

Thank you for the reminder!

[tinrobot]

42. Tao Te Ching

[Heidi]

84. Thank you, tinrobot!

We are irreligious but we have this in our collection.

[LeftInTX]

44. Don't laugh

Auschwitz and
The Jungle

required reading in HS.


As you can see, I don't read many political books.

We also read Johnny Got His Gun, 1984, Brave New World and Animal Farm, but Auschwitz was like OMG! And so was The Jungle.
I was a sophomore when I read Auschwitz. My previous knowledge of Nazis was mostly from Hogan's Heroes.

[Heidi]

88. Why would anyone laugh?

I read and respect your valuable DU contributions! Political reading isn’t the only way to learn and grow, and you clearly are connected without reading political books!

[LeftInTX]

91. Thanks. My books aren't very sophisticated and were assigned reading.

[Heidi]

95. Oh, hon.

I grew up in Oklahoma. Ya’ll are the ultimate sophisticates compared to us.

[LeftInTX]

106. I grew up in Wisconsin. I had a progressive education.

[Heidi]

108. That makes you even *more*

sophisticated than Oklahoma and Texas.

[Another Jackalope]

45. One book turned my worldview upside down.

I was a science-based optimist for the first 60 years of my life. Then I read "Overshoot" by William R. Catton Jr. - a slim little book with a cheerful yellow cover. By the time I finished it I was a fatalist. Nothing I've read in the last 15 years has alleviated the darkness of realizing that our proud global industrial civilization has no significant future.

If you want to retain your belief in the power of politics, do not, under any circumstances, read that book.

[Heidi]

90. Well, that seals it.

I now *have* to read it. Thank you for the recommendation, Another Jackalope.

[Another Jackalope]

119. You'll regret it, but you won't regret it.

[DiverDave]

46. Black Like Me.

I was 12 or 13.
Still shakes me today.

[Heidi]

82. Yes indeed.

And it barely scratched the surface.

[BluesRunTheGame]

47. The Whole Earth Catalog

[Heidi]

81. Oh, wow!

When my (extremely conservative, I finally and thankfully realized) ex-husband became aware that I was reading that in the mid-80s, he flipped his lid. My love of the Utne Reader was among the things that sealed the glorious uncoupling.

[johnnyfins]

53. Catcher in the Rye, or

Anything by John Steinbeck.

[Heidi]

83. I definitely need to reread The Catcher in the Rye

because I have some sense that it might be more of an indictment of timeless adult behavior than a coming-of-age story. Thank you for the reminder!

[JanMichael]

55. Zinn - A Peoples History of the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States

Jack London - South of the Slot

Sarte - Being and Nothingness (what I could understand...)

Atwood - Handmaid's Tale

[Heidi]

120. Can you believe that I first read The Handmaid's Tale

just five years ago? I can’t recommend it highly enough and now give it as a gift to friends and family having babies (along with an appropriate baby gift, of course). It’s important and, as my guru Melanie Sanders says, reactions are among those that we just simply do not care much about anymore. #WDNC

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/X0eXtVC6TLk

[displacedvermoter]

56. The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's look at the life of immigrant workers in Chicago's stock yards and meat plants. Vital piece of Labor Day reading.

[Heidi]

73. Absolutely!

The Jungle, which I read at the insistence of my very pro-worker dad and then reread as part of my university political theory (minor) track did much more than educate me about abusive labor practices. It was my first realization of my own privilege in the workforce.

Recommendations:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/54091/fast-food-nation-by-eric-schlosser/9780141006871

Any Way You Cut It: Meat Processing and Small-Town America edited by Donald D. Stull, Michael J. Broadway and David Griffith
https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700607228/

[bucolic_frolic]

60. The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State - Weinstein

Anatomy of Revolution - Crane Brinton

To the Finland Station (available as pdf download online)

[Heidi]

121. Thank you so much!

I’ll check these out—and I appreciate you contributing to my fall/winter reading list!

[bucolic_frolic]

131. These are books about political change and shifting ideologies

Fascinating really, thought the Brinton book is a heavy read. He ponders every point, but what would you expect from a Harvard poli sci professor in the 1930s?

Weinstein is obscure but unravels the Progressive Era, its roots, its co-optation by Big Business.

The Finland Station was written by a journalist and was once de rigeur reading for poli sci. Has fallen from favor.

You made a great OP with a fine subject!

[JustAnotherGen]

63. A few

But The Great Gatsby is reflection of my life.

My Gram Feathers was of that era - family owned silver mines. She told me to read the book every decade birthday. Promised me my perspective would shift as I grew older. I opened the copy she wrapped in brown paper with instructions to read it on my 50th Birthday. Brought it with me on our trip to NOLA to celebrate. Piece of paper stapled on the front:

"Last page there is a note. Do not read until the end."

Finished it sitting on my balcony at the Omni on Royal. The note?

"You ended up as Tom. Brutally honest. You are certain of your place in America"

She called it. People don't always like what I have to say, I can be incredibly cruel, I will defend my family's place in America. Black, European, Indigenous . . . land holdings, intergenerational wealth, the arrogance of Black Americans who stole the American dream.

That Scots Irish Protestant whose family were founders of West Virginia, abolitionists who fled west, whose father handed out CYANA cigars during his campaign but did everything he could to bring skilled Black Americans out of JC South to Denver? She was raised that Ellis Island destroyed the Black American dream.

When this regime falls -

“She was a careless person, Adrienne aka JAG she watched the others smash up things and creatures and then retreated back into her money or her vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept her people together, and let other people live with the mess they had made.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald words altered from The Great Gatsby

I wash my hands. Have the day you folks voted for. Uncle Otis and Aunt DeOliver, and Dorothy - now all in their 90's. . . will have the best in home care money can buy.

Cruelty is in my blood.

[Heidi]

70. Thank you for your honesty, JustAnotherGen.

You've never struck me as cruel. I think your backbone, determination and defiance are to be admired. If those qualities in defense of self-preservation or what's *right* feel cruel to some or to many, that's on them.

[JustAnotherGen]

99. Thank you

My mom died June of 2024.

The last few years she was alive she often commented on how much I was made in Gramfeather's image.

My surviving Aunts and Uncle shake their heads and roll their eyes at me as the leader of the "Hateful Eight" acting like Daddy did. We have bought out land from 26 of our cousins to consolidate it.

My dad's parents were the contemporaries of my mom's grandparents.

My Granddaddy and Gramfeathers got along famously. Just rotten to the core when it came to protecting their descendants. She LOVED her fully decorated grandson in law and that my mother had married into this "Grand" family with their Boule and Links affiliation. She was that *type*.

[Heidi]

101. Oh, don't *even* get me started

on my ancestors before my parents. But I’m smart, feisty, and determined. I’ll be the undoing of their ignorant legacies if that’s the last thing I do because *someone* has to do the heavy lifting—I’m the oldest granddaughter and you *know* we don’t need any help, right?

[betsuni]

114. Wow, what a great story, wonderful!

"I wash my hands. Have the day you folks voted for." Absolutely. Knock yourselves out. This is what you wanted.

[Mz Pip]

67. Demon Haunted World

By Carl Sagan.

Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clark. I read in the late 60s and had one reaction. Read it decades later and had a completely opposite reaction.

Cat’s Cradle- Kurt Vonnegut

[Heidi]

97. YES to all three!

Thank you for these reminders!

[Brainfodder]

69. The Straight Dope - Cecil Adams & The Book of Lists 1,2,3

Has to be those, only books I actually finished.

[Heidi]

122. Will check 'em out!

Thank you!

[Mossfern]

71. Mine are kind of eclectic

The Good Earth
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Secret Garden ( my traditional birthday gift to 9 year old girls)
Coming of Age in Samoa
The Cry and the Covenant
The Tao of Pooh
The Color of Magic
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

That's my list for this morning
Tomorrow my list may be completely different

[Heidi]

79. Excellent list, Mossfern!

I look forward to your list tomorrow.

[Swede]

77. When I was in grade 8, I read Frankenstein, then Rifles for Watie, then 1984 in the first month of school

Not sure what spurred me to read these, but they sure did change my world view. I was no longer a child and I'd look at my classmates and wonder why they didn't devour the school library.

[Heidi]

78. Stand Watie is a hero where I grew up

but I’m embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I’ve heard of Rifles for Watie. Thank you for the recommendations, Swede!

[ALBliberal]

80. Autobiography of Malcolm X

[Heidi]

96. Changed my worldview.

Thank you! Like you, I can’t recommend it enough.

[Scrivener7]

85. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

[Heidi]

98. Omg! We ordered that two weeks ago

and it’s not yet here. I guess a gentle reminder to our bookseller is in order.

[Scrivener7]

109. It's kind of devastating. I had to read it in sections and put it down at times.

I thought I knew things till I read that book.

It's excellent.

[KitFox]

86. My high school English teacher had us read Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye

and introduced us to Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media. In college, among many, the book that was a stand out was the textbook in my Black History class, From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin. Shortly after college I read Hoffer’s The True Believer and Mark Twain’s Letters From Earth and The Bible According to Mark Twain. I could go on and on about so many books that have influenced my thinking. All of the books and essays of Wendell Berry and recently Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste. Enduring for me from children’s literature, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. I appreciate this post! I have many new titles to dive into. Thanks, DU pals!😊

[Heidi]

93. I'm so glad you're here, KitFox!

And your username warms my heart, as we have kits who show up in our garden every early summer—beautiful creatures.

[Golden Raisin]

87. "The Uses of the Past: Profiles of Former Societies"

By Herbert J. Muller. Read it in High School.

[Heidi]

94. Thank you!

I’ll be checking this out.

[RandomNumbers]

89. 1. The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, 2. The Life of Gandhi

The first appears now on Amazon under the title "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass", but I am sure I remember my copy being called "The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass". But that was decades ago and I doubt I still have the book to prove it.

I got it off a school bookmobile, I believe when I was in elementary school. I was a precocious reader. I am white and went to a school where I maybe saw 3 black kids my whole time there. One or two rode my bus. They weren't from my neighborhood and I didn't interact with them much if at all.

Reading about Frederick Douglass profoundly changed the way I viewed the concept of race and how black people were treated in our society.

When I was in high school my parents moved to an area that was much more mixed, and the bus I rode had mostly black kids. Now I and my sibs were in the minority, and there was initially some conflict - not intentionally initiated by any of us, for sure. That worked itself out and I got to be friends with most of the kids. I would say I was more comfortable around a lot of the black kids than some of the really stuck-up white kids. I credit the understanding I had learned from Frederick Douglass that impacted a lot the way I saw this situation.

Another key influence was The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, by Louis Fischer. Combined with an elder sib's involvement in non-violent protest and handing that book down to me, in my early life I was able to handle conflict much better than I may have otherwise.

[Heidi]

152. Thank you, RandomThoughts.

I'm glad we both read Douglass at a young age (though I don't recall the title of the Frederick Douglass autobiography that I read; it may have been "My Bondage and My Freedom&quot .

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/202

[Bernardo de La Paz]

92. Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein. I was in grade 6, 7, or 8. "Beginner's Mind, Zen Mind" Shunryu Suzuki in my 20's

The thing Suzuki liked about Americans when he came with zen to San Francisco was the freshness of their thinking.

[Heidi]

100. Yup!

Excellent recommendation. Thank you for being here!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

102. I added the zen book. Slim volume, comes with a fly.

Red Planet opened up mind-blowing science fiction to me and the Heinlein opus. Suzuki opened up the mind-blowing power of accepting reality in all its forms.

[Sneederbunk]

103. Apostles of Disunion by Charles Dew.

[Heidi]

123. Nonfiction about the South is important to me.

May I recommend South to America:
A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Amani
Perry?

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/south-to-america-imani-perry?variant=40425604120610

[Sneederbunk]

128. Tnx.

[LoisB]

104. So many. Against Our Will - Susan Brownmiller; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown;

No Name in the Street - James Baldwin; Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin; In the Spirit of Crazy Horse - Peter Mathiassen; I Heard the Owl Call My Name - Margaret Craven; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer...
to name just a few.

[Heidi]

124. LOVE James Baldwin!

Totally agree: sooo many! Thank you for being here, LoisB.

[LoisB]

142. Oh so do I. Baldwin should be required reading in every high school. You are very kind, thank

you and thank you for being here.

[usonian]

105. Computer Lib: Dream Machines, by Ted Nelson (and others, Buddhist in nature)

Available at Ye Internet Archive.
Enjoy
https://archive.org/details/ted-nelson-computer-lib-dream-machine

[Heidi]

126. Thank you, usonian!

I appreciate your contributions (far beyond this thread—to the DU community in general).

[WarGamer]

107. Depends on what you mean by World View...

If you mean a "macro" view...

Then the answer is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

~1900 years old and applicable today more than ever.

[Heidi]

130. Thank you!

I’ve read that twice, but it’s been a long while.

[WarGamer]

132. still hard to believe it's an ancient text.

[Scrivener7]

110. Greath thread. Bookmarking to refer to it often for my booklist. Thanks!

[Heidi]

133. Also: EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN!

Love you to bits, Scrivener7!

ETA: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220558562

[LogDog75]

111. Two books on the opposite spectrum

Foundation series by Issac Asimov. There are two specific items I'll reference. The first is the sign Hari Sheldon had behind his desk that read "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." I'm reminded of this every time I get really mad, which is rare, and I used it to find a peaceful solution.

The second is when one of his characters is on a different planet and he remark to the effect that every place has their own, particular odor. I remembered this when I was stationed in South Korea and some of my fellow American remarks about how smelly the shopping district was. When I mentioned every place has their own odor, including their hometown that realization was an eye opener for them.

The second book is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Jean Valjean should be mad at the world but an act of kindness from a Bishop changed his life. He led his life as a good, decent man and when he had the opportunity to take advantage of a situation to benefit himself, he choose the right thing to do. Also, Victor Hugo exposed the ugly side of life in 19th century France when women and children are abandoned and/or mistreated while those with wealth and/or power rule over everyone. The preface to the novel says:

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.

[Heidi]

153. I'm not a huge sci-fi consumer, but I love Asimov.

Thank you, LogDog75!

[Wiz Imp]

112. Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

along with The Grapes of Wrath, Brave New World, 1984 & Animal Farm

[Heidi]

138. LOVE ALL!

Thank you!

[betsuni]

115. I can't really think of a book that impacted my worldview and I feel a little weird about it.

Maybe my worldview was so flimsy I didn't notice when it was impacted, or I don't remember.

[Heidi]

134. That's not weird.

Not everyone gains context or meaning through books. There are all sorts of ways (still) to open our minds, hearts, eyes, and lives, and all of them are precious
and worthy of recognition and protection. Walk your own way. RESPECT!

[Kid Berwyn]

117. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

The motorcycle we are working on is our selves and the ultimate direction is toward Quality -- and the more we understand it, the easier it is to understand how to get to where we deserve to be.

Two more works to share:

Space-Time and Beyond: Toward an Explanation of the Unexplainable by Bob Toben in conversation with Fred Alan Wolf and Jack Sarfatti

Considered science fiction when published in 1976. Seems freaking groundbreaking now.

Collected Fiction of Jorge Luis Borges

Borges shows us how important our imaginations are for where our futures will be.

PS: Most importantly, thank you to Heidi whose friendship means the world to me.

[Heidi]

135. No words.

Thank you for being.

[Ping Tung]

118. The Ox-Bow Incident

A great novel about an old west lynching. Made into a great movie starring Henry Fonda.

[Heidi]

136. I *have* to read this!

Thank you!

[Ping Tung]

140. Here's the full movie on Youtube.

[Heidi]

141. You rock!

[Paladin]

147. Love the part at the end, with Fonda reading that letter... (nt)

[GusBob]

125. The New Testament

A Farewell To Arms
The Riverside Shakespeare

[Heidi]

127. Thank you!

The NT sure beats the heck out of the OT, in my (irreligious) opinion.

[uponit7771]

129. To kill a mockingbird

[Heidi]

137. It was my awakening about racial injustice. Today, I have mixed feelings.

It’s a beautifully written book that I do reread, but it was published in 1960 and I think the “white savior” element hasn’t aged well. I’ll continue to love the book for its place in history but—with no disrespect to
Harper Lee—these days I’m listening more closely to and trying to amplify the voices of the oppressed.

[spanone]

139. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

[Heidi]

143. This book was a gift to me

from Call Me Wesley when we were just beginning. More than 25 years later, it’s still precious to me.

[spanone]

144. My mother gave it to me

[NNadir]

145. Slaughterhouse 5 and Weinberg's The First Nuclear Era...

...immediately come to mind but I read books and papers almost continuously. I am pretty much made by reading.

It would prove very difficult to list specific books that changed me. Basically I'm changed by everything I read, although unlike my youth I'm less credulous and better defined by critical thinking.

[Heidi]

146. Same here.

[Stargleamer]

148. Feminism Unmodified by Catharine MacKInnon

and

The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant

and

Only Words by Catharine MacKinnon

[Heidi]

157. I need to reread Catharine MacKinnon.

I'm getting a lot of reminders in this thread! Thank you, Stargleamer!

[lark]

149. "Be Here Now" by Babba Ram Das

Sorry I don't have a link.

[Heidi]

150. Yes, and "Grist for the Mill."

Thank you, lark!

[FalloutShelter]

151. Actually, my favorite book of all time.

Perhaps the best opening sentence in literature:
A Tale of Two Cities. Formed my knowledge of how desperation among the masses turns to violence directed inward and how heroism is bound to sacrifice.

[Heidi]

156. Yes, an absolutely beautiful opening line.

Thank you for reminding me.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

And another excellent opening passage ( to JustAnotherGen for reminding me of this book):

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my
mind ever since.

‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

[FalloutShelter]

162. Thanks for adding that Gatsby quote.

[samplegirl]

154. Wrapped in the flag

Claire Conner Mork

[Heidi]

159. Ohhhhh, I just read the publisher's synopsis and will definitely buy this!

Thanks so much for the recommendation, samplegirl!

For everyone else: https://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/229019/

[Topomi]

158. Huck Finn

I was raised in a very bigot community.

[Heidi]

160. I received--as a gift--my late high school American literature teacher's desk copy of "Huckleberry Finn."

I sent it on to her daughter who is also a teacher; her mom (my teacher) died when she was just a toddler. "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" were required reading when I was in high school a (jillion years ago).

[sir pball]

161. Hobbes - and I don't mean the stuffed tiger (though I do own the boxed C&H)...

Read Leviathan at 15 and it's tinted (definitely not rosily) my view of humanity ever since.

Also, among others, Guns Germs and Steel, Discourses on Livy, the entire Discworld series, Two Treatises of Government, the Jefferson Bible, Candide, Catch-22…

[Heidi]

163. So many great recommendations!

Thank you, sir pball! Happy Wednesday!

[sir pball]

166. Avec plaisir!

If you couldn't guess, I feel like one needs a good grounding in the classics of the Enlightenment to really appreciate more modern sociopolitical works.

And Candide is just a plain fun read even if you aren't of a political bent, writing my earlier post inspired me to start in on it again just for the entertainment

[allegorical oracle]

164. Have three favs. First is The Ugly American by William Lederer and Eugene

Burdick. Was required reading in High School, as was my second recommendation, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. They both taught me what I didn't want to be.

The third was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. That book taught me what could happen if we are not vigilant.

[Heidi]

165. Agree on all three!

Thank you, allegorical oracle (*great* username, btw)! I maybe mentioned upthread that I give “The Handmaid’s Tale” as a baby shower gift these days.

[Heidi]

167. Feminist works that impacted my worldview

Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/317241/against-white-feminism-by-zakaria-rafia/9780241989319

Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1546-abolition-feminism-now

The Feminist and The Sex Offender:
Confronting Sexual Harm, Ending State Violence by Judith Levine and Erica R. Meiners https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/853-the-feminist-and-the-sex-offender?srsltid=AfmBOopDV1greI-8riSqXq3Z9bwr_MYoJfg2speMMAnxRTTacl0WB2zk

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300251838/they-were-her-property/

Toxic Femininity by Sofia Fritz
https://uklitag.com/proyecto/toxic-feminity/
This one is German only but there’s a good English reddit discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gemischte_Tuete/comments/1jl4a7l/leseprojekt_toxische_weiblichkeit_von_sophia_fritz/?tl=en