Such a great revisionist history! Very similar in content and form to a Greg Grandin book. “How To Hide An Empire” is about the history of the Greater United States— not just the mainland, or “logo map”, but former and present territories, too, with especial focus on the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Legit required reading!!

An excellent collection of reflections on the Gaza Genocide & the 75 yr Nakba. IMO the required readings are:
-“No Human Being Can Exist” by Saree Makdisi
-“Exchange Rate” by Eyal Weizman
-“The Enemy Trinity” by Jamie Allison & Sai Englert
-“The Oslo Illusion” by Adam Hanieh
-“Israel, Fascism & The War Against the Palestinian People” by Alberto Toscano
-“No Moses in Siege” by Mohammed El-Kurd

Go to Verso‘s website NOW to get this free ebook!!

Just finished re-reading Dune… Denis Villeneuve was sooo right to make Chani a secular Third Worldist 🤞

I finished Postcards about a week ago but forgot to log it. My dad gifted me this book two birthdays ago. It‘s a very competently written novel and it touched me by the end in a way that I didn‘t expect. I definitely would like to read Brokeback Mountain. Also makes me want to read some more Steinbeck soon.

Another Grandin W 🤑 My interest in Herman Melville & admiration for Grandin dovetail in “The Empire of Necessity”, in which Grandin takes the real slave uprising that inspired Melville‘s “Benito Cereno” as a jumping off point for a grand history of slavery in the Americas, and especially Spanish America. Magisterial.

Finish this a few days ago - first book of 2024. My partner ordered this for us the day that Kissinger died, or perhaps the day after. Really good introduction to Kissinger‘s long career. Grandin always has a grounding motif, this time Kissinger‘s metaphysical philosophy as expounded in his 1950 Harvard senior thesis, “The Meaning of History.” Evergreen, of course; the U.S. started bombing Yemen last night.

Last book of 2023, read in one sitting. Sand raises the pressing question: is there any non-racial basis for secular Jewish identity today? (His answer is no.) Fresh, provocative and necessary. Some parts I‘m still wrestling with, and I think ultimately Bertell Ollman‘s “Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People” resonated more w/ me bc of how Ollman squares the circle of Jewish identity w/ communist universalism.

In the summer of 2022, I chanced upon a reference to CLR James‘ “Mariners” in Noel Ignatiev‘s posthumously released collection of essays. I was fascinated & so I resolved to read Moby Dick, which took me 4 months during that fall & winter. Almost exactly year after finishing Moby Dick, I‘ve finally read “Mariners” and I truly feel like I‘ve completed some sort of visionary quest. Full circle moment for sure!

4 months and 700 pages later… and immediately following Marx‘s Capital. As God intended. 😛 Not an easy book to constantly pick up & put back down, so I enjoyed dedicating a lot of time this break to seriously pushing through the last 300 pages. A masterpiece.

Idk… I liked it! Maybe because of how much it was hyped up, I was hoping it would be paradigm-altering. It wasn‘t- not to me, at least. But it was still very interesting & enjoyable. A bit frenetic, maybe a bit narcissistic in a pandemic era-way… but also completely self-aware about that fact, which makes it work on some level. Probably didn‘t help that I find it almost completely possible to focus on anything right now that is not Gaza 🙃

Happy to have finally read Fanon! Reading this was a bit like looking through blinds; so much is obscured, but rays of dazzling light shoot through. By that I mean it‘s an obviously brilliant work, but a lot of the psychoanalysis and phenomenology went over my head. I‘d definitely like to re-read it more closely in the future.

WE DID IT!! After more than a year, and 1,000+ pages, my partner and I finished reading Capital Vol. 1!! We basically took turns reading the entire thing out loud line by line. I also kept a notebook that I‘ve updated after each chapter (still need to finish my notes on the Appendix)! It was so much clearer (and funnier!) than I anticipated & I would encourage anyone who wants to read it to not feel daunted. But, definitely read with a buddy 🤓

I‘m pretty bummed because I was really excited to read this, & I think the author‘s intervention is an important one, but I did not really love this book. Even though I agree with many of her conclusions, I feel like she relies too much on ungenerous assertions (often without citations) and bizarre analogies. I wonder if I didn‘t vibe with the style of argumentation because she‘s a “philosophy person” instead of “political theory person” 🤷🏻‍♀️

In my pop science era 🤓🕺🏻 I remember very vividly from my childhood my dad always telling me how much he loved Bill Bryson‘s writing and enjoyed this book. I was stoked to find it at the thrift store for $2. It was written in 2003 so some info is a tad outdated (Pluto is not a planet, the existence of the Higgs Boson particle is confirmed, etc) but overall it‘s an easy, entertaining and wildly informative read.

Another banger from Rooney, thought I might prefer Beautiful World. I may need to think about it more before deciding.

(Repost) What a strikingly beautiful novel 🥲 I know this book & the author were highly praised in the mainstream & left-wing media last year, so I‘ve been looking forward to reading it— but I didn‘t anticipate devouring it so rapaciously! It‘s been a long time since I couldn‘t put a book down, and I finished this one in 3 days. Planning to blow through Normal People next!

Incisive and striking, as always with Hobsbawm. I had no idea he was also a jazz historian & aficionado! The GOAT!!

“A million correct ideas about the present are swept away by a single act that alters … reality.”

“Folksinger Pete Seeger used to describe a giant seesaw. One end is weighed down by the rich and powerful. At the other end, activists are adding sand, one teaspoon at a time.

‘One of these years, you‘ll see that whole seesaw go *zooop* in the other direction,‘ Seeger said. ‘And people will say, “Gee, how did it happen so suddenly?” Us and all our little teaspoons.‘”

Must read for anyone wanting to organize their workplace!

Extremely ambitious. Frankopan retells the world‘s history, from antiquity to the 21st century, w/ Central Asia as the focal point. Part of me wishes he split the book into 2, a la Charles Mann‘s 1491 & 1493. Still, the whole thing was incredibly well-researched & enjoyable to read. He did reveal some credulity re: US imperialism (& Israel), but such is probably the price from writing from the perspective of imperial powers. Overall, recommend!

Finally done 😪 I was so excited to read this, especially after Moby Dick, but it ended up feeling underwhelming and tedious. There was a lot of interesting information, just not presented in the most interesting way. Ready to move on to something new.

My dad got me this little book for my birthday, when I was about 3/4 of the way done with Moby Dick. I‘ve been really enjoying reading both contemporary & modern reviews of the book. It‘s interesting to see which themes each reviewer emphasizes, & which lines stand out as universally significant. This was a nice, quick read!

Wow. After 4 months, I‘m finally done. I‘ve never taken this long to finish a book, but I‘m glad I took my time & annotated so thoroughly. D.H Lawrence was right, it is “one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.” 🌟5/5🌟

I really have Stockholm Syndrome with these books lol. I haven‘t really thought any of the sequels were particularly good, but alas! I‘m too invested in the lore and charmed by Herbert‘s Known Universe to quit. An interlude… and then on to book 5.

My first Du Bois! Darkwater is difficult to describe, as it is a combination of sociological essays, prose, poetry and prayer— but it is certainly a work of art. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading Black Reconstruction after finishing Marx‘s Capital.

Glad that I finally read this book after a few abortive attempts. The first essays, “The Non-Jewish Jew” and “What is a Jew?” deeply touched me, which made it all the more shocking how nauseating I found “Israel‘s Spiritual Climate” — though it seems that by 1967, Deutscher became at least somewhat more clear-eyed on Israel‘s reactionary character and position in the Middle East. Regardless, an important book.

Recently translated for the first time in English, On Zionist Literature clearly demonstrates the author‘s erudition; however, there were many points that felt abrupt or incomplete. I feel it‘s safe to attribute this not to a weakness of Kanafani‘s, but rather (1) the limits of translation & (2) the great injustice of his early martyrdom. Who knows how he could have elaborated upon this work had he not been assassinated at age 36 by the Israelis?

Cannot begin to describe the weight with which this book has pole-axed me, clarified my notions and commitments, and likely re-charted my life course in one way or another. What a phenomenal contribution Ignatiev has given us all in his life‘s work. 🌟5/5🌟

❤️ Grandin. This book explores Ford‘s Midwest-style company town/rubber plantation in the Amazon. Fascinating to read alongside Capital, which my partner & I are currently tackling. He shared this quote with me: “Of course, we have all read, & all do read Capital…every day, transparently, in the dramas & dreams of our history, in its disputes & conflicts, in the defeats & victories of the workers‘ movement...” — Louis Althusser, Reading Capital

I enjoyed this collection of essays and stories by Vivian Gornick, whose writing I deeply admire. Some essays I found rather provocative, others more agreeable, and still more a healthy mix of both. Some of my favorites are “The Reading Group”, “The Americanization of Narcissism”, “On the Bus”, and “Consciousness”, as well as her essays on Herman Melville, Primo Levi, Hannah Arendt and Erich Fromm.

The Pearl is a gorgeous novella based on a Mexican folktale about the uneasy discovery of a splendid pearl that unleashes in the hearts of men the ultimate evil: greed. Steinbeck is no doubt one of my favorite writers and I really enjoyed this quick, stunning read.

Even though this book‘s length can be daunting, Alan Taylor writes with extreme clarity and a strong narrative flow. He subverts the classic nationalist mythology of the Revolution and presents instead an international framework: one that identifies the Revolution as a civil war in British America, and is part of greater imperial rivalry between Britain, France and Spain for control in the Americas. Essential reading on US history for sure!

Fascinating read! I learned so much about the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil and Zapatistas in Mexico. It challenged a lot of my assumptions about land struggles and political organizing more generally, & made me critically reflect on the US Left‘s capacity to learn from, build on and revise our international comrades‘ strategies for our own local, regional and national contexts. Highly recommend!

For several years I‘ve known this book to be a classic among the Left; finally reading it was truly a long time coming. DRUM & the League of Revolutionary Black Workers offer so many key lessons for trade unionists and other left activists today. As a UFT member, I‘m intrigued by the parallels between our union & the UAW, and how socialist organizers should engage with both the rank-and-file and the leadership. So glad I finally read it!

Finished Children of Dune yesterday! I love the universe Herbert built so I had fun reading it, but ultimately I‘m not sure how I feel about it. I thought it was a better book than Messiah, but also I feel ambivalent about the way it treated many characters (especially The Preacher, IYKYK 👀). Also, it was at times difficult to ascertain characters‘ motives for certain actions, but one may also argue that is half the fun 😅

DONE. This bad boy took me a whole month to finish. Tuchman‘s research is meticulous; I‘m sure sifting through all those primary documents made her head spin, because that‘s how I often felt reading this book! While I learned a LOT about Medieval Europe, it was unnecessarily long and at times repetitive. I mean, most books probably don‘t need to be 600 pages long… 😅 But overall, I enjoyed it. 🌟3.5/5🌟

Started and finished this book today to prep for reading it next week with the 6th graders! I think it‘s a great classroom resource and will help them really visualize daily life in Ancient Rome.

“Marx says the revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise. Perhaps revolutions are an attempt by the passengers on this train—namely, the human race—to activate the emergency brake.” -Walter Benjamin

Overall an interesting book, but my lack of cultural context and the extremely loose narrative style of the interviews made it a bit difficult for me to follow at certain points. Before this book I had read a little about the hukou system and Chinese migrant workers, but never really about the villages they leave behind and the people who stay. Maybe I‘ll check out the companion book, Leaving Liang Village.

Just finished rereading the first Percy Jackson book! I first read this when I was in 6th or 7th grade, and now I‘m going to read it with my 6th graders for our Ancient Greece unit! It was pretty good and there were a lot of cheesy jokes for the adults that went over my head when I was a kid, lol. The obsession with Western civilization was a little sus though 🥴

I just read this book on recommendation from one of my 6th graders and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! In contrast to The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali, which stars a solidly petty bourgeois family, Front Desk details the story of Mia Yang and her parents, recent Chinese immigrants who work at a motel and are being super-exploited by their boss. This book puts working class solidarity front and center ❤️ Sincerely enjoyed reading!

I really enjoyed this book by journalist Sarah Jaffe! She obliterates the myth that “if you love what you do you‘ll never work a day in your life” and demonstrates how that myth masks exploitation by the boss. She does a great job of writing clearly and breaking down pretty complex political and economic concepts. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!! 🌟5/5🌟

Just finished reading this book for my co-teacher‘s book club! Not the biggest YA fan but it was cool to get a glimpse into Bengali culture, especially because I have so many Bangladeshi neighbors. An uplifting story for all teens, but especially teens who are queer, South Asian, Muslim, second-gen diaspora and/or grew up in conservative households.

An indispensable book that makes you want to abandon your own life for the writer‘s life— to study under Phillip Roth personally, so maybe you can absorb through osmosis his precise command over language and absolute rootedness in history. Perhaps my new favorite book of all time. Couldn‘t begin to recommend it enough. 🌟5/5🌟

This book is a really wonderful introduction to Islam and paired perfectly the VSI on Islamic History. I preferred this one much more, as Perry Anderson (who I admire) & Suleiman Mourad‘s (who I was introduced to via this book) conversation flows exceptionally well and betrays both of their impressive range of scholarship and knowledge. Highly recommend! 🌟5/5🌟

Read this on the train for our 6th grade Ancient China unit. Going to read and use the fact tracker too.

Another really awesome Very Short Introduction that helped deepen & organize my knowledge about Islamic history. What an undertaking to review such an expansive history in less than 150 pages! Some parts were a little wonky (like when he claimed that Western sympathy for the Palestinian cause is *primarily* about it‘s importance to Muslims) but chapters 1 & 2 especially were really key 🔑

Just discovered the “Very Short Introduction” series the other day at The Strand Bookstore when I stumbled on their current collection and I‘m obsessed! I got this one on Jewish Literature & one on Islamic History that I‘m excited to read too. They have topics on literally everything from science to history to religion to art… I wanna collect them all!!

Another banger from Hobsbawm. His writing style is so captivating, in large part due to how confident and clever he is. I constantly find myself chuckling at the little quips he sprinkles in. Truly one of the best historians to ever do it 🌟5/5🌟

Just finished reading this to prep for the next part of our Ancient Egypt sub-unit for my 6th grade Humanities class… it‘s a pretty below-average graphic novel (the pacing is bad, the characters are not memorable, the art looks kinda sloppy) but I‘m pretty sure my kids will like the action and enjoy fact-checking the book 😅