Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in Politics & Social Sciences (all time)

All Time Past 6 Months

Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension

Sara K. Ahmed

4.7 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Wretched of the Earth

Frantz Fanon , Richard Philcox , et al.

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys and Edwidge Danticat

4.4 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution

Tucker Carlson

4.8 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present

Ruth Ben-Ghiat

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe

Heather Mac Donald

4.7 on Amazon

1 HN comments

The Sun Does Shine: Oprah's Book Club Summer 2018 Selection

Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin, et al.

4.8 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Hay House

4.7 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion

Pema Chodron

4.8 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

Thich Nhat Hanh

4.7 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life

Shakti Gawain and Marci Shimoff

4.7 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy

Adam Jentleson

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

Rick Hanson

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

Bluets

Maggie Nelson

4.6 on Amazon

1 HN comments

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

Donald Robertson and Macmillan Audio

4.7 on Amazon

1 HN comments

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thescriptkiddieonApr 26, 2021

I'm not denying or excusing that historical atrocities occurred under socialist governments, but for perspective one should also look at the myriad atrocities that were and continue to be committed under capitalist governments. That doesn't excuse such actions, but neither side is innocent. I suggest reading The Wretched of the Earth* Chapter 1, "On Violence".

Here are a few examples off the top of my head:

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

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

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

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

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943

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

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

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

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

* Though I will object that it is unfair to attribute the actions of the Khmer Rouge to socialism. Like the Nazis they were socialist in name only, and in fact were supported by the United States in their war against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

eat_veggiesonMay 17, 2021

“we must above all rid ourselves of the very Western, very bourgeois and therefore contemptuous attitude that the masses are incapable of governing themselves. In fact, experience proves that the masses understand perfectly the most complicated problems. [...] the masses are quick to seize every shade of meaning and to learn all the tricks of the trade. If recourse is had to technical language, this signifies that it has been decided to consider the masses as uninitiated. [...] Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand.”

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, 1961, pp. 188–189

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