Fill Thy Cup

This is a very partial list of books, film, and music, etc., related to the themes explored by “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny” webcast series.  Some of the books we’ve read and others we hope to read.  Feel free to suggest books, film, music or other stimulating materials you’d like us to add to these lists.  In the meantime, fill thy cup for the journey ahead!

Check back often for updates!

WATCH “If America Fails?” Season Premiere
“American Democracy Under Siege:
The Color of Autocracy”
with
Author Jared Yates Sexton
January 13, 2022
on the
TruthWorks Network YouTube Channel

So many books…so little time!

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“If America Fails?” Livestreams
Thursdays, January 13 to April 7, 2022, 8 pm ET
on the
TruthWorks Network YouTube Channel

Non-Fiction

Selected Books by “If America Fails?” Guest Panelists

The Handmaid’s Tale:  Teaching Dystopia, Feminism, and Resistance Across Disciplines and Borders, edited by Karen A. Ritzenhoff and Janis Goldie

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present by Howard Zinn
An Indigenous Peoples History of America by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, (both original and young adults versions)
Before the Mayflower:   A History of the Negro in America, 1619-1962 by Lerone Bennett, Jr.
Exterminate All the Brutes:   One Man’s Odyssey into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide by Sven Lindqvist
From Slavery to Freedom:   A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin
Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Silencing the Past:   Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
The Great Sioux Nation: Sitting in Judgment on America by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear by Khaled A. Beydoun
Caste:  The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising by Joshua Green
Dispatches from the Race War by Tim Wise
Eloquent Rage:  A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
How to Be Less Stupid About Race by Crystal Marie Fleming
How We Fight White Supremacy:  A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin
killing rage: Ending Racism by bell hooks
Lovable Racists, Magical Negroes, and White Messiahs by David Ikard
Nothing Personal by James Baldwin  (Author), Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Afterword), Imani Perry (Foreword)
Separated: Inside An American Tragedy by Jacob Soboroff
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy & the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Big Dirty Money: The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime by Jennifer Taub
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
Debt:  The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century by William A. “Sandy” Darity, Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny
Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland
Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
The View From Flyover Country by Sarah Kendzior
Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention by Wayne Barrett
Web of Debt:  The Shocking Truth about Our Money System and How We Can Break Free by Ellen Brown
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

Environmental Collapse & Justice

A Terrible Thing to Waste:  Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
All We Can Save:  Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
Overheated:  How Capitalism Broke the Planet—and How We Fight Back by Kate Aronoff
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate by Naomi Klein
Toxic Communities:  Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution and Residential Mobility by Dorceta E. Taylor

Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues (“Genocide’s Sexuality”) by Catharine A. MacKinnon
Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges
Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide by Douglas Irvin-Erickson
The American West and the Nazi East: A Comparative and Interpretive Perspective by Carroll P. Kakel

Mental Health

A Return to Love:  Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in Miracles’ by Marianne Williamson
Stuff That Needs to Be Said:  Essential Words on Life, Death, Faith, Politics, Love, and Giving a Damn by John Pavlovitz
The Reckoning:  Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal by Mary L. Trump

Physical Health

Carte Blanche:  The Erosion of Medical Consent by Harriet A. Washington

Public Health

Medical Apartheid:  The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett

Letter to Lucy:  A Manifesto of Creative Redemption in The Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies Frank Schaeffer
Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People by Tim Reiterman
The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances FitzGerald
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet
Troublemaker:  Surviving Hollywood & Scientology by Leah Remini and Rebecca Paley
White Evangelical Racism:  The Politics of Morality in America by Anthea Butler
With Liberty & Justice for Some: The Bible, the Constitution, and Racism in America by Susan  K. Williams Smith

Slavery & Freedom

“The 1619 Project” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Mary Elliott, Jazmine Hughes and Jake Silverstein, The New York Times Magazine, 2019
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy DeGruy
Slave Voyages: The Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans by Hilary MacDonald Beckles (free download)

American Rule:  How A Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People by Jared Yates Sexton
An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics by Greg Sargent
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean
Hiding in Plain Sight:  The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America by Sarah Kendzior
House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia by Craig Unger
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley
Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia by Peter Pomerantsev
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
Orwell and the Refugees: The Untold Story of Animal Farm by Andrea Chalupa
Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy by David Daley
Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count by David Daley
Strongmen:  Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, Americaby Timothy Snyder
The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898:  The Democrats, The Secret Nine, and The Rise of White Supremacy by Chester Douglas
Twilight of Democracy:  The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum
Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped by Garry Kasparov

Violence & Criminal Justice

The Color of Law:  A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President – What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know by Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America by Robert I. Friedman
Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by David Corn and Michael Isikoff
The Mueller Report: The Findings of the Special Counsel Investigation (free audio-book from Audible)
The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West by Malcolm Nance
The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election by Malcolm Nance
War in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century by David Patrikarakos

At the Dark End of the Street:Black Women, Rape, and Resistance – A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
Unapologetic:  A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene A. Carruthers
Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women by Alice Walker
When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula J. Giddings
Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis

Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom by Cynthia McKinney

Reading Guides

Exterminate All the Brutes Re-Education Syllabus

Many of the books above come from the Exterminate All the Brutes Re-Education Syllabus (EATB).  You may Download the EATB Syllabus here.

Many of the books above come from the Gaslit Nation Reading Guide, at September, 2021.  Check their website for additions.  They describe it as “A Non-Exhaustive List of Just Some of the Books We Recommend…Best Supplemented with Books on World History.”

10 Life-Changing Books Every 20-Something Feminist Needs to Read, Arts.mic
101 books to dive into this summer: a massive reading list, Ted.com
15 Black History Books to Read This Month, Book Riot
16 Essential Books About Environmental Justice, Racism and Activism, The Revelator
50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read, What’s On Africa
50 Books That Every African American Should Read, HuffPost Black Voices
African American Images, Jawanza Kunjufu
Afrikan Books, AssataShakur.org
Akala Reads, goodreads
Best Feminist Books, goodreads
Black History Books for Children, Scholastic
Black History is American history:  Books You Should Read, Daily Kos
Black Power Reading Guide, Kalamu ya Salaam
Oprah’s Book Club Reading List
Popular Black History Books, goodreads
Saint Heron Community Library
The Feminist Press at CUNY
The Ten Books Every Leftist Should Know: A Reply to Dennis Prager, Areo

Reading Changes Lives Book Lists on Likewise

An Anti-Racism Collection (on Likewise)
Reading For Change:  A Collective Journey – Contenders (on Likewise)
Revolutionary Love Leadership Contenders (on Likewise)
The Global Black Feminist Reading Circle:  Fiction & Poetry Contenders (on Likewise)
The Global Black Feminist Reading Circle:  Non-Fiction & Memoir Contenders (on Likewise)

Reading Changes Lives Book Lists (Downloadable PDFs)

RCL Collected Reading Herstory (All Sessions, Books, Authors and Dates v 001) – includes links to all video playlists.
Reading For Change:  A Collective Journey – Non-Fiction Contenders
The Global Black Feminist Reading Circle:  Fiction Contenders
The Global Black Feminist Reading Circle:  Non-Fiction Contenders

Exterminate All the Brutes (HBOMAX)
The film, “Exterminate All the Brutes, from acclaimed filmmaker Raoul Peck…is a four-part hybrid docuseries that provides a visually arresting journey through time, into the darkest hours of humanity. Through his personal voyage, Peck deconstructs the making and masking of history, digging deep into the exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism — from America to Africa and its impact on society today…”  — HBO

Radio & Podcasts

(Focus much of their content on threats to democracy)

Gaslit Nation with Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa
Leid Stories with Utrice Leid
OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham
RUMBLE with Michael Moore
Scientology:  Fair Game Podcast with Leah Remini and Mike Rinder
The Muckrake Political Podcast with Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman
THIS IS REVOLUTION with Pascal Robert & Jason Myles

Many thanks to all those who provide reading guides to help us expand our minds.  Thank you!
All praise to the Artists & Activists!