SALON

Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011 11:30 PM UTC

More books for an American Spring

The owner of the renowned Square Books in Oxford, Miss., offers a timely reading list

By

Topics: American Spring,

More books for an American Spring
We asked our favorite local bookstores to share titles that fit the American Spring theme. Buy them direct from the store and help our essential independent stores survive and thrive.

Featured bookstore: Square Books
Location: 160 Courthouse Square, Oxford, Miss. 38655
Website:  www.squarebooks.com

American Spring Book List:

“Resistance, Rebellion, and Death,” by Albert Camus (Vintage, $15), the leading 20th century philosopher and moralist whose primary concerns were for “those silent men who, throughout the world, endure the life that has been made for them.”

“All God’s Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw,” by Theodore Rosengarten (University of Chicago Press, $21).  Shaw’s Homeric autobiography demonstrates both how it is possible to be born into severe economic and racial oppression and how, under such circumstances, one might manage a life of hope, courage, dignity and human triumph.

“Nickel and Dimed,” by Barbara Ehrenreich (Holt, $15), a firsthand account of life in low-wage present-day America.

“The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy,” by Howard Zinn (Seven Stories Press, $21.95).  A broad selection of the radical historian’s best writing.

“Down and Out in Paris and London,” by George Orwell (Harcourt, $14). First published in 1933, this personal and unsentimental investigation of poverty remains relevant.

“What Are People For?” and “What Matters?” by Wendell Berry (Counterpoint, $15.95 and $14.95, respectively). Two books by Wendell Berry that advocate an economy and society that benefits rather than vicitimizes its citizens.

“Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics,” by Nicholas Wapshott (Norton, $28.95), examines the two principal economic theories of our time.

“Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries,” by Naomi Wolf (Harper, $13.95). The book that was made for American Spring was published three years ago by this prescient and brilliant author. A discussion of the problems of modern American democracy and the spirit and purpose of revolution, the book also serves as a practical primer for citizen activists.

“Liar’s Poker,” by Michael Lewis (Norton, $15.95), the low-down on Wall Street.

“Anti-Monopoly,” a board game. Among our non-book items we inventory this game that pits monopolists vs. free-marketers. But, like Monopoly, it’s really just another game about accumulating assets. We don’t sell it very well, and wish that someone would create a board game that would sell — call it “Occu-opoly.” This game, like an idea once expressed in fiction by Philip K. Dick, would feature the giving away of wealth and property to others. Boardwalk and Park Place would be Zuccotti Park and Sproul Plaza …

About Square Books

When we opened our store, in 1979, our community was only 16 years removed from a racial desegregation crisis that stigmatized us to the outside world as a place, and people, of bigotry and hatred. Many of us knew we were not as bad as we were thought to be, but we also knew we had to work hard to overcome failure. As a result, the community often sought progressive activity and development and coalesced where we found it. This is a large part of why our bookstore has succeeded and continues to succeed: people here know that a vibrant bookstore is a sign of cultural and economic health, which are things we value greatly.

As we witness the middle-class migrating to the so-called 99 percent, many other norms — or what we used to consider norms — are taking or already have taken a parallel path. We all know what they are: the outsourcing of jobs, the loss of the small farm economy, the corruption of banking, the corporate and special-interest ownership of Congress, and so on. Most painful to watch has been the decline of American communities. As the agricultural economy and locally owned businesses decline, so goes the tax base; then the schools, fire and police protection, public parks, and healthcare – those institutions that are critical to every community’s success — follow. As people abandon these communities they often relocate to places that are not what we typically think of as communities.

We are fortunate to live in a state where people are generous (Mississippi leads the nation in per-capita charitable giving as a ratio of income) and in a community that continues to uphold its public institutions as well as many private local businesses. Mississippi has also produced an uncanny number of great writers, another important reason for our success.

Publishers, our collegial partners, are in turmoil, but we continue to see a remarkable output of superlative, diverse literature in an exceedingly well-designed and produced form: the book — which, as I have often said, is, along with the bicycle and the sailboat, one of man’s few perfect inventions.

More Square Books.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 3 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

Salon is dedicating itself to an American revival. As proud members of the 99 percent, we're embarking an a national campaign to expose the biggest problems facing our democracy -- and search for solutions.

Introducing: American Spring
A proposed demand for OWS
A New Declaration of Independence
Your Declarations: Readers respond

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations