American Progressive Realist Liberal
Discover the American Progressive Realist Liberal reading list—essential books on politics, history, and truth. Explore works by Howard Zinn, Bob Woodward, and Michael Moore.
Book
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
Chronicles United States history from a grassroots perspective and provides an analysis of important events from 1492 through the current war on terrorism.
Book
Against All Enemies
by Richard A. Clarke
Richard Clarke has been one of America's foremost experts on counterterrorism measures for more than two decades. Here he tells the disturbing truth about the war on terror.
Book
The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
One of the first questions people ask about The Things They Carried is this: Is it a novel, or a collection of short stories? The title page refers to the book simply as "a work of fiction," defying the conscientious reader's need to categorize this masterpiece. It is both: a collection of interrelated short pieces which ultimately reads with the dramatic force and tension of a novel. Yet each one of the twenty-two short pieces is written with such care, emotional content, and prosaic precision that it could stand on its own. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and of course, the character Tim O'Brien who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have. We hear the voices of the men and build images upon their dialogue. The way they tell stories about others, we hear them telling stories about themselves. With the creative verve of the greatest fiction and the intimacy of a searing autobiography, The Things They Carried is a testament to the men who risked their lives in America's most controversial war. It is also a mirror held up to the frailty of humanity. Ultimately The Things They Carried and its myriad protagonists call to order the courage, determination, and luck we all need to survive.
Book
Dude, Where's My Country?
by Michael Moore
The man who slithered into the White House on tracks greased by his daddy's oil buddies is one of many targets in Mike's blistering follow-up to his smash #1 hit Stupid White Men, the biggest-selling nonfiction book of the year. Now no one's safe: corporate barons who have bilked millions out of their employees' lifetime savings and legislators who have stripped away our civil liberties in the name of "homeland security."
Book
Black Hawk Down
by Mark Bowden
Chronicles the experiences of ninety-nine American soldiers who were trapped in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993.
Book
The Greatest Story Ever Sold
by Frank Rich
Reveals the spin campaign of the Bush administration that the author contends enabled the support of a war against a non-September 11 enemy, furthered conservative agendas, and consolidated presidential power.
Book
State of Denial
by Bob Woodward
After two #1 "New York Times" bestsellers on the Bush administration's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Woodward's new book on the Bush White House again provides an unparalleled, intimate account of the present state of national security decision-making.