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Socially relevant Non-Fiction?

I

irishclover011

New Member
I am just curious if anyone here would be interested in discussing books about gender studies or sociology. The likes of Friedan, Tea, or Vollman. Really I am looking for recommendations and discussion.
 
No but i have read some of noam chomsky and some other linguistics who talk about language and society - i find it quite a fascinating subject.
 
I have been complusively reading anything on poverty. Chomsky is someone I haven't had a chance to read yet except an essay here or there. The Poor by Vollman is an amazing book; he travels all over interviewing people who "are poor" except most of the people fall into one of two categories: they think they are poor, or they don't.
 
A Concise History of the Middle East by Arthur Goldschmidt Jr and Lawrence Davidson
This big fat book demostrates that history is never concise. Lucid, well-written, and engaging, it takes the reader on a clear-eyed tour of centuries of that troubled part of the world. A must for anyone who wants to shoot their mouth off about the recent unpleasantness there.
 
Here are a few which would stimulate good discussion:

Collapse by Jared Diamond
Fast Food Nation by Schlosser
Nickel and Dimed by Ehrenreich

Fast Food Nation, for example, is not just a put-down of McDonald's. It's revelatory of our whole food system and how it works for and against us in our economy.

Nancy
 
Nickel and Dimed was very good and I can't believe I forgot it. Ditto on Fast Food Nation. Thanks for mentioning those Silverseason.

I saw that someone had actually written a counterpoint to Nickel and Dimed called Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard.

From the wiki:
In response to Nickel and Dimed, Adam Shepard conducted an experiment which he later wrote about in his book Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream. A February 11, 2008 article in The Christian Science Monitor summarizes his story. According to the article, Shepard began his experiment living in a homeless shelter with $25. His goal was to have a job, a car, a furnished apartment, and $2,500 in savings within a year. Although he had a college degree, he would not mention it, or use any of his contacts, in trying to achieve his goal. While living at the homeless shelter, he found work as a day laborer. Later, he obtained steady employment at a moving company. Within 10 months after starting the experiment, he had an apartment, a pickup truck, and close to $5,000 in savings.
Click to expand...
 
Fast Food Nation was terrific.

Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston is one I would like to see discussed here.

**sidenote** - J.R. Simplot just bought the farm a few weeks back.
 
sparkchaser said:
Nickel and Dimed was very good and I can't believe I forgot it. Ditto on Fast Food Nation. Thanks for mentioning those Silverseason.

I saw that someone had actually written a counterpoint to Nickel and Dimed called Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard.

From the wiki:
Click to expand...

I find that interesting, he must have used a shelter, which allows the homeless to use it as an address, and many do not. An interesting book is called Without a Net by Michelle Tea. It is a series of essays written by women from lower working class, and the difficulties of "class jumping” and how most even with college degrees are never able to escape the cycle of poverty. Of course that implies that you believe that poverty is a cycle.
 
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