The Root: What books are you reading right now?

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Any recommendations for books that can give historical insight on past political events that impacted this election? Currently have The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein in the fold.
 

Consigliere

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I have a request.. not sure if this is the right place.

Can someone link me to a free copy of "The Amalgamated Order of Lordism"?
 

Wildin

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Saw this while leaving the library. It's a decent read. I didn't learn anything I hadn't been taught or studied before but it's nice to get that refresher and hear information you are aware of presented differently.
 

EndDomination

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Any recommendations for books that can give historical insight on past political events that impacted this election? Currently have The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein in the fold.
I would genuinely say Black Reconstruction by. Du Bois, it gives you an insight into the political situation that produced our present system, as well as White Rage by. Carol Anderson helps characterize backlash of this kind.
 

Wildin

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Will finish this today. About 50 pages left. Quick read. Not what I thought it would be. Isn't a bunch of gossip, but insight on how the industry works, and some game in it. A couple of stories with names you've heard of but always relevant to a message or point.
 

RaspberryFitted

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just finished eldridge cleaver's soul on ice and i have substantially *worse* feelings toward the book now than I did when i first read it my sophomore year of college.
would like to hear your perspective. Was it the subject matter Cleaver spoke on that invoked that emotion, or was it truly understanding the scope of the crimes he committed?

EDIT: re-read the second section of your post. Will put blood in my eye and soledad brother on my Amazon list.

I truthfully don’t get or see how genuine his 180 was. The book never gave you the impression he was remorseful for his crimes
 

EndDomination

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would like to hear your perspective. Was it the subject matter Cleaver spoke on that invoked that emotion, or was it truly understanding the scope of the crimes he committed?

EDIT: re-read the second section of your post. Will put blood in my eye and soledad brother on my Amazon list.

I truthfully don’t get or see how genuine his 180 was. The book never gave you the impression he was remorseful for his crimes
It was the latter, his lack of remorse - or at least how he portrayed it - showed me that he had simply rationalized what he did underneath revolutionary bravado.

Blood in My Eye is a fascinating work, George Jackson was, without a doubt, one of Black America's finest political and revolutionary theoreticians, the misogyny that encompassed some of his letters in Soledad Brother was overcome in a much more deliberate fashion than anything from Cleaver.

That isn't to say that Eldridge was entirely without merit in his other claims - he's a vulgar Black Marxist that frustrated me in some ways, but he was enlightening in other ways.

I will also say, I was a bit more "vulgar" myself back then - I was a RevComm and saw potential revolution in the uprisings in St. Louis, Ferguson, Cincinnati and Detroit - so everything I think about what inspired me then has a hint of jadedness to it.
 

Lucky_Lefty

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Pretty sure these have been recommended but really got into the first two when recommended by my housing policy professor:

- Red Hot City by Dan Immergluck (who I was fortunate to meet and would've definitely been in one of his classes at the Young School of Policy)
- When Affirmative Action was White by Ira Katznelson
- Knowledge, Power & Black Politics by Mack Jones (Bomani's father)
- The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant
 
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