Posts tagged to read list.
Black Culture: Black History eBooks Packs 58: The Black Panther Party pt.1 →
Black History eBooks Packs 58: The Black Panther Party pt.1
- The-Genius-of-Huey-P-Newton
- War-Against-the-Black-Panthers
- The-Black-Panther-Party-and-the-Case-of-the-New-York-21
- Sieze the Time-The Story of the BlackPanthers
- Revolutionary Suicide
- afeni shakur evolution of a…
“Helen Heran Jun explores how the history of U.S. citizenshiphas positioned Asian Americans and African Americans in interlocking socio-political relationships since the mid nineteenth century. Rejecting the conventional emphasis on ‘inter-racial prejudice,’ Jun demonstrates how a politics of inclusion has constituted a racial Other within Asian American and African American discourses of national identity.
Race for Citizenship examines three salient moments when African American and Asian American citizenship become acutely visible as related crises: the ‘Negro Problem’ and the ‘Yellow Question’ in the mid- to late 19th century; World War II-era questions around race, loyalty, and national identity in the context of internment and Jim Crow segregation; and post-Civil Rights discourses of disenfranchisement and national belonging under globalization. Taking up a range of cultural texts—the 19th century black press, the writings of black feminist Anna Julia Cooper, Asian American novels, African American and Asian American commercial film and documentary—Jun does not seek to document signs of cross-racial identification, but instead demonstrates how the logic of citizenship compels racialized subjects to produce developmental narratives of inclusion in the effort to achieve political, economic, and social incorporation. Race for Citizenship provides a new model of comparative race studies by situating contemporary questions of differential racial formations within a long genealogy of anti-racist discourse constrained by liberal notions of inclusion.”
Hmm, I’m a little intrigued to see where this book goes…
(via peopleofcolor)
The Repatriation of Henry Chin is the first novel by Issac Ho about a dystopian world where US-China relations are so strained that the US has placed all Chinese and Chinese-Americans into repatriation camps for their own good. Henry Chin, the protagonist, manages to escape with his daughter until US government agents recapture them and brand both as terrorists.
You can get it on Amazon or find it at your local bookstore!
**added to reading list**
Black History eBooks Packs 37: Revolutionaries
THE Prison Letters of George Jackson
Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
Assata the Autobiography
Negroes with Guns by Robert F. Williams
The Assasination of Fred Hampton
Ella Barker and the Black Freedom Movement
The Genius of Huey P. Newton
Many more books
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AHBMR8JF
It’s a big download. So let it download at night or when you’re idle from the computer. It is compressed in a RAR file. If on a mac use Zipeg to uncompress the file. If on Windows you use WinRAR. All the files in the folder are pdf’s. You can view on your laptop, tablet or smartphone.
Black Love
Books on Palestine: My Recommendations →
So this was an answer to a question but now it’s reblogable for Harron XP
Top 5 books out of what I’ve read so far, I’d recommend;
- Palestine: A Personal History by Karl Sabbagh
Sabbagh traces back his family history to the time of the Ottomans and weaves the narrative of his own family with the political history of the time. This book is a fully researched historical account which slams down the myth propagated by some Zionists that the Palestinian people do not exist or that Palestine was an empty land before Israel.
You can read a review of the book here. The author of the review doesn’t like the amount of history about Palestine itself but I was actually really grateful for that because this was one of the first books on Palestine that I ever read and it puts the narrative into the proper political context.- The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
I think this is the most capturing book I’ve read about Palestine and Israel and it is extremely objective considering both sides of the equation. It’s written like a fictional novel but the whole thing is non-fictional based on various interviews and evidently a hell of a lot of research. Basically the book’s focus is two stories; one of a Palestinian family and one of an Jewish family whose paths happen to cross because the Jewish family lives in the home that the Palestinian family was driven out of -yet somehow the two people this book is about came up with a sort of incredible friendship. The book is also woven through out the political history to put things in context and it’s extremely well written. It is however a good idea to have knowledge of key figures concerning Palestine and Israel because in the book people like Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, Leila Khaled are mentioned in passing and it may be confusing if you didn’t know the significance of these people.
You can read a review of The Lemon Tree here.- The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe
Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian who exposes the policy of systematic ethnic cleansing that was carried out by Zionist forces during the creation of the State of Israel. His position as a historian in Israel allowed him to access many historical documents not open to the public and thus he debunks the myth that the Palestinians merely left Palestine in 1948, exposing the war crimes, all while using Israeli sources to back up his information.
Read a review of this book here.- A Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggle of a Palestinian in Israel by Hatim Kanaaneh
I’m actually not done reading this book yet but from what I’ve read so far I have to recommend it. So instead of giving my explanation which would be incomplete right now I’ll quote Dr Ghada Karmi “Scarcely any personal narratives of the lives of Israel’s Arab minority exist. Kanaaneh’s fascinating exposure of this little known subject is written with passion and authority. Essential reading for students of the Israel/Palestine conflict.” That’s the reason I picked up this book because I’ve literally never seen another written from the perspective of the Palestinians left on the “wrong” side of the border and people tend to forget they exist which is I think this is a must read.
Book review here.- In Search of Fatima by Dr. Ghada Karmi
This is the first book I ever read on Palestine so I have to include it in the list- basically the whole book, more-so than others, puts everything into a human, a personal perspective. The book is more about the people than the politics and history. It’s basically Dr. Karmi’s life and we get to see Palestine from her perspective.
Read a review here.
(via madeinnablus)
Ok so I promised months and months ago to post a book list about women in the African diaspora. And then I didn’t…
But here s a collection of books (some I’ve read, some I haven’t). None of these books necessarily discusses how Black women fit into the African Diaspora (read my dissertation when it’s done!) but I think it’s useful to engage with Black women in a global context. That’s what I love.
Also, as a disclaimer these books are based on my own interests personally and academically. And I’ve left out the U.S. because there are a lot of books in that subject area that people can find easily:
Invisible Woman: Growing Up Black in Germany by Ilka Huegel-Marshall
The Black Woman Cross Culturally edited by Filomena Chioma Steady
The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain by Beverly Brian, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe (absolute favorite)
Negras in Brazil: Re-Envisions Black Women, Citizenship, and the Politics of Identity by Kia Lilly Caldwell
Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out edited by Mary Opitz, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz
From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters edited by Rahila Gupta (To be clear SBS was always mostly Asian women but there’s a specific reason why it’s here. If you want to know why feel free to ask.)
Women’s Organization and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Authority by Shireen Hasim
Women and Resistance in South Africa by Cherryl Walker
Motherland: West Indian Women to Britain in the 1950s by Elyse Dodgson
*obvs this list is not comprehensive but I think it’s a pretty good start
(via newmodelminority)
No one who attacks the humanitarian aid establishment is going to win any popularity contests, but, neither, it seems, is that establishment winning any contests with the people it is supposed to be helping. Easterly, an NYU economics professor and a former research economist at the World Bank, brazenly contends that the West has failed, and continues to fail, to enact its ill-formed, utopian aid plans because, like the colonialists of old, it assumes it knows what is best for everyone. Existing aid strategies, Easterly argues, provide neither accountability nor feedback. Without accountability for failures, he says, broken economic systems are never fixed. And without feedback from the poor who need the aid, no one in charge really understands exactly what trouble spots need fixing. True victories against poverty, he demonstrates, are most often achieved through indigenous, ground-level planning. Except in its early chapters, where Easterly builds his strategic platform atop a tower of statistical analyses, the book’s wry, cynical prose is highly accessible. Readers will come away with a clear sense of how orthodox methods of poverty reduction do not help, and can sometimes worsen, poor economies.
must read.
Adding to my “to read” list… surprise that the crusade to save the world, when its fashionable still carries its stain of colonialism and the patronizing “don’t worry y’all- we know how to fix you” mentality… ugh, gtfo with that…
(via antesdachuva)
KAMIN MOHAMMADI OFFERS HER TOP 10 LIST OF IRANIAN BOOKS
Here’s a nice list to work with, from author Kamin Mohammadi (author of the new book, The Cypress Tree):
From Guardian UK:
“I wanted to provide a little balance to the familiar accounts of jailings, beatings, brutality and ignorance – this is just a little (although terrible) part of life in Iran, and I tried to paint a truer and richer picture of my country and our modern history. The books below are my picks of Iranian literature – with a few books not by Iranians but which illuminate Iran itself and are vital in understanding our country – and although they don’t begin to do justice to our greatest poets and books, they are a starting point for those interested in knowing more.”
1. Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) by Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Written in the 10th century, this is our Iliad and Odyssey rolled into one. More than 30 years in the writing, this epic poem contains 60,000 verses and tells the mythical – and actual – history of Iran, from the Creation until the Muslim conquest of Iran in the 7th century. This work saved and recorded Iranian national identity, and was responsible for keeping our language – and culture – distinct from the Arabs’. It contains not just heroic tales of battle but also love stories and philosophical tracts. This is our reference to all things pre-Arabic – as well a favourite place to find a baby’s name.
2. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
These graphic stories are splendid – not just in their deceptively simple black and white drawings, but in the way Satrapi manages to tell the story of the revolution in Iran and her subsequent exile and return from the irreverent point of view of the rebellious child that she was. The history of Iran presented in her book is not exactly objective but no matter, these books are funny and moving.
3. The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran by Roy Mottahedeh
First published in 1985, Harvard professor Mottahedeh’s book is a must-read for anyone interested not just in Ayatollah Khomeini, the roots of the revolution and the origins of the Islamic Republic, but for fans of a good novel too – it’s written as compellingly as a good thriller. He sets the biography of Khomeini against the backdrop of Iranian religious thought, from Zoroaster to key modern-day Islamic thinkers, contextualising our modern history – and his style is a pleasure to read.
4. The Conference of the Birds by Farid Attar
In Iran there are a whole host of mystical medieval poets and thinkers – Rumi, Hafez, Sa’adi, Khayyam – each one a Shakespeare in their own right, so it is hard to pick just one. The Conference of the Birds is a 12th-century masterpiece, written by another Persian Sufi, Attar. It is an allegorical 4,500-line poem telling the tale of when all the birds of the world gathered to try and find a just ruler. Setting out the mystical doctrine of Sufism in rhyming couplets, it is a deeply spiritual piece of work which can also be enjoyed as pure literature.
5. The Story of Leyla and Majnun by Nizami
The most famous telling of a celebrated love story, this 12th-century epic is thought to have inspired everyone from Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) to Derek and the Dominos (who named their album after Leyla). Of course, in the great Iranian mystical tradition, it is also an allegory of the soul’s search for God.
6. Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad
Our most significant female poet, who broke conventions and taboos when she started publishing her poems – full of sensuality, desire and longing – in 1950/60s Iran. She suffered for her frank outspokenness – her only child was taken away and she spent time in mental institutions.
7. The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
A classic of modern Persian literature, Hedayat’s small novel is dream-like, its hero demented and delusional. Persian literature has always depended on allegory but whereas poets like Nizami were using it as a means to bring people to God, modern Iranian writers use it to protect themselves from the punishment of the state. This was as true when Hedayat was writing this book (1937, under Reza Shah) as it is today.
8. All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle Eastern Terror by Stephen Kinzer
Kinzer’s easy-to-read account of the CIA-orchestrated coup in Iran in 1953, which overthrew the beloved prime minister Mossadegh after he nationalised the oil industry illuminates a vitally important piece of Iranian modern history that is unknown to many westerners. Given that this episode contains the roots of the corruption of the Shah’s regime, Iran’s colonisation by America in all but name, and ultimately the roots of the revolution itself, it is vital reading.
9. Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński
Legendary Polish foreign correspondent Kapuściński was in Iran throughout the revolution and his pared-down account of the events of those days is gripping and insightful. He has enormous understanding and the ability to tell a harrowing story in the most graceful way, while also preserving a delightful sense of the absurd. He is unusual in that he does not subscribe to an Orientalist point of view – and so is able to comment on the events of the day and the peculiarities of the Iranian character and system with objectivity – even affection – but without the usual implicit sense of superiority that western writers tend to slip into when writing about Iran.
10. Daiey Jan Napoleon (My Uncle Napoleon) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
First published in 1973 in Tehran, this rambunctious novel entered the national psyche when it was turned into a television series. Set during the Allied occupation of Iran during the second world war, it concentrates on the antics of an extended family who all live in an old-fashioned compound, ruled over by a paranoid patriarch, the Uncle. Lively and funny, the novel often plays on the Iranian tendency to think the British behind everything that happens in Iran.
Now added to the reading list… Though, some were already on there… So much to read- too many hours at work… :-/
(via antesdachuva)
Common
The MC is set to release an autobiography. The book will hold the same title as his ‘97 album “One Day It’ll All Make Sense” Here is what was said about the book.
“In One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Common holds nothing back. He tells what it was like for a boy with big dreams growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He reveals how he almost quit rapping after his first album, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, sold only two thousand copies. He recounts his rise to stardom, giving a behind-the-scenes look into the recording studios, concerts, movie sets, and after-parties of a hip-hop celebrity and movie star. He reflects on his controversial invitation to perform at the White House, a story that grabbed international headlines. And he talks about the challenges of balancing fame, love, and fatherhood.”
I will be buying this. The moment it comes out.
(via black-culture)
Book Rec time.
I’jaam, an Iraqi Rhapsody is a short (100 pages) novel that I highly recommend. It was my favorite piece in a collection of literature for a recent class. If one looks at the text closely, it is a really interesting venture into Deconstructionism. The book is about the manuscript written by a young boy imprisoned during Saddam’s regime.
Will also be adding to my ‘to read list’ :-)
