Master Record List

 Left to Right

Bob and Doug McKenzie (Second City), Great White North

Lily Tomlin, This is a Recording

John Fahey, The New Possibility (Christmas Guitar)

Vince Guaraldi, Charlie Brown Christmas

Johnny Mathis, Merry Christmas

Leslie Odom Jr., Simply Christmas

Sesame Street, Born to Add

Carole King, Really Rosie

Stravinski, The Firebird Suite

Leonard Bernstein, The Age of Anxiety

Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue

John Williams, Star Wars Soundtrack

Kurt Weill, Three Penny Opera

Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehaving

OBC, Fiddler on the Roof

OBC, Working

OBC, Pippen

OBC, Guys and Dolls

OBC, Cabaret

OBC, Funny Thing Happened 

OBC, Company

OBC, Hair

OBC, Jesus Christ Superstar

The Big Chill Soundtrack

Edith Piaf, Ce'tait un jour de fete

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Indestructable!

Ella Fitzgerald, The Cole Porter Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald, The Rogers and Hart Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald, Ella in Berlin

The Seafarer's Chorus, Salty Seafaring Shanties

The Lonesome Roving Wolves, Songs and Ballads of the West

Steeleye Span, The Steeleye Span Stories

Fairport Convention, Liege and Leif

 Fairport Convention, Farewell, Farewell

Woody Guthrie, Woody Guthrie

A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Various

The Weavers, The Weavers at Carnegie Hall

Pete Seeger, The World of Pete Seeger

Odetta, Odetta Sings Folk Songs

Harry Belafonte, Homeward Bound

Simon and Garfunkel, Sound of Silence

Phil Ochs, Chords of Fame

Harry Nilsson, Greatest Hits

Judy Collins, Number Three

Joan Baez, Vol 2

Joni Mitchell, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon

Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark

Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark Demos

Joni Mitchell, Blue

Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel

Linda Ronstadt, Greatest Hits

Carol King, Tapestry 

James Taylor, James Taylor 

James Taylor, Sweet Baby James

Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman

CSNY, So Far 

Neil Young, Harvest

Janice Joplin, Greatest Hits

Janice Joplin, Pearl

CCR, Willie and the Poor Boys

Beach Boys, Super Hits

Beatles, Live at the Starclub

Beatles, Abbey Road

Beatles, Help!

Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour

Beatles, The White Album

Beatles, Sgt. Peppers

Beatles, Rubber Soul

Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks

The Who, Live at Leeds

The Who, Tommy

The Kinks, Greatest Hits

Led Zeppelin, II

Led Zeppelin, IV

Cream, Disraeli Gears

Alice Cooper, Love it to Death

Jethro Tull, Aqualung

The Moody Blue, Seventh Sojurn

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna

Patti Smith, Horses

David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie, Hunky Dory

Queen, Night at the Opera

The Clash, Live at Shea Stadium

Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway

Tom Petty, Greatest Hits

The Pretenders, The Pretenders

The Cars, Shake it Up

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense

Pat Travers Band, Crash and Burn

Root Boy Slim, Root Boy Slim

Bon Jovi, 7800F

Metallica, The Black Album

Pearl Jam, Ten

Nirvana, Unplugged

Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie

Jeff Buckley, Grace

Cake, Comfort Eagle

Dianna Ross and the Supremes, Funny Girl

Tour of Video Game History

 

Pong (1975) 

Pac Man (1980) Arcade

Super Mario Bros (1985) NES
 
Ninja Gaiden Intro (1988) NES

Street Fighter II (1991) SNES

Doom (1993) PC

Super Mario 64 (1996) N64

Final Fantasy VII (1997) PlayStation 

Grand Theft Auto Vice City (2002) PlayStation II 

BioShock (2007) Xbox 360

RFK Autism Post

 I have something to say about RFK's recent speech about autism. For those who may not know, Oscar is autistic. He's still young, and we don't know what his future holds. There's a distinct possibility that he will never pay taxes, never hold a job, never play baseball, never write a poem, never go out on a date, and never use a toilet unassisted, just like RFK is talking about.

First of all, Oscar did NOT destroy our family- he completed our family. Oscar is not, himself, destroyed. Hannah Jane Ginsberg and I wouldn't trade him for the world. Human life has value far beyond paying taxes and holding down a job, and while caregiving is hard, needing to be taken care of doesn't make you a burden. We love taking care of Oscar, and while more independence would be nice for all three of us, we will always love taking care of him as long as he needs.

Second of all, while I'd be thrilled to find some way to enable Oscar to talk/read/write etc., I know a huckster when I see one. RFK's anti-vaccine/chemtrail/raw-milk nonsense flies in the face of hundreds of years of proven science. He's not "just asking questions", he's a conspiracy theorist.

Thirdly, this national autism registry he speaks of reeks of Eugenics. There are plenty of ways to study autism without one. I don't trust him any further than I can throw him.

I'm looking forward to both Oscar's future, and a future for our country where autism isn't demonized by the ignorant for their own agendas.

Writing Sample

 Dear X,

 

I’m going to frank: these are dark days for access organizations nationwide. The political climate has grown so hostile that many corporations are backing away from their usual support. The once perennial goal of supporting historically unrepresented communities is now a lightning rod for contentious discourse. We’ve rarely seen our country so divided.

 

Now more than ever those invested in a more inclusive future for our country must take action. A Better Chance was formed over 60 years ago at the height of the Civil Rights movement. We’re no strangers a tense political environment, and we’re certainly not stopping now. Your support can make an immediate difference in the lives of our Scholars and will help ensure that A Better Chance will be helping talented young Scholar achieve their dreams for years to come.

 

In Service,

FT

Bob movies post

 Longish post.

I have a change to the bottom list. While The Graduate spoke to me very deeply when I was younger, I think I’ve grown past a lot of the insecurities it spoke to. There’s a part of me that’s terrified of change, that no longer loving the things you used to love means that part of your life was somehow meaningless, that you’re a totally different person now with no connection to your past self, rootless. But recently, in no small part to Hannah Jane Ginsberg, I’ve been trying to frame things in terms of growth. I still think The Graduate is an all-time classic of filmmaking, but it’s not really a “me” movie anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time, but I’d always say it was since it was such a big part of younger me. I’m typing all this just to say it out loud to make it real. I’m a very different person now than I was, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s scary. But not bad.

I think I’d replace it with When Harry Met Sally. I’ve loved it since I first saw it in college, but it speaks to me even more strongly in my 30s. It’s a movie about the slow process of building a life together over many years and across many different stages. I guess that’s the process I’m really wrestling with in this post. So to sum up, in no particular order:

1) Muppet Family Christmas

2) When Harry Met Sally

3) High Fidelity

4) Amadeus

5) Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

Maybe this will be my list for a long time. Maybe it won’t. We’ll have to wait and see what changes are in store!  :)

Ipsadoodle!

 

Autistic adults

David Tornavine

Elizabeth Deacon Dillow, Executive Director

David Zimmerman, Managing Director

Steve Edwards NJ Hall of Fame

Dave Sabin reading list 

I was born into a tradition that said 'read this book and your life will change.' I've been skeptical of such simplistic entreaties ever since. We are more than the sum of the good books we've read. However, good books, in combination with smarts, curiosity, and life experience may round a person out just nicely.

Over the years various friends, family, acquaintances, and students have asked me for a list of good or important books to read on matters political/social/economic: in sum, books to inform their vision of society, human nature, and the burdens of civilization. I'm not sure how many other people get these requests, but I've generally deflected these appeals with a title or two of whatever was on my mind.

Now, with a new year, it seems a reasonable time to face that challenge and present my own recommended reading list.

Rather than present a huge list of books that I like, I tried to make this list meaningful under two criteria: that all the books represented have profoundly influenced the way I see the world, and that every book be highly persuasive to others--especially those not initially sympathetic to the book's theme or message. This is very much an alternative reading list to what you may find on a college syllabus: no Aristotle, no Hegel, no DeTouqueville. Not that I don't consider those authors important, but that path can be easily trudged without my assistance.

My own perspective on the world is complex, and I honestly don't know how to reduce my own ideas or ideals into simple categories. The list reflects general themes that interest me: reconciliation between freedom and organization, suspicion of authority, confronting tradition, resisting conformity, and the struggle of human potential against the limitations of nature.

These are books that I stumbled across in college libraries, were recommended to me by professors or friends, or found dog-eared and abandoned in used bookstores. Some of these books are ideological. I am not. And I would not expect them to make you so. Not all of the books recommended here are great books. A few are highly flawed, a few barely readable, but all hold some intellectual reward, of that I guarantee.

Please, I beg, add your own favorite/important/persuasive books to this list--or better yet, create your own. This entire exercise may have been my subconscious plot to solicit new books to read.

Enjoy!--and it's not really as long as it seems.



The Trial of Socrates, by I.F. Stone
Must be read as a companion to Plato's Republic (another essential book). This book was advertised as a "Case for the Prosecution" of Socrates upon its initial publication.. and it kinda is. But it also explores the roots of our earliest literate democracy and illustrates the struggles of egalitarian society in the face of its enemies. While Plato's Republic is a series of Socrates' most eloquent riffs on human governance, Stone reminds us how wrong he was. An enlightening exploration of democracy and issues that reverberate today.

Discourses, by Niccolò Machiavelli
Unlike his most famous book The Prince, Machiavelli doesn't mince words or muddle his ideas to appeal to his audience. I have always loved Machiavelli's cynical analysis of human events and completely buy into his notion that equal, competing and separate power structures are the most enduring and best serve the governed. Machiavelli persuasively argues against ideology as an effective guide to public policy, and suggests that irony prevails in all successful political action.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles Mackay
A compelling and amusing history of human folly: financial bubbles, the Crusades, witch hunts, and even Tulipomania--yes, at one time tulips were more valuable than gold. A thorough lesson in the danger and irrationality of mobs and markets and how the most lunatic and destructive beliefs are generally driven by their own popularity.

Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell
1984 and Animal Farm are Orwell's best remembered indictments of Communist tyranny, but this is his best book. From stories of fighting in a quasi-Trotskyist platoon he offers some of the best insight and overview ever written about the Spanish Civil War--a fight that foreshadowed both World War II and the Cold War. He entered the fight to preserve the democratic Republic from Fascism and escaped with his life fleeing the wrath of Communists.

The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mohandas Gandhi
As the title states, Gandhi did much experimenting in his long life: challenging traditional perceptions of law, power, class, religion, community, sexuality, violence, and basic humanity. Not all of his experiments yielded memorable conclusions, but some are remarkable, revolutionary, and may hold the key to human survival. His greatest contribution to humanity was his development of pacific resistance (frequently, with great irritation to Gandhi himself, translated as "passive" resistance) to institutional and personal injustices. His journey, his triumphs and failures, was one of the most important ever documented.

Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, by Alexander Berkman
Autobiographical account of a young Russian immigrant who attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Strike as Carnegie Steel waged war on its workers. Berkman failed in his attempt and spent 14 years in prison where he discovered America and was "reformed". One of the great American stories.

The Ego and its Own, by Max Stirner
A book more important and shocking in its own time than it is now, nevertheless a landmark book which fed several divergent branches of individualist political philosophy including nihilism and libertarianism. The revolutionary nature of this book may be lost on the modern reader, but his style and ideas echo in Nietzche, Bakunin, and nearly all schools of individualism.

Beyond Good and Evil, by Freidrich Nietzche
Wrestling with Nietzche is a necessary challenge for any worthy mind, and this collection is a suitable enough arena in which to grapple. This is one of Nietzche's best and most digestible critiques of the Western ethical and moral traditions--those of Socratic and Christian origins--and the peculiarity of how those traditions define morality by intention rather than consequence.

The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, by George Bernard Shaw
The best long-form work by the greatest modern practitioner of the English language. Shaw expounds his views of history, politics, society, and humanity, all leading towards his own brand of Socialism embued with his brilliant wit and erstwhile cynicism. Shaw never avoids the arrogance of his own genius, but no genius ever made such fun of his patronizing.

The Great Transformation, by Karl Polanyi
The ultimate answer to the Austrian School of Economics (Hayek, Von Mises) and their religion of a self-regulating free market. Polanyi contradicts, with dense historical research, the dogmatic insistence that free trade is a natural and historical inevitability and that it is the essential ingredient to freedom. Trade markets had only ever existed, and thrived, through intense social regulation until 19th century industrialization arose and transformed the marketplace as well as the political entities that it bred. Polanyi asserts that free market economies are their own peculiar form of social organization, prone to creating class stratification, scarcity, slavery, war, and generational financial catastrophes. This book is frequently compared to F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, due to its opposing viewpoint and contemporaneous publication. Hayek's declarations, that economic organization necessarily equates to totalitarianism, have proven to be comically non-prophetic--and when you factor in his prediction that the likes of Sweden would soon duplicate the tyranny of Nazi Germany.. well, it's difficult to accord his ideas much respect.

What is Property?, by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Best known for his provocative opening salvo "Property is Theft", this collection of his thoughts on property are fully weighed against historical arguments as well as those of his contemporaries--who happen to have been the post-revolutionary generation of France, where some of the deepest thinking on the subject has ever occured. In the end, Proudhoun doesn't offer many useful concrete proposals on the subject, but his ruminations and summaries are an invaluable contribution to this difficult and complex concept.

Thomas Paine Collection, by Thomas Paine
There are many different collections of Thomas Paine's writing--and the essentials are hopefully what could be found in a college syllabus (Common Sense, Rights of Man, etc.). However, I'd recommend digging deeper into some of his lesser known pamphlets, especially Agrarian Justice which lays out a creative reconciliation between private property and the public common. Biblical Blasphemy is also a testament to a growing acceptance of freethinkers in his time.

The Conquest of Bread, by Peter Kropotkin
The godfather of Russian anarchism and famed zoologist, Kropotkin rejects Marxism in particular and collectivism in general as he devises a more equitable social architecture which assumes that free people gravitate toward a common good. Powerful argument for decentralizing power structures while advocating mutual aid as a natural defense against disaster and war. Should probably be read in conjunction with his book Mutual Aid, which is a scientist's rebuttal to Social Darwinism. Kropotkin goes beyond philosophizing and actually devises a blueprint for maximizing freedom, avoiding many of the trappings of the collectivists while still providing for a content and equal society. Ultimately, many of his plans are problematic in their own right, but it is still a fascinating rethinking of human association and survival.

Civilization and its Discontents, by Sigmund Freud
And then the contrary view of humanity: that humans are driven by sex and by a need for destruction, and how artificial social institutions can sometimes breed those resentments that unleash a destructive instinct. A perhaps pessimistic assessment of human nature that suggests we hold deeply ingrained limitations to our own progress.

Moral Indignation and Middle Class Psychology, by Svend Ranulf
Written in the late 1930's, Ranulf documents the consistent arousal of lower middle classes by perceived humiliations in lost wars, cultural shifts, or political defeats. The results trend toward a persistent insecurity, bellicose self-righteousness, and strange obsessions with punishment and vengeance--rarely engaged directly, but executed through institutions and surrogates. Especially compelling considering his primary source of direct study was pre-WWII Nazi Germany.

Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, by Michel Foucalt
If nothing else, this book is a chronicle of bizarre and extreme cruelty dispensed in the name of justice. Examines the nature and motivations of punishment and challenges the accepted notion that prisons arose as a humane alternative to the prevailing standards of social coercion by church and state. The implications on concepts of freedom and non-conformity, governance and force, even the ubiquity of sadism, are incisive and disturbing.

Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
Okay, the thesis of this book is spectacularly wrong: Nazis exterminated and oppressed non-Jews nearly as much as they did Jews, so accounting for the most deeply embedded cultural anti-Semitism offers no explanation for their persecution and murder of millions of gypsies and native Germans (homosexuals, pacifists, Communists, etc.). However, for as badly as Goldhagen bungles the question of Why, his portraits of Who are chilling and profound. The German people were not sheep: much of the German bloodlust was not driven by obedience to the state but by an intractable, even rebellious, grassroots fetish for perverse justice.

The World Turned Upside Down, by Christopher Hill
The English Revolution is one of the most stunningly overlooked chapters of radical progress in human society: a time when all ideas were challenged, anything was possible, and when some of the most forward thinking ideals would germinate, only to be unleashed in subsequent revolutions over later centuries. Hill is, to my thinking, the ultimate authority in study of the English Revolution. I'd recommend any and all of his books, but this one is probably his best overview of the kind of revolutionary thinking and popular organizing that emerged to overthrow the British monarchy.

Kronstadt 1921, by Paul Avrich
Excellent book documenting the forgotten history of Bolshevik terror. Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky set out to exterminate their most dangerous, popular, and well-organized domestic enemies: democratic Socialists. Another great companion piece to this history is Nestor Makhno's The Struggle Against the State; Makhno, an anarchist, led the Black Army in some of the most successful military campaigns against the Whites in revolutionary Ukraine. Ultimately the Reds hunted down and slaughtered the anarchist Blacks in purges that initiated Communist tyranny.

Legacy of Suppression: Freedom of Speech and Press in Early American History, by Leonard Levy
Although Levy watered down many of his original findings in later editions, this book thoroughly documents attempts to coercively stifle dissent in post-colonial America. Destroys the notion that our "founding fathers" held much allegiance to personal freedom of expression, let alone freedom of thought. Almost any debate in American politics will eventually descend into channelling the wisdom of our founding fathers. This book should permanently discredit that practice.

People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn
From the opening chapter exposing the sociopathic nature of Christopher Columbus (in his own words), to slave narratives, Zinn offers us what most historians will exhaustively hide. Zinn explores subjects that don't fit neatly into most of our patriotic narratives. This is not the best written history book, and certainly not intended to be comprehensive, but it is an invaluable addition to our national consciousness.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, with Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas
These debates present an important time capsule. We are reminded that pettiness in political campaigns is eternal, regardless of how important the issues may be. But these debates underscore how slowly and profoundly we have arrived at standards of simple equality and basic freedom. Douglas boldly defends white supremacy in arguments that hopefully sound ludicrous to a modern reader; however, his arguments echo throughout nearly all modern debates invoking the dominion of state's rights. But the counter argument, Lincoln's savage critique of popular sovereignty, became the prevailing institutional ideal that largely holds tyranny of the majority in check. A fascinating subplot to these debates is the incessant reminder that abolitionists of the time, who are now rightly regarded as saints, were so despised that even Lincoln disassociated himself from them in language that continues to haunt his legacy.

American Power and the New Mandarins, by Noam Chomsky
There's that old Woody Allen joke: intellectuals are like the mafia, they only kill their own. While Chomsky may vehemently disagree with the premise, he pretty much lives by that creed: focusing his attacks almost entirely on elite classes that control democracies with their self-serving wisdom. This collection of essays was one of his first efforts to expose particular academics, intellectuals and self-described liberals as dishonest and amoral usurpers of the public square. This book concentrates heavily on the Vietnam War, but the lessons learned, and the antagonists portrayed, are applicable in any age.

Dispatches, by Michael Herr
The best witness and possibly the best book ever published about the Vietnam War. Written entirely on the ground with the troops, it's a horrifying and humanizing account of war unlike any I've read. True accounts from the book have materialized as random scenes and dialogue in Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket.

The Pentagon Papers,
Admittedly, I've never read the entire work, but in parts it is a spectacular revelation of collusion between generals, bureaucrats, and politicians to perpetuate a lie and a war whose consequences cost untold millions of lives. The Vietnam War was not a mistake, it was a conscious deception by a conspiracy of yes men. This collection is a blueprint for how a democratic society can be lied into war, and how those lies become an echo chamber that afflicts the judgment of otherwise bright people.

Taking the Risk Out of Democracy, by Alex Carey
This is the tale of when corporate America exchanged guns for talking points and used public relations as their primary weapon against labor and regulation. Corporations and their investor class discovered propaganda could better serve their interests in a society guided by public opinion and radically shifted their tactics from killing striking workers to forming "service clubs", creating think tanks, and investing in popular media to promote the sanctity of entrepreneurship, the American dream of unfettered wealth, and the religion of "small government". The success of this legacy continues on AM Radio and Cable News: convincing the middle class to beat poor people with rich people's values.

Manufacturing Consent, by Noam Chomsky & Edward Hermann
Case studies of the independent mass media's subservience to official state claims and ambitions. I'd also recommend reading Necessary Illusions by Chomsky, a collection of lectures referencing much of the same research but making broader generalizations and observations about Western media and their obedience to the state.

The Economy of Cities, by Jane Jacobs
Counterintuitive study of the growth of human civilization and economies. A searing challenge to the widely-accepted and little researched assumption that industry and commerce were built upon the development of agriculture. Jacobs instead concludes that centers of human trade and culture created agricultural needs and methods: civilization begat farming, not the other way around.

The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida
Flawed presentation of an important observation: that creative people and the communities that embrace them drive economic progress. Not a great book; and the author's attempts to translate this singular observation into a John Gray-style cottage industry does not necessarily undermine his central point: jazz clubs, coffee houses, and gay pride parades are likely indicators of economic prosperity in any community.

Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
Searing testament to corporate corruption and market madness: free market theory runs smack into human depravity. Although the financial intricacies of this story are complex, the authors do a reasonable job of making the terminology and economic concepts digestible. To those of us who watched the perfectly logical arguments for energy deregulation destroy a perfectly fine public utility system, the story of Enron and the California energy crisis is probably the last word on free market intrusion into the common.

Liar's Poker, Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street, by Michael Lewis
Personal account and analysis of the abuses inherent to an occupation, an industry, and a political system fueled by short-term benefits that result in long-term negative consequences. This is one of the few books that presages the Great Recession and the dangers of the financial industry creating products that generate money but are ultimately of no value. A good companion piece might be Lewis' The New New Thing-- a much less cynical spin on the tech boom, exploring the drive for wealth through innovation and the production of actual value. Although The New New Thing suffers from the "exuberant optimism" of the era, his portrait of one of the most important Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is a brilliant, if perhaps fawning, character study in material genius.

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
With few exceptions, the entire Dickens catalog is an examination of social injustice. Although Dickens used class disparity as a dramatic device in most of his work, A Christmas Carol is intensely sincere in promoting basic rational morality in an oddly secular fantasy. I strongly recommend actually reading this novella; forget all those bad film adaptations and endless school plays, Dickens' words and ideas are best absorbed unfiltered. Consider this the proper antidote to...

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
The positive individualism and celebration of human ambition are infectious and inspiring, even if the orgy of self-importance and its inevitable persecution complex are self-negating and infantile. Separating out the materialist porn fantasy from rational positivism in this book is a difficult task, but intellectually rewarding. For all its shortcomings--as literature and as philosophy--it is still well worth reading. This novel's penchant for tasteful sex makes it a more palatable forum for Rand's ideas than her abrasive essays or speeches.

God is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens
Much of this book soundly deflates notions that religion--monotheism in particular--has provided, or is even capable of providing, adequate lessons in morality. Hitchens is not a particularly original thinker, but he is extraordinarily well-read and has an encyclopedic knowledge of history, culture, and of great arguments for and against religion and mysticism, especially in regard to the evolution of morality. I recommend this book as an excellent primer to the contra-religious canon.

The Modern Crisis, by Murray Bookchin
There has to be a place for this left-libertarian thinker on everyone's bookshelf. This is a collection of some of his more succinct contemplations of modern society's conflict with the natural world and basic civility: something he termed Social Ecology. What's great about reading Bookchin is that he doesn't get trapped in the minutiae of social design or even ideological primacy, but he very methodically lays out the pitfalls of utopia clashing with actuality.