Below are some of the books that have inspired me and changed the way that I think about the world. I look forward to adding more, and I would love to hear from you. What books have changed your world?
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Feminism is for Everybody
By bell hooks |
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The Culture of Make Believe
By Derrick Jensen |
| The Bluest Eye
By Toni Morrison |
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The Full Spectrum: a new generation of writing about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, question, and other identities
Edited by David Levithan and Billy Merrell |
| Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice
By Paul Kivel |
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Race Matters
By Cornel West |
| Where We Stand: Class Matters
By bell hooks |
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| White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
By Tim Wise |
Jamie,
Thank you so much again for your fantastic and honest work! I would like you to know about a book that changed my life. It’s called A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, who is a contemporary spiritual leader who does not follow any organized religion. He writes brilliantly about recognizing one’s ego, how ego is causing the many forms of human suffering we see today, and what each of us needs in order to be happy. I now judge people a lot less, and that keeps getting better and better. Instead of seeing myself as separate, I feel more and more like one with the rest of humanity and the universe.
A New Earth was one of several great books I read this summer and taught me a lot. I believe it’s the most effective of all at getting to the root of prejudice. It has strenghthened what I have learned in life from my experiences, family, teachers, peers, classes, other books, and the rest of the world.
Thank you again!
Thanks for the recommendation! I will look it up soon!
One really useful book, using the voices of blacks on matters some of the other books you list address, is Black On White: Black Writers on What it Means to Be White. Amazingly powerful, disturbing, necessary reading.
Despite the fact it’s not perfect, Judy Butler’s Gender Trouble really rocked my world.
I also really liked Race, Monogamy and Other Lies they Told You by Agustin Fuentes, as it looked at a lot of feminist/humanities ideas but through a more scientific perspective. Fuentes is an evolutionary anthropologist.