Non-Exhaustive Book Recs!
Here are some books that I have (annotated) physical copies of. The groupings overlap a lot, and it's not remotely the end of my recommended books, just ones I have as not-just-pdfs.
Some books belong to multiple categories but
Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners by Josh Davidson (Editor); Angela Y. Davis (Foreword); Sara Falconer (Introduction); Eric King
Some really eye-opening essays by a variety of political prisons. Some are openly anarchist, others are other left flavors, and others had their actions politicized and must pick up the pieces behind bars
ABCs of Anarchism by Alexander Berkman.
A simple primer for Anarchist concepts and principles
Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America compiled by Paul Averich
Huge collection of anarchist speeches, essays, and theory
Granny Made Me an Anarchist by Stuart Christie
The memoir of Stuart Christie, a Scottish anarchist who was arrested for attempting to assassinate the dictator Franco, when Christie was a teenager. Humorous, heartfelt, it gets into the deep personal aspect of antifascist work, and is jarring in how a 20-year old book about events from 50 years ago sounds like it could be written by today's anarchists.
Gender/Sexuality/Butch Identity:
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Groundbreaking semi-autobiographical story about butch life, identity, and leftist (and Jewish) politics.
GenderQueer: Voices Beyond The Sexual Binary by Riki Wilchins, Claire Howell and Joan Nestle
A collection of essays on nonbinary identities, pushing the boundaries of what is possible for gender and sexuality
Queering Anarchism, edited by CB Daring, J. Rogue, Deric Shannon, and Abby Volcano
A collection of essays on gender, sexuality, feminism, anti-racist action, relationships and more from anarchist perspectives. How dismantling hierarchies and encouraging autonomy reshapes the structures of our personal lives and identities.
Butch Is A Noun by S. Bear Bergman
A collection of essays by Bergman getting into sexuality, gender, and overall butch identity. This work is very openly written from a transmasculine perspective while also being hyper-aware of this. It not only does not forget about other types of butches, it actively challenges the reader to question your rigid ideas of identity and to get comfortable with conflicting or contradictory experiences
Jewish Identity/Anti-Zionism/Palestine:
Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld
An analysis of gender and sex flexibility as supported by the Talmud and other Jewish literature. Rather than create new space for trans people in ritual, roles, and ceremony, Strassfeld argues that the possibility of transness has historical precedent.
The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism by Marjorie N. Feld
What it says in the subtitle. A long and dense history of Jewish antizionism not only exists but was actively erased by people who want you to think we are a new phenomenon. As long as zionism has existed, there have been Jewish opponents in the US and elsewhere.
There Is Nothing So Whole As A Broken Heart: Mending the World as Jewish Anarchists, edited by Cindy Milstein
A wonderful collection of essays on antizionist Jewish anarchism. Through hardship, isolation, and suffering, we still find each other, find reasons to keep fighting, and through it all ground ourselves in the knowledge that we are fighting for a better world, and that one is possible.
Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill
A beautifully scathing critique of how liberal and some leftist organizing under "progressive" banners carves out space to not support Palestine. Environmentalism, gay rights, feminism, equality, justice, etc--all these values that ought to account for Palestine has had groups continuously sidestep or outright fought against supporting Palestine.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
A great deep dive into how the history of mass incarceration has evolved in an age where racism is "over."
KayanerenkΓ³:wa: The Great Law of Peace by Kayanesenh Paul Williams
A comparative legal text getting into types of indigenous law and how it is similar and very dissimilar to European models. When social concepts are seen as default, and entire other systems do things differently, from relationships to land to relationships to each other, to justice and revenge and rehabilitation, what all is possible for the future?
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Stevenson, one of the biggest champions of justice programs like the Innocence Project, tells a story about the US justice system, about defending clients, and challenges the reader to reconsider what you think you know about the law. A super frustrating read, but well worth it if you are new to decriminalization and abolitionist politics.
The End of Policing by Alex Vitale
Once a spokesperson of reform and accountability programs, Vitale has come around to the idea that more cameras, more training, more funding does not fix the police, because the police are not broken--they are functioning as designed.
We Do This Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba
A refreshingly hopeful text about abolitionist concepts, and proposals about a world beyond policing and prisons. A fantastic primer to any questions you might have about what abolition means, what abolitionists want, and what is possible to achieve if we fight for it.
Doppleganger: A Trip Into The Mirrorworld by Naomi Klein
Haven't Yet Read But Would Like To:
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
This book is on the history the Jewish Labour Bund, and the unifying theory of Doykeyt--or hereness--that says that our home is where we make it, our community is who we live among, and our loyalties lie to our comrades, not a nation state.
Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine
This book is a deep dive into how anti(and even pro)trans arguments attempting to create a distinct binary between men and women is rooted in fabricated "science" and maintained by coercion, not nature
Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by Emily Tamkin
I give this an honorable mention as like a bridge book. This book is not anti-zionist in nature and plays the middle ground entirely too much, but is a great primer for the intra-community policing of who is Jewish enough. It gets into historical perceptions, the shift of what's popular in and out of community, and the perhaps unifying question of "am I a bad Jew?"
