Resources: Books
University Unitarian Universalist Society is a lay-led congregation. This page is dedicated to University UUs (Unitarian Universalists) to share their personal favorites with one another. Many of the suggestions come from the Webmaster, and other members and friends. Please share any suggestions or comments by sending an email to the Webmaster.
Nemesis, 2007, by Chalmers Johnson is his last in his blowback triology, following "Blowback" and "The Sorrows of Empire." Many are familiar with "Blowback," published before the September 11th, 2001 attacks, and which predicting more attacks as a result of America's overseas policies. Note: The term "blowback," as he explained, is a CIA coinage that "does not mean revenge but rather retaliation for covert, illegal violence that our government has carried out abroad that it kept totally secret from the American public (even though such acts are seldom secret among the people on the receiving end)." Nemesis takes up the destruction of our republic through the uncontrolled military industrial complex, which is neither left or right, but simply growing. You may also see this fascinating discussion with Chalmers here- http://www.radioopensource.org/chalmers-johnson-and-his-nemesis/.
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, 2006, is Jimmy Carter's latestbook. Judy Woodruff (NPR) does an interesting interview with Mr. Carter whose book has received a lot of negative press by mainstream American media which refuses to air a more objective view concerning Palestine.
Perdido Street Station, 2001, by China Miéville, is a cross between science fiction and fantasy, with a touch of horror, and a lot of complicated characters and storylines. A good, meaty read at 700+ pages...
The Time Traveler's Wife, 2005, by Audrey Niffenegger, is a character study, science fiction, but most off an inventive, well-written story about a man who travels back and forth in time. Some of you will recognize being unstuck in time as the fate of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's classic Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Lovely Bones, 2002, by Alice Sebold, is a beautiful work that follows the adventures of a fourteen year old girl, Susie Salmon, after her rape and murder. Susie lives in her heaven, and like her family on earth, remains emotionally stuck. The story has an unexpected ending which enables closure for Susie and her family.
The White Hotel, 1993 reprint, by D.M. Thomas (short listed for the Man Booker Prize), is a work of genius. Thomas weaves the story of Freud along with a famous patient and succeeds in creating a novel that is larger than dreams, anxieties, or even one individual. The author was wrongly accused of plagiarism but that has finally been settled. White Hotel is both erotic and brutal, personal and historic- a must read.
Riches for the Poor, 1997/2000, Earl Shorris, is the study of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, the eight-month course in poetry, logic, art history, U.S. history and moral philosophy. Joe Scolaro
The Tropic of Night, 2003, by Michael Gruber, is a dramatic, stylish, smart, novel, with a mix of anthropology, ethnography, sorcery, mayhem, and murder in an captivating story. Kathy Parry
The Devil in the White City, the 2003 novel by Erik Larson, is a story of opposites. Larson is a historian who has written a fictionalized account regarding the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. On one hand, the book is about the enormous effort to create a world class fair against overwhelming problems, including micro-management, inadequate time, conflicting egos, and the shear enormity of the cause. The other story regards an ambitious entrepreneur-serial killer who murders dozens of women, selling many of the cadavers to medical schools. The backdrop is turn of the century Chicago, where life is cheap and death occurs all too often.
The War On Freedom, How and Why America was Attacked September 11, 2001, Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, July 2002, www.globalresearch.org, the one book for understanding the September 11, 2001 attacks. In this well researched book, the author has accumulated news items available before and after the attacks, which convincingly point to different conclusions than ones generally held in the United States.
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization and High-Finance Fraudsters, Greg Palast (2003). Uncovers the plans to bias the 2000 Presidential election. Greg is an investigative reporter and he covers the corporate globalization scene in a way you will never see in the nightly news. What is also interesting is reading how easy it is for British corporations to threaten the news media with frivolous lawsuits to silence news articles.
A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn (2003). Reverses traditional history books that are told from the elite's perspective. Instead, Zinn concentrates on individual people and their personal circumstances, including blacks, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers. Period covered ranges from Columbus to President Clinton.
The Racial State : Germany 1933-1945, Michael Burleigh, Wolfgang Wippermann, 1991, authors look at the timeline and mechanisms for persecution of "racially inferior" by the Nazi state. Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally handicapped were targeted by the state. What is generally not known, is the extent of academia involvement. A more recent book, IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation, by Edwin Black, details IBM's involvement with the Nazi state to modernize this persecution using computers.
Guns of August, Barbara W. Tuchman, 1994. Pulitzer Prize winning narrative is a great history book that is written well. Helps the reader understand the characters and forces at play that led up to WWI. It's fascinating to read how inevitable the war was to everyone.
Migrations, Sebastiao Salgado, 2000. Salgado is one of the great 20th century photographers. By living with people he establishes a trust that shows in his pictures. The book is a pictorial story of people displaced throughout the world for reasons of war, famine, racial, or economics. These people and their stories are not well known. The cultures are so alien to us that it would be difficult to write such a story. Through the media of black and white photography, Salgado has captured what they are going thru. This book complements his "Workers" and "Children" books. The images are sometimes grim but the rewards for connecting with others is great. Some critics have attacked Salgado for making such art level photos of "victims". For me, Salgado demolishes the victim role and instead puts a face on humanity living in some terrible conditions.
And Their Children After Them, Dale Maharidge and Williamson, 1990. Fifty years later, this 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning book follows the individual lives of the surviving members and descendants of the Gudger, Ricketts, and Woods families from the famous book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee and Walker Evans. A powerful book about poor sharecroppers in America.
The Story of Art, E.H. Gombrich, 1995, From Booklist: Gombrich's The Story of Art has been a treasured standard in the field, selling more than 4 million copies since its first edition in 1950. Now in its 16th edition and available for the first time in paperback, this comprehensive look at Western art from prehistoric times on up to the present has been completely redesigned and extensively revised and updated. In addition, the illustrations have all been enhanced, and a total of 443 are now in color.
Worst Pills, Best Pills, Public Citizen, 2005, This 772-page resource is filled with adverse risk factors of hundreds of medications, pairs of drugs that can cause life-threatening reactions when taken together, and 160 pills that you shouldn't take at all (includes a list of safer alternatives). Peggy Gilbert found this book helpful when involving complications with her husband's illness. Of course, you should also consult your physician, pharmacist, and other resources such as the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR). Peggy Gilbert
