25 Books That Should Be On Every Progressive's Reading List

(Editor's note from 2013: Back in the day, somebody asked me for a list of books they should read, and here's what I came up with. Feel free to let me know what else should be included.)

U.S. Power Structure

1. Democracy For The Few (1974) by Michael Parenti

2. Who Rules America Now (1983) by G. William Domhoff

3. The Power Elite (1956) by C. Wright Mills

4. Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America (1980) by Bertram Gross

5. The Democratic Facade (1991) by Daniel Hellinger and Dennis R. Judd Brooks

Race, Sex, and Class in America

1. Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement (1970) by Robin Morgan, ed.

2. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1991) by Susan Faludi

3. The New American Poverty (1984) by Michael Harrington

4. A People's History of the United States (1980) by Howard Zinn

5. America's Struggle Against Poverty, 1900-85 (1986) by James T. Patterson

6. Two Nations: Black and White, Separate and Unequal (1992) by Andrew Hacker

7. Race Matters (1994) by Cornel West

The Mass Media - Ownership, Control, and Effects on Democracy

1. The Media Monopoly (1983) by Ben Bagdikian

2. Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media (1986) by Michael Parenti

3. Manufacturing Consent (1988) by Noam Chomsky

4. The Unreality Industry: The Deliberate Manufacturing of Falsehood and What It Is Doing to Our Lives (1989) by Ian Mitroff and Warren Bennis

5. Make Believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment (1992) by Michael Parenti

6. Amusing Ourselves To Death (1985) by Neil Postman

7. Don't Blame The People: How the News Media Uses Bias, Distortion, and Censorship to Manipulate Public Opinion (1972) by Robert Cirino

U.S. Foreign Policy/International Relations

1. The Age of Imperialism: Economics of U.S. Foreign Policy (1969) by Samuel Magdoff

2. The Political Economy of Human Rights: Washington and Third World Fascism (1979) by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman

3. Betraying The National Interest: How U.S. Foreign Aid Threatens Global Security By Undermining The Political and Economic Stability of the Third World (1982) by Frances Moore Lappe, Rachel Schurman and Kevin Danaher

4. The Vast Majority: A Journey To The World's Poor (1977) by Michael Harrington

5. How The Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons For World Hunger (1976) by Susan George

6. The World Since 1945 (1987) by T.E. Vadney