Alienation, autonomy, and ideology
These are posts about books from the blog Base and Superstructure. Occasionally I’ll read a book worth talking about, and write some thoughts on it. These cover a wide range of topics from the blog.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the second reading list of 2025! Deep in the Iowa winter, I’m staying warm with some books. And I hope you are, too.
I wrote last month about philosophical counseling, and I’m doing a bit of themed reading around that. Beyond this, I’ve found some interesting politics and fiction.
How about you?
I recently read Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis. It’s a book by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, two co-founders of the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU) and early backers of the Autonomous Tenants Union Network (ATUN), a collection of tenants unions around the country.
As I read, I quickly realized I wish I had the book 5 years ago. In those days, I was working with our local DSA chapter to organize a tenants union, and I joined the Iowa City Tenants Union (ICTU) as one of its founding board members. I also joined the city housing commission in the fall of that year.
This book could’ve prepared us for the struggles ahead. It would’ve been a great resource to share with early tenants union members. Instead, we learned many lessons the hard way.
So, let’s talk a bit about the book and what it might teach us.
Welcome to the first reading list of 2025! Yes, the plan here at Base and Superstructure is to continue the tradition of writing about a few books each month.
To be honest, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, especially since I just had a few weeks off of work last month to get caught up. So, read on for a selection of what I’ve been reading. And please do let me know what’s on your list!
Feels like far too little time, but we’ve arrived at the final reading list of 2024! Here’s what I’ve been reading as the year winds down.
As always, let me know what you’re reading. And, don’t worry too much about the end of 2024. I’ll be back with another list in January.
Hello everyone and welcome to the penultimate edition of the reading list for 2024! It’s hard to believe we’re so close to the end of the year.
Lately I’ve been reading social accounts, both of the world and of social justice movements. That’s reflected in the list below. And, of course, I can’t pass on a good dystopia.
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