Welcome to the third installment of my reading list series! I’m writing on a gorgeous 70 degree March day in Iowa, and I’ve spent most it outside. They won’t all be like this, though. Here’s some recent and upcoming reading for those rainy days, surprise snows, or…coronavirus quarantines.
James Bloodworth – Hired
The author – a journalist – went undercover in low wage, temporary and/or precariat industries throughout the UK to get at the experiences of the workers. What does he find? They’re underpaid and have no job security. They have difficulty finding good, stable housing. And some suffer from homelessness and/or serious medical issues. Many of the jobs are so bad it almost makes sense to remain unemployed. I think the upshot here is that what we have is an international problem requiring international solutions for working class people.
Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields – Racecraft
Here’s a thought. What if race weren’t a physical property or thing at all, but rather was a product of a racist system through the use of something called ‘racecraft’? That’s the thesis here, and I think it’s basically correct. Fields and Fields argue not only that race is social rather than material but also that ‘racecraft’ is itself analogous to ‘witchcraft’ and produces stumbling blocks to our understanding of the two phenomena of race and class. It’s on this latter point where I think Fields and Fields shine, even in comparison to Ibram X. Kendi, among others.
Robin Hahnel and Erik Olin Wright – Alternatives to Capitalism
This is less a book than a series of short proposals and rejoinders from proponents of two contrasting models of left-wing policy: the parecon model and the real utopias model. Hahnel and Olin Wright defend their models and discuss some of the problems. As an idea for a book, it’s solid. Perhaps we spend too much time on the left defending our own ideas and not enough time constructively engaging with others. We should spend more time imaginatively engaging with the world and with one another’s ideas.
Bernard Malumud – The Complete Stories
If you know Bernard Malamud, it’s very likely as the guy who wrote The Natural – or perhaps The Fixer, if you’re a more literary type. But he also wrote short stories over the course of decades. I find the earlier short stories the most compelling, often revolving around common characters and themes involving Jewish shop owners in early 20th century Brooklyn. But there’s something of interest throughout the collection.
Claire Messud – The Woman Upstairs
The best way to describe what’s going on here might be that an upper middle class woman has some personal difficulties in her 40s, and those difficulties involve a wealthy family that recently came to the U.S. from Lebanon by way of France. The metaphor of the title runs throughout the book, but I’m not too big to admit I never quite put together what it was supposed to be. The book and the characters I found very enjoyable – if frustrating.
Reading List Series
As I said, this is the third installment. For more books, here are the others:
Summer Reading List, Part 1
Summer Reading List, Part 2
Winter Reading List (2020)
