• Aeschylus, The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides. Robert Fagles, tr. New York: Penguin Classics, 1984.
• Alperovitz, Gar. America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley, c2005.
  • Interesting and useful.
• Amy, Douglas J. Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2000
• Aune, James Arnt. Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness. New York: Guilford Press, c2001.
  • An attack on the rhetorical strategies of the libertarian apologists for unfettered greed and the rule of “markets.”
• Axelrod, Robert M. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books, c1984.
  • Uses game theory to show how a cooperative strategy can evolve even given the assumption of perfectly selfish players.
• Baiman, Ron, Heather Boushey, Dawn Saunders, eds. Political Economy and Contemporary Capitalism: Radical Perspectives on Economic Theory and Policy. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c2000.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Baker, Dean, and Mark Weisbrot. Social Security: The Phony Crisis. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
• Beaud, Michel. A History of Capitalism: 1500 to 2000. Tr. Tom Dickman & Anny Lefebvre. New York: Monthly Review R, 2001.
• Behe, Michael. Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York: Free Press, 1996.
• Berenson, Alex. The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America. 1st ed. New York: Random House, c2003.
  • According to the New York Time Book Review, this "serves as a concise and readable crash course" on everything that went wrong with the stock market during the late 90s.
• Best, Joel. Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists. Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, c2001.
• Birnbaum, Norman. After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • A refutation of the notion that no alternative to market anarchism exist. A comparative history of reform.
• Blackburn, Robin. Age Shock: How Finance Is Failing Us. New York: Verso, 2006.
• Blanshard, Brand. “The Case for Determinism.” Determinism and Freedom in the Age of Modern Science: A Philosophical Symposium. Ed. Sidney Hook. New York: New York UP, 1958. 3-15.
• Boggs, Carl. The End of Politics: Corporate Power and the Decline of the Public Sphere. New York; London: Guilford Press, c2000.
  • While the thesis is probably correct, the book is full of generalities and short on specifics, especially about what to do.
• Bollier, David. Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth. New York: Routledge, 2002.
  • A review in Washington Monthly suggests that this is an excellent book attacking the idea of the "commons" as an inevitable "tragedy," and the proliferation of "intellectual" property and the folly involved.
• Braudel, Fernand. Civilization and Capitalism: 15th—18th Century. Vol. 1: The Structures of Everyday Life. Trans. Siân Reynolds. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
• Broder, David. Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money. New York: Harcourt, 2000.
  • Explains how the initiative movement, which has the appeal of apparent direct democracy, is actually controlled by monied special interests.
• Byrne, John. Chainsaw: The Notorious Career of Al Dunlap in the Era of Profit at Any Price. New York: Harper Business, 1999.
  • A review in Washington Monthly begins: “If the Al Dunlap of Chainsaw were a fictional character, he would be dismissed as a figment of bad writing, a one-dimensional caricature.”
• Chamberlain, Lawrence. Investment and Speculation: Studies of Modern Movements and Basic Principles. New York: Henry Holt, 1931.
  • Quoted in the NY Times as saying: "Common stocks, as such, are not superior to bonds as long-term investments, because primarily they are not investments at all. They are speculations."
• Chang, Ha-Joon, and Ilene Grabel. Reclaiming Development: An Alternative Economic Policy Manual. London; New York, NY: Zed Books; New York, NY: Distributed in the USA exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Attacks the “Washington Consensus” of the neoliberal development policies “in accessible language” and offers alternatives.
• Cohen, Benjamin J. The Geography of Money. Ithaca, N.Y.; London: Cornell University Press, 1998.
  • About the globalization of money and finance.
• Crittenden, Ann. The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued. 1st ed. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001.
  • Excellent review in the NYTimes, who says it challenges the received wisdom of economists, feminists, and conservatives, and ought to be read by all.
• Daly, Herman E. and John B. Cobb, Jr. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Daly, Herman E. Beyond Growth. Boston: Beascon Press, 1996.
• Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986.
• DeHaven-Smith, Lance. The Battle for Florida: An Annotated Compendium of Materials from the 2000 Presidential Election. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005.
• DeHaven-Smith, Lance. “Florida 2000: Beginnings of a Lawless Presidency.” In Miller, Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008. Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing, 2008.
• Dembski, William A., ed. Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2004.
• Denton, Michael J. Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe. New York: Free Press, 1998.
• Dennett, Daniel. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
• Douthwaite, Richard. The Growth Illusion. Gabriola Island B.C.,Canada: New Society Publishers, 1999.
• Drutman, Lee, and Charlie Cray. The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy. San Francisco, Calif. : Berrett-Koehler, c2004.
• Dworkin, R[onald]. M. Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2000.
  • Highly recommended book by respected author. His argument for the idea of equality is praised as highly persuasive and logical.
• Dyckman, Martin A. A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary Gainseville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008.
  • An investigative reporter, by presenting the history of a judicial scandal and subsequent reform, makes an excellent case for ways to preserve the independence of the courts.
• Fainstein, Susan S. and Scott Campbell, eds. Readings in Urban Theory. Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Fineman, Martha. The Autonomy Myth: A Theory of Dependency. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2004.
  • Fineman has written about various social issues, e.g. divorce, from a feminist perspective.
• Fischer, Ernst. How to Read Karl Marx. Tr. Anna Bostock. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1996.
• Folbre, Nancy. The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2001.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Frank, Ellen. The Raw Deal: How Myths and Misinformation about Deficits, Inflation, and Wealth Impoverish America. Boston: Beacon Press, c2004.
  • A well-written and provocative book. Everyone should read it.
• Frank, Thomas, One Market under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy. New York : Doubleday, 2000.
  • Molly Ivins says this is a great book: funny and sensible. Likens it to the boy who pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes. An analysis of how the “obsessive, uncritical penetration of the concept of the market into every aspect of American life, and the attempt to drive out every other institution, including law, art, culture, public education” [James K. Galbraith, “Market Myths.” The Washington Monthly March 2001, pp. 49-52, 50] has come to rule our lives.
• Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. New York: Henry Holt, 2004.
• Frankel, Max. “Word & Image.” “Money: Hard, Soft and Dirty. A sure-fire solution to the campaign finance mess would be to wipe out the big bucks of TV advertising.” The New York Times Magazine 26 October 1997: 28.
• Freeman, Joseph F. Government Is Good: Citizenship, Participation, and Power. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, c1992.
• Freeman, Steven F., and Joel Bleifuss. Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2006.
• Galbraith, James K. Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
  • A rather technical and somewhat dated book.
• Galbraith, John Kenneth. Almost Everyone's Guide to Economics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
• Galbraith, John Kenneth. Money: Whence It Came; Where It Went. Rev. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
• Garraty, John Arthur. The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, as Seen by Contemporaries and in the Light of History. San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1986.
• Georges, Christopher. "Perot and Con." The Washington Monthly June 1993: 38+.
• Gleeson, Janet. Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1999.
  • The story of John Law.
• Gleick, James. "Patently Absurd." New York Times. 12 March 2000, natl. ed., sec. 6: 44-49.
• Goebel, Thomas. A Government by the People: Direct Democracy in America, 1890-1940. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2002.
• Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. New York: Viking, 2000.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Goodwin, Jason. Greenback: How the Dollar Changed the World. New York: Henry Holt, 2003.
  • The thesis is that the US is founded on the radical notion of paper money.
• Grant, James. The Trouble with Prosperity: The Loss of Fear, the Rise of Speculation, and the Risk to American Savings. New York: Times Books-Random House, 1996.
  • The author is a "contrarian," one who advises against popular investments because they are apt to be over-priced. The book does seem to be sensibly cautious.
• Greider, William. Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country. New York: Simon and Schuster, c1987. <HG2563 .G72 1987>
  • The best book about the Fed available. It also is informative generally about the nature of money and finance.
• Greider, William. The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy. New York : Simon & Schuster, c2003.
• Greider, William. The Trouble with Money. Knoxville, TN : Whittle Direct Books, c1989.
• Guinier, Lani. The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy. New York: Martin Kessler/The Free Press, 1970.
• Guinier, Lani, and Gerald Torres. The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, 2002.
• Handley, Lisa, and Bernie Grofman, eds. Redistricting in Comparative Perspective. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 2008.
• Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, 2000.
  • Recommended, with reservations (he complained of "prolixity and abstraction"), for proposing a kind of neo-Marxist (that is my interpretation) take-over of the globalization agenda by Doug Henwood in the Dec 1, 2003 The Nation.
• Henwood, Doug. After the New Economy. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, c2003.
• Hodgson, Godfrey. The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
  • A thoughtful and objective look at the contradictory and conflicting ideas that constitute "conservatism" in the US. Especially the oddness of the symbiosis between the religious right and the Libertarians. Why people can declare, without irony, "I am a conservative because I am for change."
• Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer: Thoughts On the Nature of Mass Movements. New York: Harper & Row, 1951.
• Hollander, Samuel. Classical Economics. Oxford <Oxfordshire>; New York, NY, USA: B. Blackwell, 1987.
  • 19th century economics of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill, as well as "classical features of Marxism."
• Huffington, Arianna Stassinopoulos. How to Overthrow the Government. New York: Regan Books, c2000.
  • Claiming the two major parties have become indistinguishable, she offers concrete solutions.
• Jackson, Tim. Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. New York: Easthscan, 2009.
• Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
• Judis, John B. The Paradox of American Democracy: Elites, Special Interests, and the Betrayal of the Public Trust. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, c2000.
• Katz, Michael B. Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, the “Underclass,” and Urban Schools as History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995.
• Kindleberger, Charles Poor. The World in Depression, 1929-1939. Rev. and enl. ed. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1986.
• Krugman, Paul. “For Richer: How the Permissive Capitalism of the Boom Destroyed American Equality.” The New York Time Magazine 20 October, 2002. 62ff.
• Krugman, Paul. Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in the Age of Diminished Expectations. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.
  • Common sense on the economy from a liberal economist who criticizes the Clinton economic policy.
• Krugman, Paul R. Pop Internationalism. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, c1996.
• Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 2nd ed., enl. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1970.
• Kunz, Diane B. Butter and Guns: American's Cold War Economic Diplomacy. New York: Free Press, 1997.
  • About the success of the “Pentagon” policy in promoting economic prosperity during the Cold War.
• Lakoff, George, Howard Dean, and Don Hazen. Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--the Essential Guide for Progressives. White River Jct., VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004.
• Lacey, Colin, and David Longman. The Press as Public Educator: Cultures of Understanding, Cultures of Ignorance. Luton: University of Luton Press, c1997.
  • According to blurb: “. . .this study examines how the media's responsibility to readers and shareholders can outweigh its liability as a public educator, with detrimental consequences. The argument presented here calls for a movement that would require the media to answer to its general public and recognize its inherent educational responsibilities.”
• Lazare, Daniel. The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy.New York: Harcourt Brace, c1996.
• Lazare, Daniel. The Velvet Coup: The Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Decline of American Democracy. London; New York: Verso, 2001.
• Leebaert, Derek. The Fifty-Year Wound: The True Price of America's Cold War Victory. 1st ed. Boston; London: Little, Brown, c2002.
  • About the horrible, self-destructive policies of the Cold War, and especially about the role of the CIA.
• Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von, La Monadologie. 1714.
• Lessig, Lawrence. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2001.
  • An argument against our insane copyright laws and what can be done about them.
• Lessig, Lawrence. Lesterland: The Corruption of Congress and How to End It. TED Conferences, 2013.
• Lipset, Seymour Martin. It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States. 1st ed. New York ; London : W.W. Norton & Co., c2000.
• Lott, John R. Are Predatory Commitments Credible?: Who Should the Courts Believe? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c1999.
  • An argument about predatory pricing as a business strategy.
• MacEwan, Arthur. Neo-Liberalism or Democracy?: Economic Strategy, Markets, and Alternatives for the 21st Century. Australia: Pluto Press; London; New York: Zed Books; New York: Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 1999.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• McMillan, John. Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets. 1st ed. New York; London: W.W. Norton, c2002.
  • A thoughtful book that fairly suggests the value of market while recognizing that they must be regulated.
• Maccoby, Hyam. The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
• Marable, Manning. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society. Updated ed. Cambridge, Mass.: South End Press, c2000.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Marshall, Christopher D. Beyond Retribution: A New Testament Vision for Justice, Crime, and Punishment. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., c2001.
• Menninger, Karl. The Crime of Punishment. New York: Penquin Books, 1968.
• Minsky, Marvin. The Society of Mind. London: Heinemann, 1987.
• Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. 1859
• Miller, Mark Crispin. Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008. Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing, 2008.
• Mooney, Chris. The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science—and Reality. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
  • If you have ever wondered why conservatives seem utterly incapable of changing their minds, even in the face of the most overwhelming evidence, this book will be a revelation.
• Pauly, Louis W. Who Elected the Bankers?: Surveillance and Control in the World Economy. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997.
• Payne, Ruby K. A Framework for Understanding Poverty.. 4th ed. Highlands, TX: aha! Process, 2005.
• Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Boston: Belknap Press, 2014.
• Pollin, Robert. Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity. London; New York: Verso, 2003.
  • This is an absolutely first rate book. Lucid and penetrating, it offers an excellent and fair examination of the meaning, purpose, and failures of neoliberal economic policies. He proves that it is possible to write quite clearly about economic issues.
• Pollin, Robert, and Stephanie Luce. The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy. New York: The New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998.
  • The results of a study showing that the arguments presented against a living wage are false. A thoughtful and useful book.
• Pollin, Robert, editor. The Macroeconomics of Saving, Finance, and Investment. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, c1997.
  • The introduction might be useful as a survey of theories about how savings affects the economy.
• Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books, 1959.
• Posner, Gerald L. Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2003.
• Poundstone, William. Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It). New York: Hill and Wang, 2008.
• Russell, Bertrand. An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1940.
• Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1949.
• Sassoon, Donald. One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century. New York : New Press, c1996.
  • According to blurb: This substantive study traces the fortunes of the political parties on the left in Western Europe throughout the 20th century. It charts the course of socialism across fourteen countries, spelling out both the origins of Western socialism and its considerable accomplishments, particularly since 1945. The fall of communism led many to think that capitalism was the only possible system for the 21st century. Donald Sassoon argues that while capitalism has indeed encircled the globe, socialism continues to be found within national systems. This is a detailed account of the love/hate relationship between the two philosophies in Western Europe.
• Searle, John R. Minds, Brains and Science. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1984.
• Searle, John R. The Mystery of Consciousness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT P, 1992.
• Searle, John R. The Rediscovery of the Mind. New York: New York Review of Books, 1997.
• Shaikh, Anwar, and E. Ahmet Tonak. Measuring the Wealth of Nations: The Political Economy of National Accounts. Cambridge, England; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • This book deals with, among other things, the portion of national income that comes from rent: unearned income.
• Shaw, George Bernard. Major Barbara. 1905. New York: Penquin Books, 1959.
  • The Preface contains an interesting look at the superstition of atonement as well as thought-provoking observations on poverty.
• Shultz, Jim. The Democracy Owners' Manual: A Practical Guide to Changing the World. New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, c2002.
• Smith, Sam. Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual: How to Rebuild Our Country So the Politics Aren't Broken and Politicians Aren't Fixed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. <JK1764.S555-1997>
  • Clearly written, no-nonsense approach. Mostly common sense, but stuff that needs to be repeated. A breath of fresh air, as the cliché goes.
• Soto, Hernando de, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. New York: Basic Books, c2000.
• Sunstein, Cass R. Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • This book is part of a movement toward “deliberative democracy,” a cause of increasing popularity among American political philosophers.
• Tabb, William K. The Amoral Elephant: Globalization and the Struggle for Social Justice in the Twenty-first Century. New York: Monthly Review Press, c2001.
  • Recommended by Dollars and Sense as one of the ten most important economic books.
• Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. 2nd ed. With a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility”. Random House, 2010 (1st ed. 2007).
• Tavris, Carol, and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. New York: Harcourt, c2007
• Tetlock, Philip E. Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? Princeton University Press, 2006.
• Wills, Garry. A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1999.
• Wilson, William Julius. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
  • The problem is not welfare, not racism, not drugs, not crime, not “permissiveness”: it is lack of jobs. There are no jobs for the socially disabled products of the ghettos.
• Wolff, Richard D. Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. Chicago: Haymarket Books, c2012.
• Wolman, William, and Anne Colamosca. The Great 401(k) Hoax: Why Your Family's Financial Security Is at Risk, and What You Can Do about It. 1st pbk ed. Cambridge, MA Perseus Pub., 2003.
• Wood, Ellen Meiksins, and Neal Wood. A Trumpet of Sedition: Political Theory and the Rise of Capitalism, 1509-1688. New York: New York UP, 1997.
• Woodward, Bob. Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom. New York: Simon & Schuster, c2000.
• Wray, L. Randall. Understanding Modern Money: The Key to Full Employment and Price Stability. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 1998.
• Wray, L. Randall. Why Minsky Matters: An Introduction to the Work of a Maverick Economist. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2015