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STAFF PICKS
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STAFF PICKS *
by Thomas Picketty and Claire Alet, illustrated by Benjamin Adam
An adaptation of Tom Picketty’s economic treaties Capital and Ideology, this comic is perfect for anyone looking to understand the wealth gap and why society is the way it is today. Picketty’s work has been a central counter balance to neoliberal economic assumptions, and is at the forefront of a new wave of economic study based in material research which seeks to understand the mechanisms by which inequality sustains itself in today’s forms of capitalism.
Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam make the original work’s ideas more accessible through the addition of a family saga. Jules, the main character, is born at the end of the 19th century. He is a person of private means, a privileged figure representative of a profoundly unequal society obsessed with property.
He, his family circle, and his descendants will experience the evolution of wealth and society. Eight generations of his family serve as a connecting thread running through the book, all the way up to Léa, a young woman today, who discovers the family secret at the root of their inheritance.
The book concludes with six compelling proposals for participatory socialism in the 21st century.
by Harry G. Frankfurt
We are all sick of the bullshit. Yet bullshit continues to cover everything from advertising, our economic system, politics, public health, etc etc. At this moment, it feels like the bullshitters have won. In this short essay, moral philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt argues that bullshit is a central problem of the world today, threatening truth more than lies and liars. Simply, the bullshitters have no shame. Reminiscent of Jean Paul Sarte’s comments on the absurdities of antisemitism, Frankfurt clearly identifies the centrality of bullshit to the methods and mindset of fascism that piles up more and more today.
by Madeleine L’Engle
A beloved series, A Wrinkle In Time follows Meg, Charles, and Calvin as they try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Meg and Charles’ father. They soon discover their father is at the center of a discovery where travel between universes and time is possible, and has unleashed a Dark Thing. L’Engle asks young readers to confront the changes of growing older and the nuances between good and evil, knowledge and faith, and science and spirit. An older child’s classic. With illustrations by Taeeun Yoo.
At the turn of the century, as European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a brutal plundering of the territory surrounding the Congo River. Ultimately slashing the area’s population by ten million, he still managed to shrewdly cultivate his reputation as a great humanitarian. A tale far richer than any novelist could invent, King Leopold’s Ghost is the horrifying account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who defied Leopold: African rebel leaders wo fought against hopeless odds and a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure but unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust and participants in the twentieth century’s first great human rights movement.
by Franz Kafka
Seemingly more relevant than ever, Kafka’s explorations of absurdity and power have captivated readers for decades. This book collects all of Kafka’s stories and fragments of tales, excluding his novels Amerika, The Trial and the Castle.
We produce more value for our employers than any other generation of workers has. We consume more information in a single day than our great-grandparents did in weeks. Yet we feel lazier than ever. This is due to the “The Laziness Lie”, a centuries-old belief system that says our worth is determined by our productivity, our limitations are weaknesses, and no matter how much we do it is never enough.
In Laziness Does Not Exist, social psychologist Dr. Devon Price tracks how The Laziness Lie spread through the United States during the eras of slavery and industrialization and embedded itself into society. Price outlines how our culture’s hatred of laziness has poisoned almost every aspect of modern life - from work, to school, to our relationships, to our views regarding social problems such as drug addiction, homelessness, and COVID-19.
Laziness Does Not Exist gives the reader tips and exercises to unlearn The Laziness Lie. Interviews with therapists and industrial-organizational experts provide practical advice on how to clarify your true values and learn to say “no” without shame. Throughout, Price offers science-based reassurances that despite feelings of guilt and “laziness”, each of us is already doing more than enough.
EVENTS
Three Sundays.
Three movies about Cuba.
Always Carry A Book
Always Carry A Book