Off the Beaten Shelf

View Original

The Best Book Lists About Surviving the Trump Era, All In One Place

This past week has been a whirlwind of emotion--with despair at the inauguration of Cheeto in Chief to abundant hope at the turnout for the Women's March on Washington and all the many sister marches throughout the country and around the world. It is those women and all who marched with them in every corner of the world, and those who stood beside me at the march here in Columbus, that for the first time in nearly 3 months made me feel like we would be okay. 

We will not go quietly, and if we go down we'll go down fighting. I believe education is the first step to activism, so last week I put together a list of books to help us survive the next four years by teaching us how to become citizen activists. Reading alone doesn't make one an activist, but it's important to know the histories of past movements and know what worked so we can build on the work of those who have gone before us and make the biggest impact. 

Later I got curious about who else might have done the same thing and what books they listed that I might have overlooked. I did some digging and here's a fairly comprehensive list of the best Trump survival book lists. 

Sources range from traditional news websites to literary magazines, from blogs to composite lists compiled by members on particular platforms, and everything in between. 

Get ready to beef up your Goodreads! In no particular order... 

Newsweek (news)

Ploughshares blog (literary magazine blog)

Remezcla (blog)

Wonkette (blog)

Salon (news)

Inverse, here and here (entertainment website)

New York Times (news)

Haymarket Books (book publisher's blog) 

Goodreads (community compiled list)

Public Books (books website)

Houston Chronicle (news) 

Reason.com (political blog)

Book Riot, here, here, here, and here (books website) 

Millennial Falcon (blog) 

And, lastly, this other list I put together right before the election with even more books to empower you toward positive change during these turbulent times. 

I haven't lost hope yet, and I don't want you to either. Books alone can't save us, but they can empower us, educate us, inspire us, and give us hope. We're going to need all the help we can get to create a better America, one in which the inherent worth and dignity of all people is respected, so I hope you'll join me in reading some of these books then going out and doing the work that change requires. 

Know of any other book lists I missed?
Share them in the comments!

See this content in the original post