Task #3: Read a book about activism.

[Book Riot]

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 3rd Read Harder task. Sign up for our new Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox! https://bookriot.com/newsletter/read-...

[Karen]

First idea that popped for Activism: How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France

[Maryam]

I just finished Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, I cannot read it in 2023 but if anyone else is interested it's a really good book.

[Karen]

Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon would fit here.

[Angela N]

I think I'll read my book by Karen Walrond, that I bought over a year ago, and still haven't read.

[Dione]

I've been sitting on "Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions by Tiffany Jana for a bit, so that's my pick!

[Heather]

Anyone who has read "A People's History of the United States": do you think that title would fit this prompt?

[Alex]

I think I'll either do Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice or We Are Displaced

[Carly Really Very Normal]

This has been staring at me from the library shelves for a couple of weeks now, so I'll use it for this challenge: "It Was Vulgar and it was Beautiful: How Aids Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic" by Jack LoweryIt Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic

[Sarah]

I highly recommend Being Heumann by Judy Heumann! She’s a pioneer in the disability rights movement & overall badass. I’m on my phone & don’t know how to link the book unfortunately.

[Elizabeth]

I have a few books on my kindle that would fit this task that I'm hoping to get to this year, but right now I'm leaning towards starting with We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba.

[Ron]

Have a few indigenous ones/recommendations:

Standoff: Standing Rock, the Bundy Movement, and the American Story of Sacred Lands

Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance

Black Snake: Standing Rock, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Environmental Justice

[Betty]

Planning on Everyday Activism: Following 7 Practices of Jesus to Create a Just World
and Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life

[Jane]

For an Australian Aboriginal perspective, try Sue Lawson, Freedom Ride (a YA book) or Ann Curthoys, Freedom Ride: A Freedom Rider Remembers.

[Karen]

This has been sitting on my to read shelf for too long and fits the prompt!
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

[Bridget]

I've had Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good on my shelf for a while now and am really excited to finally prioritize it.

[Rebecca]

I'm thinking about Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life or Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement

[Gina]

Some from my TBR list:

Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom

Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America

[NancyJ]

This is my favorite prompt in the entire challenge. It’s such a fresh and interesting topic. I only have two suggestions now, but I’m excited.

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life - I have this planned for a disability prompt and a leadership tag.

Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe

[Mandie]

I plan to read The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet

[Audra]

I'm reading What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat. It's not the typical book I think of when I hear the word activism but now I'm intrigued.

[Ron]

Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening

This one intrigued me and it seems to fit this prompt I think.

[Kim]

I got Shane Burley’s Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse a while ago for some reason (probably at the height of Trump’s election and the BLM protests) and I guess I’ll try reading it for this prompt. I’m trying to stick with books I own as much as possible, but this one is a little daunting in length. I’m afraid it’s going to be really preachy too, but I’ll give it a go. I haven’t looked at the goodreads reviews of this yet so if anyone can reassure me of it’s readability that would be great. 🫠

[Judith]

I've had The Road to Greenham Common: Feminism and Anti-Militarism in Britain Since 1820 on Mount TBR for at least 12 years so I think it's finally time to read it!

[Jenny]

I think I'm going to go for Reform Or Revolution by Rosa Luxemberg. I expect it will be about activism, as she's such a famous activist, though of course I haven't read this one in particular before, I have read some of her works in the past

[Dani]

I have a copy of Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist and so I think that’ll fit nicely here 🥰

[Liza]

Fat Activism by Charlotte Cooper

[NancyJ]

Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality. This bio looks good. It sounds like she deserves to be a household name.

[Karen]

Dani wrote: "I have a copy of Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist and so I think that’ll fit nicely here 🥰"

Oh, that's a great suggestion.

[Bonnie G.]

NancyJ wrote: "Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality. This bio looks good. It sounds like she deserves to be a household name."

Thanks for letting me know this exists. I have a few books I plan to read that fulfill the prompt, but this is definitely going on the TBR anyway.

[Edie]

Activism can occur in novels as well as all the great non-fiction titles mentioned. I will be reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. At its heart it is about activists fighting against oppression and censorship.

[Ginger]

Edie wrote: "Activism can occur in novels as well as all the great non-fiction titles mentioned. I will be reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. At its heart it is about activists fighting against oppressio..."

I would prefer a fiction book. I will look into this one. Can anyone else recommend good novels about activism?

[Jacob]

I'm reading Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds for this challenge. It's been on my TBR for a long time. Absolutely loving it and wish I'd started reading it sooner!!!

Have heard great things about Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good too.

Also would recommend Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

[Anna]

Ginger wrote: "Can anyone else recommend good novels about activism?"

It's long, but I think The Overstory would work well here.

[Almudena]

I'm not sure if the book I'm currently reading, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? would work here.

[Jane]

It's long, but I think The Overstory would work well here."

oo, I had that for my favorite author's (Barbara Kingsolver) favorite book

[Ryn]

Heather wrote: "Anyone who has read "A People's History of the United States": do you think that title would fit this prompt?"

I'm not convinced as it's about history more than it is about anything else.

[Ryn]

I'll probably read Revolting Prostitutes
The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights
by Juno Mac and Molly Smith if I don't read one on the abolition of prison system.

[The Book Assassin]

I might go for Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life - Alice Wong, don't know if it counts?

[NancyJ]

Anna wrote: "Ginger wrote: "Can anyone else recommend good novels about activism?"

It's long, but I think The Overstory would work well here."

I agree!

[NancyJ]

Marinda wrote: "I might go for Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life - Alice Wong, don't know if it counts?"

It sounds great. I have it as a possibility too.

[Susanne]

"Year of the Tiger" was even in the list of suggested books for the prompt in Book Riot's Read Harder newsletter! :)

[Chris]

I am reading The Undocumented Americans which is not exclusively about activism but includes a lot of activism and activists as source material and I've decided it counts.

[TJ]

I'll be reading "21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act"-- of particular importance to Canadians. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Robin]

I'm going with We Should All Be Feminists.

[NancyJ]

✅Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe - by Keith O’Brien. 5 stars.

This is a riveting book about the Love Canal disaster (Hooker, Occidental Chemical) in Niagara Falls in the 1970s. Residents, scientists, and political aides fought to bring attention to the dangerous chemical waste seeping in their homes, schools and playgrounds. Lois Gibbs and others learned to be activists and their efforts brought change that benefited millions of others in subsequent years.

[Megan]

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis is already on my 2023 goals list, so there you go!

[Julia]

Ginger asked:

I would prefer a fiction book. I will look into this one. Can anyone else recommend good novels about activism?

I read Attack of the Black Rectangles a mg novel about a sixth grader and his friends who discover the novels they are reading in literature circles are censored. Jane Yolen makes an apprearance!

[Monica]

Ginger wrote: "I would prefer a fiction book. I will look into this one. Can anyone else recommend good novels about activism?"

If you like near future speculative fiction Radicalized by Cory Doctorow is perfect for this.

[Carole]

Just started All the Women in My Family Sing to complete this task. Been wanting to read this for a while and it finally arrived! I need to read more short stories and books of poetry!