Part II: The Canon According to Me, Nonfiction

Part II: The Canon According to Me, Nonfiction

(For clarity, I will subdivide.)

Life

Male or female, you must read Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. It explains women as a class, women as a movement, and exactly why feminism as a movement failed.

If you're a young woman between 17 and 35, read The Go-Girl Guide. It's a funny, quick read, and a great reference on how to manage your money, how to decorate on the cheap, how to find a good doctor, how to get ahead at work, and how to manage relationships.

It's a social science book, ostensibly, but more than that, it's a guide to intuition. Read Blink, then read Malcolm Gladwell's other book, The Tipping Point. And related to intuition...

The Gift of Fear. Some of us are afraid, but in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. This book helps us discern where fear is warranted, and how not to be anxious.

History

Want to understand the current situation in Southwestern Africa? You must read King Leopold's Ghost. Then go read one of my favorite fiction books, The Poisonwood Bible.

The Devil in the White City is a fantastic book about the Pinkertons (precursor to the FBI), the 1919 World's Fair, and the first truly "American" serial killer.

Want to know why the Scots hate the English? Want to understand why the name Campbell still makes my gran spit? Read The Highland Clearances.

Health/Sexuality

What's Happening to My Body: Book for Girls. Ironically, this is also a banned book for most libraries. It gives a frank, objective, informational and non-scary look at what the transition from girl to woman is like. My mom got it for me when I was about 7, and it has been an invaluable guide. I referenced it so many times that our original paperback copy fell apart. There's another version for boys.

Related to that, I highly recommend Our Bodies, Ourselves to anyone who wants to understand how the female body works and more about female sexuality. It's very informative, and the personal stories are a great addition.

I find it odd that many online book catalogues consider weight loss manuals "women's health guides." The best books I can recommend regarding women and food are When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies and Fat is a Feminist Issue.

Religion

Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church. The big difference between faith and religion.

The Myth of Certainty. An invaluable reference for those who question religion and struggle with the concept of blind faith.

Sociology/Criminology

Being my field of study, I can't just recommend a few books. Likewise, criminology was my focus for years and continues to fascinate me. So I'll do my best to cover just what I think is particularly noteworthy.

Death's Acre is a great book, but not for the squeamish. It looks into the forensic investigations at the legendary "Body Farm" near the University of Tennessee. If you want to know how the doctors on CSI know so much about what happens as you decompose, this is the book for you.

Another book not for the squeamish: Whoever Fights Monsters. Robert Ressler is one of the premier profilers at the FBI. His tone is a little self-congratulatory, but it's a fascinating book in terms of what psychology can do to help policing.

War Against the Weak. I heavily relied on this book throughout my thesis. It looks at eugenics (sterilization policies) in America, and compares them a bit to Nazi-era Germany. An interesting, if often missed, portion of American history and sociology.

Interracial Intimacies was written by a Harvard Law professor. It covers master-slave "relationships," mammies, antimesigination laws, marriage, and adoption. A heavy book, but a quick, fascinating read.

Race and the Education of Desire. A brilliant book that covers colonial studies, Foucault, and a slew of race-related questions. I used it for several papers and part of my thesis, so it has to be said that it's a multi-layered text with all kinds of possibilities.

Willfull Virgin. Some of the essays drive me nuts, and for different reasons. I disagree with about half, including her theory that one cannot be in a heterosexual relationship and also a feminist. Other essays maddened me because they clairified ideas that I had been spinning my wheels on for years in such a simple way that I thought, "Ah! Of course!" The great thing about this book is that it's incredibly easy to read.

Stigma. Symbolic interaction is my theory, and Goffman is my boy. This is a great jumping-off place to understand social deviance of any kind, including substance use, eating disorders, abberant sexuality, or anything that's labeled, really.

Labeling Women Deviant: Gender, Stigma, and Social Control. Women are particularly subject to social control and are more frequently labeled than men. If you don't believe that, this book will change your mind. If you do believe it already, this book will help you figure out why it is so.

Nickeled and Dimed is a great book if you're having a conversation about "the American Dream." I fully believe that the American Dream is a myth used to placate low-income individuals. If they believe they can "make it" through hard work and determination, it causes them not to question the gross inequality between the haves and the have-nots.

I've got tons of other recommendations, but right now, these will have to do. Look for a full Sociology Canon at a later point.

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Oh, my...check out my site after it's been Gizoogled. I'm still laughing.