The Short List of Suggested Readings and Watchings
to assist you in resisting tyranny.
James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper #47, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, may justly be pronounced the definition of tyranny.”
“There is power in a union.” - Billy Brag.
Below you will find what I am calling “the short list” of movies and books that explore living under an authoritarian regime and/or ways to resist it. It’s the short list because it is selected by me and by the nature of my own ignorance, there will be glaring omissions. It is not willful ignorance though, so if you feel so inclined, please let me know what’s missing.
Also, as part of the mystery of resistance, I have included items that may not fit with the traditional ideas of what resistance looks like, instead I included philosophies that by their very nature are a radical act against this climate of extraction. My hope is to offer us something that is different than our normal playbook, that supports our resilience as we hold our ground. To me, resilience isn’t the same as endurance, resilience has the freshness of new growth about it. We cannot and will not break if we are careful with our attention. Where you place your attention matters. May these choices act as magnifying glass with which to examine what leads to more of the same and/or become the seed and the soil that leads to fecundity. Some of the things are ones, I wish to read (again) and see (again) myself. This list is published for the first time today, but is bound to change and grow, or even recede, after I dig into the watching and reading and reviewing of the resources listed below. May the future of this list swell with the energy of the full moon.
Books
Non-Fiction
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges
Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer
Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson
Ethics by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Erasing History by Jason Stanley (also How Fascism Works)
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Hope in the Dark: the untold history of people power by Rebecca Solnit
How to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde
In This Economy: how money and markets really work by Kyla Stanlon
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
Pleasure Activism: the politics of feeling good by adrienne marie brown
White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy by Tom Shaller and Paul Waldman
Fiction
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
1984 by George Orwell
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Movies
American History X(1998)
Brazil (1985)
Clockwork Orange (1971)
District 9 (2009)
The Empire Strikes Back(1980)
The Grand Budapest Hotel(2014)
The Host (2006)
JoJo Rabbit (2019)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Leviathan(2014)
The Lives of Others (2006)
Minority Report (2002)
Moffie (2019)
1900 (Novecento) (1976)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Persepolis (2007)
The Power of the Dog (2021)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
Soldier of Orange (1977)
The Tin Drum (1979)
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Documentary Films
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt(2015)
Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock (2017)
Fell in Love With Fire (2024)
Join or Die (2023)
Occupy Love (2012)
Rick Steve’s Story of Fascism in Europe
What is Democracy? (2018)
and as an added bonus, something to listen to:
My Spotify Playlist
May you read/watch/listen in good health and equanimity, then resist with ferocity.