Sort of a booklist.
The following can be terribly sad and disturbing, but are also really interesting, if you are into that kind of thing. Most of these were recommended to me by either my brother, Lauren, or Felix. These sorts of things balance my Avatar-watching and fiction reading
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Chomsky's book on hegemony is worth reading. I have not read the book on failed states. I have read excerpts from Pollan's book and it seems quite excellent. He just wrote an op-ed for a major paper about the ramifications of the new farm bill which made me realize that, damn, farm bills are really important!!! Pollan is sharp, and a good writer. Chomsky is brilliant, but not as good a writer.
For more stuff along these veins, check out A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, a recent collection of essays by Howard Zinn. He re-engages a number of American historical events and strips away their mythological aspects to talk about the everyday struggle of people to change things. Bitter but also inspiring.
For a really different view on things, Murray Bookchin's Post-Scarcity Anarchism is heavy, but very thought-provoking. Bookchin puts forth the argument that there are sufficient resources and wealth in the world that social revolution could increase the living standards for people the world over. It touchs on ecology, social theory, anarchism, and some economics to show the possibilities of revolution. I don't agree with him on some points, but it really gets you thinking. . . .
Also, for a different kind of heavy thinking, try Rousseau's Reveries of the Solitary Walker, preferably with an edition that has a historical introduction to explain some background. In Reveries Rousseau is looking back on his life and trying to make sense of the world and his thinking about it. I am not a big Rousseau fan, but this book really gets across the range of emotions and questions one has when your life and political ideas have pretty much crashed down into ruins.
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