coldhearted scientist وداد

I was asked to suggest exactly five books for the college honors program reading list and listed the first five which came to mind. Call it another of my self-tagging memes, if you wish, and revise it as you see fit.

1. Weatherford, Jack. Savages and Civilization. New York: Random House, 1995. 978-0-449-90957-7 (0-449-90957-3); $19.

Publisher’s blurb: In Indian Givers and Native Roots, renowned anthropologist Jack Weatherford opened the eyes of tens of thousands of readers to the clash between Native American and European cultures. Now, in his brilliant new book, Weatherford broadens his focus to examine how civilization threatens to obliterate unique tribal and ethnic cultures around the world — and in the process imperils its own existence.

As Weatherford explains, the relationship between “civilized” and “savage” peoples through history has encompassed not only violence, but also a surprising degree of cooperation, mutual influence, trade, and intermarriage. But this relationship has now entered a critical stage everywhere in the world, as indigenous peoples fiercely resist the onslaught of a global civilization that will obliterate their identities. Savages and Civilization powerfully demonstrates that our survival as a species is based not on a choice between savages and civilization, but rather on a commitment to their vital coexistence.

2. Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Kitchen Table / Women of Color Press, 1981, foreword by Tony Cade Bambara. 2d edition, Kitchen Table / Women of Color Press, 1984. Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award 1986. 3d edition (expanded and revised), Third Woman Press, 2001, new foreword by Cherríe Moraga. 978-0-943-21922-6. PB/HB, prices vary.

From an anonymous review at Everything2.com: This book should be required reading, at least for people (like me) who are not part of the communities reflected in its pages. Many people never even know it exists. I was lucky that, at my women’s college, this book seemed almost to be required reading among the students I knew. And upon finally reading it now, I found that several of my favorite essays from my Ethnic Studies classes came straight from its pages.

This book is notable not just for the writing within but for the people involved. The authors are all incredible women. Pat Parker. Nellie Wong. Luisah Teish. Chrystos […]. And many of them, in this book, are writing very early in their careers, or writing when they have already achieved fame in their communities for their political action but still have so much more ahead of them. For readers who have heard of any of these women, it will be fascinating to see what they were writing about their lives nearly twenty-five years ago. For others, this is an amazing opportunity to learn about a ton of history, writing, and action that is erased from mainstream culture.

3. Galeano, Eduardo. The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. 25^th edition is New York: Monthly Review Press, 1997; price is about $17; any edition is adequate.

4. Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press, 1965; any edition is adequate, current paperback price is about $14.

5. Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote. Any translation or edition (recommended translators, however, include Starkie, Putnam, Grossman, and Cohen).

Axé.