Isham Cook

Classic account of the psycho-political underpinnings of fascism.

One of the first books to come out on the Covid pandemic, and it covers a lot of philosophical and historical ground.

I'm not that enamored of Lawrence's at times turgid style, but it's a breakthrough novel with its attacks on Victorian sexuality.

Impassioned and at times brilliantly written account of the US carceral state.

Outstanding undercover ethnography of the American Gulag.

Early feminist manifesto, uncompromising, radical, extreme, and thus fascinating.

Classic, mysterious, and wholly original sci-fi novel.

Genre-historical novel in the usual noble-but-tragic female heroine mold.

This classic novel is only undermined by the mandatory sappy Victorian ending.

Persuasive analysis of Covid-19 origins and the likeliness of the lab leak theory.

Rare primary-source account of the Taiping Rebellion by a survivor.

Recent superlative Chinese history, compulsively readable.

Classic account of the psycho-political underpinnings of fascism.

Engaging setting but story could have been better fleshed out, with tighter dialogue.

Hoping Quammen will come out with the definitive Covid-19 account.

A contemporary expert on fascism updates us to the present.

Astonishing, larger-than-life historical figure whom both Americans and Chinese know nothing about.

A classic novel by a reclusive author whose own life exhibits some of the same obsessions.

Edelman is evidently an important name in academic queer and critical theory, but I found this unreadably dense.

Brilliant, incisive essays on sex politics in the US in the last quarter of the 20th century by a lesbian firebrand who lived through it.

Exhaustive and exhausting, as you work through the thickets of polyamorous complexity.

Essential reading on the atrocities of war.

Fascinating story to rival the likes of Timothy Leary.

Zizek as usual is at his most entertaining, but I sometimes have the feeling that he's always writing the same book and the titles don't really matter.

Informative, but prose a bit academic-purple at times.