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Recommendations based on Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reasonby Michel Foucault
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Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison
by Michel Foucault
Examines the emergence of the modern prison system and its effects on society.
Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found, here,. Barely two hundred and fifty years ago a man condemned of attempting to assassinate the King of France was drawn and quartered ... (Goodreads)
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
by Michel Foucault
Examination of the power dynamics and social constructions of sexual behavior.
Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the ... (Goodreads)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical treatise exploring morality, religion, and the meaning of life.
Beyond Good and Evil
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical exploration of morality and truth, challenging conventional morality and religious beliefs.
Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale with an introduction by Michael Tanner in Penguin Classics. Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche's ... (Goodreads)
The Society of the Spectacle
by Guy Debord
A critical analysis of the commodification of society and the power of the media.
Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative as Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960s up to the ... (Goodreads)
The Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
A political analysis of colonialism and its effects on the global underclass.
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and ... (Goodreads)
Mythologies
by Roland Barthes
A collection of essays that deconstructs the myths of modern society, revealing their hidden meanings and cultural significance.
"No denunciation without its proper instrument of close analysis," Roland Barthes wrote in his preface to Mythologies . There is no more proper instrument of analysis of our contemporary myths than ... (Goodreads)
Being and Time
by Martin Heidegger
Exploration of the basic questions of existence, re-examining the fundamentals of philosophy.
One of the most important philosophical works of our time, a work that has had tremendous influence on philosophy, literature, and psychology, and has literally changed the intellectual map of the ... (Goodreads)
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
by Albert Camus
Philosophical essays on the absurd human condition, questioning the value of life.
One of the most influential works of this century, this is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan, and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a ... (Goodreads)
The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
A philosophical exploration of the history, struggles and oppression of women in society.
Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir’s masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of “woman,” and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality ... (Goodreads)
The Republic
by Plato
A philosophical discourse on justice, examining morality, politics, and virtue.
Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this classic text is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. ... (Goodreads)
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
A timeless political treatise on the art of acquiring and maintaining power.
Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the ... (Goodreads)
Being and Nothingness
by Jean-Paul Sartre
Philosophical exploration of the nature of being and consciousness.
Being & Nothingness is without doubt one of the most significant philosophical books of the 20th century. The central work by one of the century's most influential thinkers, it altered the course of ... (Goodreads)
The Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx
A treatise on the fundamental principles of communism, and its role in society.
A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the ... (Goodreads)
On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
by Friedrich Nietzsche
Philosophical examination of power, morality, and the history of human values.
The Genealogy of Morals consists of three essays exploring morality and its origins where Nietzsche makes ample use of his training as a philologist. These works contain Nietzsche's most thorough and ... (Goodreads)
Existentialism is a Humanism
by Jean-Paul Sartre
A philosophical exploration of the human condition, and the implications of freedom and responsibility.
It was to correct common misconceptions about his thought that Jean-Paul Sartre, the most dominent European intellectual of the post-World War II decades, accepted an invitation to speak on October ... (Goodreads)
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
An analysis of how scientific progress is made, and the role of paradigms and paradigmatic shifts.
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, ... (Goodreads)
Orientalism
by Edward W. Said
Exploration of the Middle East through the West's prejudiced lens.
More than three decades after its first publication, Edward Said's groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East has become a modern classic. In ... (Goodreads)
A Room of One's Own
by Virginia Woolf
Examining gender roles and societal expectations with an eye to achieving independence and creative freedom.
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton ... (Goodreads)
Black Skin, White Masks
by Frantz Fanon
Examining the psychological and social effects of colonialism on people of color.
A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the black psyche in a white world. Hailed for ... (Goodreads)
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
by Mark Fisher
Critique of late capitalism, exploring the oppressive power of neoliberalism.
After 1989, capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system. What effects has this “capitalist realism” had on work, culture, education and mental health? Is it ... (Goodreads)
The Rebel
by Albert Camus
Philosophical meditation on the individual's search for meaning in an absurd world.
By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human ... (Goodreads)
Simulacra and Simulation
by Jean Baudrillard
Analysis of the effects of technology on our lives, exploring the concept of hyperreality.
The publication of Simulacra et Simulation in 1981 marked Jean Baudrillard's first important step toward theorizing the postmodern. Moving away from the Marxist/Freudian approaches that had concerned ... (Goodreads)
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
by Audre Lorde
Collection of essays and speeches exploring issues of race, gender, sexuality, and liberation.
A collection of fifteen essays written between 1976 and 1984 gives clear voice to Audre Lorde's literary and philosophical personae. These essays explore and illuminate the roots of Lorde's ... (Goodreads)
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
by Judith Butler
A philosophical exploration of gender identity, challenging traditional notions of binary gender and advocating for fluidity and diversity.
Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the ... (Goodreads)
Regarding the Pain of Others
by Susan Sontag
An exploration of the power and impact of photographic images of war and suffering.
Twenty-five years after her classic On Photography , Susan Sontag returns to the subject of visual representations of war and violence in our culture today. How does the spectacle of the sufferings ... (Goodreads)
The Origins of Totalitarianism
by Hannah Arendt
Analysis of the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe, and their consequences for the modern world.
Hannah Arendt's definitive work on totalitarianism and an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political history The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism ... (Goodreads)
Man and His Symbols
by C.G. Jung
An exploration of the collective unconscious, and its implications for self-realization.
Man and His Symbols owes its existence to one of Jung's own dreams. The great psychologist dreamed that his work was understood by a wide public, rather than just by psychiatrists, and therefore he ... (Goodreads)
On Photography
by Susan Sontag
Examination of the implications of photography and its effects on society.
First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When ... (Goodreads)
The Souls of Black Folk
by W.E.B. Du Bois
An exploration of the African-American experience and the struggle for racial equality.
This landmark book is a founding work in the literature of black protest. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) played a key role in developing the strategy and program that dominated early 20th-century black ... (Goodreads)
