Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I've been thinking- if I lived during the American Revolution, the Paris Commune, or Arab Spring, would I be out on the barricades? Would I jump up on the table with Norma Rae? I certainly had a glorious teenage rebellion period. This week offers a chance to read books about those big acts of standing up to power or the smaller individual ones.

ATY Listopia https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

What re you reading? How does it meet the prompt? Would you have participated in the act of resistance/ rebellion in the book?

The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. I read another of the 'very short introduction' books, on the Aztecs, and it crammed a great deal of readable information into a short space. I am hoping this will do the same. Would I have participated - it would have depended, I suppose, on my aristo/worker status at the time. I am also reading Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance. I like to think that I would have participated in that.

Options from my TBR list:
Resistance:
Letters to a Young Contrarian
Oliver Twist
A Gentleman in Moscow
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
The Overstory
Rebellion:
Fuzzy Nation
The Bees
William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Revolution:
A Tale of Two Cities,
Nostromo
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
American War

I loved The Stationery Shop and enjoyed Together Tea, so I'm excited to read The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.

I have this urban fantasy that is set during the buildup to the American Revolution. I'm looking for a place to put it, so this might be the spot! It's called Thieftaker.

I'll be reading Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May. The main character is going to be spying for the resistance, which is something I'd do for a good cause (though obviously I will deny this if questioned by the bad guys!).

Current possibilities:

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America

This Book Is Banned

This is an exciting new topic, and I plan to read a couple extras.

This looks important for anyone concerned about governments erasing history. (Commonly used to cover up abuse of power or to erase the achievements of women and minority groups.)
Sparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future by Ian Johnson

On the lighter side - The Lion Women of Tehran

Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President by E. Jean Carroll

Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind by Annalee Newitz
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. Retread the last half about their deceptive storytelling tactic.

I should read one of these, to understand what I need to revolt against. (I couldn’t stand to read a whole book about the man himself.)
Autocracy, Inc.
Surviving Autocracy
Fascism: A Warning
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

I might read part of this, skipping the worst parts:
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice

For Reference?
Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times - this might have a great list.

Prophet Song - to recognize when it’s time to leave.

Again, I am going very literal with this one: On Revolution by Hannah Arendt

If you are looking for a great read, City of Thieves fits this perfectly, set in the post WW2 Russia it is a funny and frightening look at life after revolution.

But I will choose Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, a secret group of rebellious women in London trying to learn to read without the Brotherhood discovering them.

I'm reading The Silence and the Roar by Nihad Sirees. It is said to be "a funny, sexy, dystopian novel about the struggle of an individual over tyranny." So it's either going to be quite humorous or it's going to be a bust. I'll see.

Wives Not Slaves: Patriarchy and Modernity in the Age of Revolutions by Kirsten Sword