Must read Books for a Socialist

1 The Enigma of Capital - David Harvey

One of my favorite critiques of modern capitalism. Harvey goes into great detail about the volatility of capital flows, crises of capitalism and how these works together to ruin peoples' lives.

2 Bad Samaritans - Ha-Joon Chang

Brilliant criticism of globalisation, and how the richest nations force strict free-market policies on the poorest nations. Chang shows us how the poorest stay poor, and the richest stay rich.

3 Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian and Marxian - Richard D. Wolff

This is a book about economics, but very relevant to socialists. Wolff is one of the leading Marxian economists, and shows us the state of the different econ schools in the 21st century. Raises some key questions about how policies are decided based on the dominance of each of these spheres.

4 The Spirit Level - Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

Maybe not as radical as some of us my like, but still a brilliant book never the less. Probably one of the strongest cases for social and economic equality, demonstrating clearly that more unequal societies fare worse in almost all aspects. Equality does matter, and that's why a democratically-ran socialist society is important.

5 A brief history of neoliberalism - David Harvey

Harvey tells us how the free-market schools of economics have come to dominate, starting with the US treasury and slowly sweeping its way through China and Great Britain. Neoliberalism has been the ruling ideology of the last 10 years, attacking workers rights and zealously perusing the liberalization of capital. Perhaps laying the groundworks for the 2008 financial crash?