Reddit mentions: The best social activist biographies

No probelm dawn_weiner aka morning_wood! Just living vicarously through you so hard.

ehhhh "so hard" is a poor choice of words.

First off, I second what /u/kickstand said about doing the jenny lake trail in Grand Teton's. I hiked it with my GF and it was pretty much like hiking through a postcard if the weather is right. if you do this hike make sure you get back in time for the last ferry or you'll be adding another 4 or so miles onto the end of your hike!!! we caught the last one and it was the saddest thing to have pulled away from the dock and see hikers running to catch the boat to no avail.

/u/tibataw is also spot on about making your reservations ASAP. some campgrounds at the National Parks won't do reservations and are first come first serve so make sure if you're just going to wing it and try to grab one of those sites make sure you get there extremely early to ensure you have a spot. i would talk to your spouse and prioritize what you want to see and accomplish while in the parks as some campgrounds are better suited for certain goals due to their location and intended campers they plan to serve.

If I could be so bold to give you some more personal suggestions...

For Badlands...
We camped here and loved it. Stay at Cedar Pass Campground and if possible get campsite #2 as it's on the side of the campground facing the badlands and gives you a good amount of privacy. This is a place that you need to see sunrise and sunset at. It really brings out the colors of the rock and is what really took my breath away while here. Also, you'll see 10000000000000000000 (no exaggeration) of signs for Wall Drug. It's funny and a tourist trap, it is one of those things that if you go into it knowing what a joke it is you can enjoy it for the 20 minutes you decide to spend there. Make sure you get your free glass of ice water!!!!

For Yellowstone...
Head to Lamar Valley, bring some post cards, snacks and drinks and park your cars on one of the pull outs off the side of the road. (the ones with no bathroom, like just a patch of pavement with nothing around it) My GF and I spent 3 hours just relaxing, writing postcards, reading, listening to music and enjoying doing nothing while not being around any of the crowds. after driving so much, trying not to tackle a hike or site see was exactly what we needed. also Lamar Valley is where a lot of animal watching takes place in the park, so its a great place just to sit and do nothing. People run around the park to see the animals but if you just stay still they will reveal themselves! Get a pair of binoculars before you leave Chicago, can't stress this enough!!!!

For Grand Teton...
See sunrise from the top of Signal Mountain, you can drive up and the road is windy so leave early. It provides sweeping views of the mountains and the plains. An amazing place for photos!

For Zion...
I posted this the other day but still stands true. You should stop at Thunderbird Restaurant east of Zion off of Rt 9 while you're traveling between Bryce and Zion. Pretty much a standard diner but i'm not joking, the best slice of pie I think I've ever had. The reviews on Yelp seem to say the food is hit or miss (i don't remember since I visited about 5 years ago) but I do remember the pie. Maybe best course of action is to get a slice or two to go (if possible) to help pass the time while you're driving.

PIE!

Also in Zion Canyon, if you're super adventurous and in good shape I would look into hiking up to Observation Point from the Weeping Rock trailhead. It's a steep hike but sooooooo worth the view. When I went there was also pools of cool water off the trail to soak your feet in after the hike. worth it! worth it! worth it!

Bryce...
Can't really say much as I only stopped there for an hour or so while going between Arches and Zion. It was amazing and I would love to go back to see more.

Arches...
I know that this literally came on your radar about 30 minutes ago...but it's amazing. I can't describe how breath taking it is. One of those places that make you realize how diverse and beautiful the US is. If you are a reader and have some time I would suggest a book for you by Edward Abbey called Desert Solitare (I would say a Bible to geologists who are into nature). He wrote it while a NP ranger at Arches before it really transformed into what it is now. While it focuses on Arches, he does an amazing job with descriptive imagery for the surrounding area and Utah as a whole. Made me really appreciate what I saw and helps you get excited for the wildness/emptiness/beauty of Southern Utah.

Denver...
Not sure if you're a baseball fan (cubs or white sox?) but even if you're not I would suggest going to a Rockies game if they're in town while you're there. The stadium is really really nice and if you select your seat accordingly you can have amazing views of both downtown Denver and the Rockies (those seats are in the upper decks right of the first base line). My GF and I aren't huge baseball fans (but still happy the red sox won this year) and we had a great time. Nothing like a couple of beers, a hot dog, a bag of peanuts and a good crowd. After the game there are a lot of bars to walk to in the surrounding area too which kept the good times rolling.

As a suggested sound track for each part of your trip...

For badlands
bruce springsteen - badlands (DUH!)

For yellowstone
Swamp Dogg - Synthetic World

For Grand Teton
fleet foxes - ragged wood

For Zion
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

For Bryce
Rolling Stones - Wild Horses

For Arches
Jonathan Wilson - Desert Raven

For Denver
Afroman - Because I got High

I would also just load up an ipod of 60 hours of classic rock for the road but that's just me, my gf says I'm 'nostalgic'. I think she might be right...

if you have any specific questions just let me know!

I have always had, even at the times I sympathized most with the Left -- such as its opposition to the wars of the 21st century and the various outrages that went with them -- a visceral reaction to communism in general. Communism never "sounded good to me on paper." It was never "a beautiful dream, for another age." It was always just a nightmare to me. I just never held my own social class in any special esteem. There is me, I, and then the rest of the world, and that's how it's always been. Not by choice; by configuration. That is how I was wired at birth: as an individualist.

I always liked Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie and the Grapes of Wrath and sympathized with these strolling dustbowl troubadours and the like, many of which were communists, or fellow travelers, or at least pink around the edges.

This caused me an amazing amount of cognitive dissonance because there's a lot of interesting stuff in Lefty culture - the Wobblies and the early 20th century labor movement, and the music, in particular. I like that stuff. My collection of Phil Ochs and Billy Bragg and the Broadside stuff could stand up against that of even the most stubborn Red Diaper Baby.

I had this funny experience in college -- as a political science undergrad, I took a course - Introduction to Labor Studies, with a visiting professor who described himself, on the first day, as the only "actual card-carrying Red" in the department. He'd been an organizer, had been arrested, and I liked the guy very much. He was a lot different from the ivory tower socialists I was used to in the rest of the political science department.

Most of my profs were very obviously privileged, from a higher social caste than I was, and yet lecturing me about this working class concern, or that working class concern, their smooth fingers pushing up expensive designer eyeglass frames periodically.

But this Labor prof was sunburned, calloused. A lot more like those dustbowl types, but, Puerto Rican.

Anyway so one of the things going on in the class is a discussion of the culture - the anarchists - (Goldman, etc.), and the teacher, who by this point knew I'd grown up a young conservative, was somewhat irked that I was the only one in class who knew the songs, the history, because I'd been fascinated with it since a kid. I've watched the Left anthropologically (if informally) and occasionally rubbed shoulders on those few specific issues where paleoconservatism, libertarianism, and socialism meet -- generally as relates to foreign policy.

And it is amazing how few people I'd meet who were like this professor, or those Dust Bowl types. No -- the kinds of communists I'd meet were inevitably these lily-white, upper-middle class types.

I want to use the word "poseur" to describe them, except that's unfair to them -- a lot of them were, at least at the time, committed and emotionally invested to the point of frothing at the mouth. But there was, especially when they got going, a kind of meanness to them, a kind of misanthropy directed at anyone outside what at the time I thought was their political set.

I got it wrong: not their political set, their social set. It took years for me to understand why I found these people so damn objectionable, beyond their obvious privilege: it was like a social clique. Young modern Leftists party with each other, drink with each other, fuck each other, do drugs with each other, march with each other. There was a whiff of high school to it. (See any Leftie subreddit - in particular the catty lunchtable of /r/ShitRedditSays.)

The other thing about these people was just how little actual real work they'd done. Tom Joad and that set were working in agricultural fields breaking their backs. And more than once I got the sense that, "come the revolution..." these people were under the impression they'd get their bread and roses for being propagandists. Like they'd deserve it as much as the people who had to till the fields, work on assembly lines -- all of the things communists sing songs about and wax nostalgic about (because communists have a specific streak of conservatism that is always nostalgically looking at the past -- in large part because, given the marginal nature of these movements, it is necessary to connect oneself to these great historical moments like the Spanish Civil War in order to take oneself seriously. Or maybe I'm just being snarky.)

This part of the interview was particularly interesting:

> FP: You mention that your dad was a communist. Tell us about his world view and how this affected your family and your own intellectual journey.

> Dalrymple: My father was a communist though he was also a businessman. Our house was full of communist literature from the 1930s and 40s, and I remember such authors as Plekhanov and Maurice Hindus and Edgar Snow. It was always clear that my father's concern for humanity was not always matched by his concern for men, to put it mildly, for whom (as individuals) he often expressed contempt. He found it difficult to enter an equal relationship with anyone, and preferred to play Stalin to their Molotov. We had The Short Course in the house, incidentally, and one of my favourite books (which I used to leaf through as a child) was a vast picture book of the Soviet Union in 1947.

> I think the great disjunction between my father's expressed ideas (and ideals) and his everyday conduct affected me, and made me suspicious of people with grand schemes of universal improvement.

The Left is in love with the Left, and, on paper at least, with the people whose plight it purports to join in solidarity with. It would be interesting to see exactly how far the comradeship would go between a young communist from Bard College, and some po'bucker Pentecostal miner in Appalachia -- and more to the point, what the po'bucker Pentecostal miner would make of the inevitably soft, effete communist from the Northeast.

Speaking of Frontpage, I'd spent a lot of years reading these books about the New Left - the SDS, Weather Underground, and groups like this. They're very self-aggrandizing -- especially see Bill Ayers's Fugitive Days, his truthy book about his days with the Weathermen. The book itself is a spectacle. I have to believe there are modern communists out there who want to say something like, "Well that's Billy Ayers," but I strongly suspect (I lurk in a lot of Leftish forums) that this is quite typical of the way most of the Left sees itself in the mirror.

It's not what I see.

Speaking of Frontpage, if I could recommend one book by David Horowitz (and Peter Collier), it's Destructive Generation - the only counterpoint to the dozens of self-congratulatory books the New Left has written about itself.

For those who don't know, Horowitz is the founder of Frontpage magazine, and an ex-Leftie himself, once writing for the 60s and 70s New Left publication Ramparts. In it, he reflects back on all of these Leftish heroes (like Huey Newton). I'm sure people all over the Left think it's a smear. But why I liked it is, in reading all of these self-congratulatory memoirs about the 60s and the Left, I always got the sense of whitewash -- even by the best writers. Something about Destructive Generation rings true -- not because I was there, but because of what I always sensed in between the lines of those self-satisfied reminiscences and hagiographies of 60s personalities.

Some other great stuff in here:

> Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better.

Speaking of /r/shitredditsays...

Well, it is a very large union with many different locals so it isn't fair to dismiss it out of hand. There are certainly some good locals with good politics and a good approach to organizing.

Overall, and especially at the highest levels, the union is very corporate and extremely into doing the bidding of shitty milquetoast Democrats. I think it makes sense for unions to engage politically, but they are very wedded to the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party. Hillary's slogan, Stronger Together, was literally directly lifted from SEIU. There was scandal in a number of big locals when the union endorsed Hillary, as she has been no friend to labor (serving on Walmart's board, etc., etc.).

In addition, the union is overall not interested or invested in real worker struggle. Again, there are a few locals that go against this, such as 1199 New England, but in general the union is heavily against striking or industrial action. It greatly favors corporate partnership agreements, where the union creates pro-business preconditions to any collective bargaining agreement which effectively put certain things workers might want off the table so as to induce corporations to go easier on union organizing. It's a strategy that maybe made sense at one point but it severely limits the effectiveness of the union in being a real vehicle for worker power long-term.

I can talk more about this if folks want, just PM me. If you are really interested I would highly recommend two books by Jane McAlevey, a labor organizer and leader who served as director of Nevada's big SEIU local. She has real-life examples of the problems with SEIU but also talks about the good things workers have been able to accomplish within it. They are both good books - Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell) and No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age - but I would recommend the first very highly.

EDIT: I do want to say that if you are looking to organize, it is worth calling them. I think I am probably too cynical from direct involvement in a lot of organizing, and I want to be clear that my views are just that. This current moment for the labor movement is probably the worst it's been in since the Red Scare at least, and a lot of big unions are just turtling up and trying to weather the storm. SEIU, to its credit, has still prioritized organizing and spends a lot of money on organizing efforts even if they won't lead to obvious wins for the union. Also, they do have a lot of resources which can be very helpful to being successful at organizing. The IWW is cool, but it is tiny (less than 3,000 members globally, most of whom are at-large members whose membership has nothing to do with working anywhere, which is fine but very different than most unions) and it has no resources. There are cool things going on with it, but if you are looking for a more traditional union organizing effort where you will get support in building an organizing committee and moving to an election and then negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, I would call SEIU or another large union that has some involvement in your industry.

Soooo I guess I basically just walked back my initial comment. Shit's complex, everyone.

Hi there. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.

First, come hang with us at /r/ftm. All are welcome -- trans, questioning, nonbinary, curious AFAB, whoever. It's a good sub.

Also explore the transmasculine community on YouTube, which includes many vloggers discussing their own journeys and trans issues in general. There are stories like your own out there. Recommended channels: FTMtranstastic (collab with a dozen or more regular contributors over the years), illrollwithit, Jammidodger, skylarkeleven, valjamesP, uppercaseCHASE1. All these guys are mid- or post-transition, but if you look then doubtless you can find emerging vloggers who are pre- or non-transition.

Second, I have a book recommendation for you. Read Lou Sullivan: Daring to Be a Man Among Men. Lou was the first openly gay trans man and an important activist in the early trans community, especially for trans people medically, but it took him a long time to come to identify this way. This biography of him details his identity struggles in a world where "gay" and "trans" barely existed as separate concepts, as well as his entry into gay male culture before having any kind of lower surgery. Things are different now, but I still found the book deeply relatable and I'm glad to have read it. Perhaps it could help bring you clarity or at least some interesting historical context.

Third, some questions and hypotheticals to mull over. You can share your thoughts on these or keep them to youself; whatever you want to do. What would make you believe you are trans? What would make you believe you are cis? Do you want to be a guy (regardless of whether you "are" one)? If you knew you could go through transition easily and quickly and without hassle, would that change anything? If you could start testosterone tomorrow, would you do it? If a doctor told you that you would never be allowed to transition because you were born on a Tuesday (say), how would you feel? If I said that you were definitely trans, no questions about it, what would your reaction be?

Fourth, what do you think being trans is like and why is it not you?

During my questioning process (which, let's be honest, is ongoing) I identified a thought pattern I call "internalised trans idealisation". In contrast to internalised transphobia, internalised trans idealisation is where one thinks of trans people as amazing and brave and gorgeous and far removed from oneself so one thinks one cannot possibly be like one of those great trans people. It's a problem quite similar to internalised transphobia because it involves this self-distancing, which is bad whether you are cis or trans or whatever. Consider whether this could apply to you, and if so, how you can tackle it. If it doesn't apply to you, awesome, ignore this.

Fifth, I want to highlight some contrasts in your own post.

> I truly feel like a gay man stuck in a woman's body VS I still just don't identify as trans

> I once had a full blown panic attack when I walked into a Victoria's Secret VS I guess maybe I just don't feel enough dysphoria

> I [...] started living androgynously VS I just don't personally feel the need to transition

Sixth (and wow, this is getting long), consider that you already know what it is to live as a woman, and to live androgynously, and you are still here with questions and dissatisfaction. I honestly doubt that by continuing as you are, you can find out with certainty anything you don't already know. So:

• It is okay to go into transition with doubts and confusion and questions. I socially transitioned almost a year ago and I had doubts then and I have continued to have doubts! I had hoped they would be gone by now! But I have also been so happy in my transition and each new step has brought me joy, so in the midst of my doubts about "is this what trans feels like, is this what it means to be a guy" I know that I am doing right for myself. I start T in about two months, all things permitting.
  
• It is okay to think you may be able to live as a woman or androgynous figure but also that you would be happy/happier as a man. You can choose to transition anyway for whatever reason you want, be it self-discovery, a body you prefer, potential future happiness, anything. You don't have to stay living as a woman because you think you might be a woman and you might not be a man, not if you don't want to stay as you are.
  
• It is okay to transition and then weeks, months, years, decades later to detransition -- and retransition and transition back again and on and on as you change, your body changes, your goals change, your feelings change, your situation changes, everything. You aren't stuck forever with what you pick now, unless you make yourself be stuck by never starting to move at all.
  
  Seventh, various guys and NB folk have top surgery without going on T, often without ever wanting to go on T. That is an option. It's doable. I don't know the specifics of getting it in the US, but you can search here or on /r/ftm for people's experiences.

Not Australian, so i can't help you with the Australian issues, but I can help out with the first part.

Your statement "the way I wrote it is less journalistic and more telling a story, most of it reads like a novel, it's probably not very professional." I am a staff writer at a magazine where I write long pieces, so here are some thoughts on that:

The "professionalism" or journalistic nature of your piece has nothing to do with the structure, but its intent; just because it's not a hard news piece with an inverted pyramid structure, does not automatically disqualify it as professional or journalistic

For example, this random Washington Post story on a new budget proposal has all the elements of a "professional" news story immediately recognizable: a broad lead that lets readers know exactly what the story will be, followed by specifics, data, info, context, etc. Here's its lead:

President Obama’s new budget proposal calls for ten of billions in new spending and several revisions to the nation’s tax code, all of which could have a sizable impact on new and small businesses.

But then check out this piece: Frank Sinatra Has a Cold by Gay Talese for Esquire in 1966. It's widely known as one of the best pieces of American magazine writing by one of the best writers of the generation. This is journalism, too. It sets scenes, and uses detail you're just not going to find in a newspaper piece, and it reads significantly more like a novel. Here's its lead:

FRANK SINATRA, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood in a dark corner of the bar between two attractive but fading blondes who sat waiting for him to say something. But he said nothing; he had been silent during much of the evening, except now in this private club in Beverly Hills he seemed even more distant, staring out through the smoke and semidarkness into a large room beyond the bar where dozens of young couples sat huddled around small tables or twisted in the center of the floor to the clamorous clang of folk-rock music blaring from the stereo. The two blondes knew, as did Sinatra's four male friends who stood nearby, that it was a bad idea to force conversation upon him when he was in this mood of sullen silence, a mood that had hardly been uncommon during this first week of November, a month before his fiftieth birthday.

There's a significant value for people who can tell stories beyond the inverted pyramid structure, and I particularly appreciate people who can write non-fiction stories with with such vivid detail and unique writing style.

If you're more passionate about the storytelling aspect of non-fiction stories, instead of hard news, I'd recommend perusing the longform.org site for links to present-day stories that do it well. I'd also recommend these books for some inspiration and for intro into authors you may dig:

The Gang That Wouldn't Write Straight by Marc Weingarten

The New New Journalism by Robert Boynton.

Feel free to send me a PM.

It’s utterly mortifying, and heartbreaking. This person wrote that shit with complete confidence in their perception of the world and their superiority in it. They have not even a scintilla of awareness or doubt or shame. I don’t fully understand how anyone could get like this. I’m about to start reading a book about a young man who grew up as a white supremacist but then, through the patience and care of some new friends, changed his views. It’s called Rising Out of Hatred by Eli Saslow. I heard about it on the podcast “With Friends Like These”.

I feel like I need to try to understand how that comment could happen. How the virulent hatred I see on T_D and MGTOW and Voat became acceptable and normal for some people who grew up in the same country I have, with the same popular culture. Every individual experience is different, like there are 300 million versions of America, but somehow a huge portion of my peers seem to live in a particular America that I do not remotely recognize, and that terrifies me.

I read (and frequently recommend) Jon Ronson’s fascinating book Them: Adventures With Extremists where he spends time with hateful people like a not-yet-famous-but-definitely-nuts Alex Jones and with a bunch of families at a KKK meeting. It’s compelling stuff, but I feel like I need to know more. It’s one reason I hang out in this sub, to keep an eye on what the average yet extreme bigots are thinking and saying.

On a more cheerful note, I came across something that made me think of you after our side conversation about makeup. A Sylvia Plath fan should coordinate their lipstick with this T-shirt and necklace! I’m obsessed with this company, Out of Print. My favorite book of all time is a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and they even make a tee of that! I wish could spend thousands and wear a different book shirt every day. Anyway, that’s a little more lighthearted way to end this depressing comment contemplating the ugly and in my mind practically profane attitudes expressed in that disgusting thread. Not that Plath is especially cheery, but, well, you know what I mean!

I see that Intelligent Investor by Graham has already been posted but that's certainly a good one. However it can be a bit dry for most readers and if you would prefer something a bit fresher I would read Deep Value by Toby Carlisle. He discusses and critiques Graham's teachings along with the strategies of other notable value investors such as Buffet, Icahn, Greenblatt and many others all in a more modern tone. It's been the bible for my own value investing strategies.

Other books to look into are:

• Dhandho Investor by Monish Pabrai (lots of simple strategies and examples for small risk - big payoff investments)
  
• Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier (good for understanding the discipline and mental state of a good value investor)
  
• Michael Lewis books such as Big Short and Flash Boys (These are less for learning investing and more for generating your own interest in finance with some fantastic writing. It's also good for learning what the reality of the markets and Wall Street are.)

For a second I honestly believed / had hope that you were my mom writing this post. I recently came out to my mom in March (been on HRT since June) and it's been a mostly negative experience. Your first couple of sentences directly relate to my situation (like the 3 boys that are now 1 daughter & 2 sons).

My mom knows I am on Reddit and until I got to the part about your daughter being 24 (I am 29) I honestly had a small glimmer of hope she was trying to reach out to me in some weird way. Now I am over here crying because again I feel cheated by the universe that my mom is being the way she is.

I apologize for the above, but I really just needed to get it off my chest.

To answer your question:

• For me I found clothes to be the most rewarding (even if I could only wear them around the house). Online shopping is much less stressful than in store shopping when first coming out.
  
• Makeup can be daunting initially and I am still hesitant to even attempt it for fear of failure most days... but every woman is different, some are all about it right away!
  
• The initial shave is pretty brutal and takes a very long time. But after that (as I am sure you know) it's just upkeep. I find that my old beard trimmer works EXTREMELY well for all of my shaving needs!
  
• If your daughter is into reading, I would recommend this book.
  
  ​
  
  Honestly, any of the options you already mentioned are fantastic. Also, flowers! My wife buys me flowers now and it is the most amazing feeling when she shows up with them! The biggest and most meaningful gift that you can give is something that you are already giving.... your support and willingness to accept her.... because not everyone has that, and this whole process is a LOT more difficult without support.
  
  -Naiohme

Oh boy, haha. Way to open Pandora's box here.

My own work is primarily on British riots, but I have a broader interest in mass movements in general. I'll recommend the book I mentioned in my comment - Eric Hoffer's The True Believer and Bill Ayers' Fugitive Days to start. Ayers is somewhat controversial because Ayers, but that book is incredibly thought-provoking and valuable.

Less controversial but no less thought-provoking (and currently relevant considering our depressing state of climate-change denial) is Keith Thomas' Man and the Natural World - it's a book about our changing perceptions of the world around us.

Finally, before I give you an 80-page list, I'm going to recommend this one. Peter Novick's That Noble Dream - I don't expect anyone but nerds like me to read this, but if more people understood the study of history itself as a constantly changing profession and philosophy (as well as science) I think the general population would see the value in it more. History isn't a static thing, and the way we approach it has changed dramatically in 150 years.

All right. Just went through my library and the following stood out to me:


Desert Solitaire (1968) by Edward Abbey: One of the best American voices for conservation spent some seasons as a park ranger in the desert southwest. Here are some brilliant, funny, and soundly critical musings inspired by his time there.


A Continuous Harmony (1972) & The Unsettling of America (1977) by Wendell Berry: In my opinion, Wendell Berry is the best cultural critic we've ever had. He's 86 now and still a powerful voice of reason in a chaotic society. Dismissed mistakenly by fools as someone who just wants to go back to the old days, he offers much-needed critiques on our decomposing relationship to the land and what it's been doing to our culture.


Night Comes to the Cumberlands (1962) by Harry M. Caudill: This Kentucky native saw what the predatory and morally bankrupt coal industry had done to the people and land (and the relationship between the two) in Appalachia and outlined how it all happened in powerful inarguable detail. This book serves as a stern warning about what chaos and destruction industries can bring forth when profit is their only concern. Anyone wondering why Appalachia is full of depressed drug addicts can find the roots of those issues in this book, which inspired The War on Poverty.

The Big Sky (1947) by A.B. Guthrie Jr. : A classic novel about a young kid who runs away to join the fur trade in the frontier days. It tells a very believable story, rather than chasing the overblown myths of the West like most novels dealing with that subject.

Shantyboat (1977) & Payne Hollow by Harlan Hubbard: He and his wife Anna built a truly rewarding and pleasant life together almost entirely independent of modern industrial society in the 1940s and 50s, first floating down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on a shantyboat they built, living from temporary gardens and trading with people they met along the river, and then settling into Payne Hollow where they lived a realer-than-Thoreau existence together for decades. True love, and true meaningful living.

Of Wolves and Men (1978) by Barry Lopez: Rogan seems to think he's some kind of authority on wolves and I cringe every time I hear him start talking about them. It doesn't begin and end with "These are savage fucking predators that need to be controlled!" He seriously needs to read this book, which is a beautifully-written and exhaustive look at the history of the relationship between human and wolves. Like most interesting things, it is a complex issue.

My Life With The Eskimo (1909?) by Vilhjalmur Stefansson: The accounts of an ethnologist traveling through the arctic before much contact had been made between Europeans and Natives. Incredible stories of survival and the inevitable interesting situations that occur when two vastly different cultures meet.

The Marsh Arabs (1964) & Arabian Sands (1959) by Wilfred Thesiger: This dude went deep. Deep into the marshes of Southern Iraq and deep into the Empty Quarter of Arabia. Both books are amazing accounts of voyages through incredible parts of the world whose geography and people have since been changed forever.

The Mountain People (1972) by Colin M. Turnbull: This anthropologist lived with the Ik in Uganda as they went through a complete cultural disintegration brought on by starvation during a drought. Reading this, one sees how quickly complete tragic anarchy takes hold when basic resources are in desperate need. Humanity went out the window.

Let me know if you ever read any of these, and how you like them. I would bet they provide anyone with good food for thought and discussion.

I'm looking to pick up Hung Jury and the Lou Sullivan book. Non-transition related, I just picked up a copy of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology and I'm super excited to read it.

I recently read Skylar Kergil's autobiography, Before I Had the Words, which was decent enough but kind of repetitive for another trans guy... I get the idea that he's trying to explain what it's like more for cis people, but in any case, it was relatable.

Currently I'm also making my way through the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, it's fantastic! I highly recommend to anyone who likes Enlightenment era philosophy/history and/or sci-fi/fantasy. That's a lot of slashes, but trust me, it's good.

I'm also thinking Tourettes. The smacking in the head and weird vocalizations is classic Tourettes. My brother is on the autistic spectrum and also has Tourettes and other than the calculations this is all really familiar to me, exact same description, been weird since a kid, mumbled/talked to himself, instead of smacking himself in the head, he'd enter another world when he thought no one was around and he'd walk around in circles mumbling to himself with facial ticks and he'd every third step or so stomp the ground. But there are tons of those with Tourettes that smack themselves in the head.

Also my brother - good father, successful, has friends, can be socially awkward but is kind and engaging.

Since this has been going on through his life an not manifesting later in life (common for schizophrenia to manifest in the 20's), I'm thinking autistic spectrum with tourettes. Your father and my brother could be twins.

I've done a lot of reading on tourettes and probably the best and most accessible book, even though it's a memoir is "Worlds strongest librarian", it really delves into tourettes and explains it well. The author talks about punching himself in the head, how it builds up and he knows it's coming but he can't control it, this may give you insight into this.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Worlds-Strongest-Librarian-Adventures/dp/159240877X

I would encourage you to read this book about horseback riding by Ren Hurst. She used to have a 6-figure income taking care of horses and left all that behind to start a sanctuary for them.

For your second point, I struggled and do still struggle with that. If that's the only thing holding you back from switching your diet, don't let it. Everyone here will scoff if you call yourself vegan but let's face it--no one is perfect and I think everyone would rather that you do more to help animals rather than nothing at all. Where nothing at all is your current lifestyle.

I would encourage you to look at alternate fibers as well as investigating the sources of your wool.

There are several annual collections published as books. One of my favorites is the Best American series

• Magazine Writing http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/w/the-best-american-magazine-writing-2016-sid-holt/1123830173?ean=9780231181556&st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP62465
  
• Sports Writing (There's a lot to be learned about writing from these folks even if sports will not be your friend's focus.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01912OYOU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• Science and Nature Writing https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/B01L9AJKYG
  
• Travel writing https://www.hmhco.com/at-home/featured-shops/popular-series/best-american-series/ba-travel
  
• Crime reporting https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Crime-Reporting-2009/dp/0061490849
  
• Infographics (This is a booming sector of journalism with some of the best job prospects and best pay. These skills also open up the door to stories others won't see) https://www.hmhco.com/at-home/featured-shops/popular-series/best-american-series/ba-infographics
  
  Other journalism-related books that you might consider:
  
• Boys on the Bus, a must-read first person account of journalists' lives on the presidential campaign trail https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5BFDKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• The New York Review Abroad: 50 years of International reporting https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LNDO2E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  -Journalism's Roving Eye, a history of foreign reporting https://www.amazon.com/Journalisms-Roving-Eye-American-Reporting/dp/0807143596
  
• The New New Journalism https://www.amazon.com/New-Journalism-Conversations-Americas-Nonfiction/dp/140003356X
  
• Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0U30/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• The Investigative Reporter's Handbook https://www.amazon.com/Investigative-Reporters-Handbook-Documents-Techniques/dp/031258997
  
• Precision Journalism https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Journalism-Reporters-Introduction-Science/dp/0742510883
  
• The Associated Press Guide to Newswriting http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/p/the-associated-press-guide-to-news-writing-rene-j-cappon/1122972240/2675698122266?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP20449&k_clickid=3x20449

If you want to understand your nonverbal autistic child, there are some great books out there to help you do that. I personally have read and recommend:

• The Reason I Jump: A short and easy but moving read. This is a book by a nonverbal Japanese autistic boy who learned to communicate through pointing to letters/writing. While we can't say for sure his experience is the same as other children like him he explains is feelings, sensations, and the reasons for many of his behaviors that are common to autistic children.
  
  
• Carly's Voice: Longer book but moving and well written. Most of the book is by Carly's father. He tells the story since infancy of his family including his daughter Carly who is severely autistic and nonverbal. Many considered her severely mentally disabled. However, when years later she finally learns and is willing to communicate through letters/writing (it is physically a lot of work for her) he learns she is much brighter and more aware then he imagined. Includes passages, conversations, interviews by Carly in the book that give information on what she is experiencing.
  
  
• Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism Written by genius animal behaviorists and well known person with Autism/speaker on Autism Temple Grandin. Tells her life, her experience, and how she thinks and experiences things differently. Between the other two books in length she is less severe on the spectrum then the Carly or Naoki but she still thinks, feels, and interacts with the world in a way that it was amazing to have insight into/I would never have guessed.
  
  Order these three books right now. They're all well written and so so insightful. You won't regret it.

Not sure what all the hate is about but I have a degree in Gender Studies and don't regret my education.

I recently finished Girls Like Us which is about sex trafficking and sexual exploitations of minors and learned a lot. It's also an engrossing read, which is always nice. I also recommend When Everything Changed and A People's History of the United States if you haven't read it before.

I highly recommend to all queer people reading "Exile and Pride" by Eli Clare. In it, he discusses the intersection of disability and queerness and it is a fascinating and easy read.
Here's the link to amazon, but I found my copy much cheaper elsewhere, and it it fantastic in my opinion:
http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Pride-Disability-Queerness-Liberation/dp/0896086062

edit: just realized that you can buy it used on amazon in paperback for under ten bucks.

Dude, amazing stories.
I have a book recommendation for you: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050Q5WYS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I GUARANTEE you will enjoy that book. He explains in great detail how he learned to talk elephant.

One of my key takeaways from that book is that in the animal world we are basically autistic in our lack of understanding and awareness of what is going on. We're blind/deaf.

My question is: how did you figure out how to talk to the lion and the cheetah? Was this something you worked on for a while or did you just figure it all out while on safari?

Yes, I really hope we can build a long term movement.

We should look at the occupy movements and learn from that.

They came out extremely strong, lasted a bit, but then fizzled out. One of the main organizers wrote a book about lessons for future protest movements. The end of protest: a new playbook for revolution.

Also something inspiring about occupy is how they became a hurricane relief organization during hurricane Sandy. (Occupy Sandy).

We can learn from that too. What could make a movemrnt stronger in the age of climate change than to double as a mutual aid network for disaster relief? This could give the movement a sort of reason to exist for a longer duration, even if passions fizzle out at some point (which happens), the network could spring back into action each time a natural disaster strikes.

This sort of long term organizing is what is needed. Not a protest, but the fornation of a network dedicated to attacking the problem persistently over time, as well as assisting those endangered by its effects.

If we could become an organization that had representation in every city, those cells of people could be used to forward local transition strategies. And so on.

It could be so much more than a single protest.

I hope we can build something like that.

If you're interested in environmental issues at all I suggest Edward Abbey, "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and "Desert Solitaire" are both excellent.

Additionally, I feel like it doesn't even need to be said but "The Hobbit" and the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien are amazing.

I would like to add to this list How Can I Talk If My Lips Don't Move?: Inside My Autistic Mind and Carly's Voice, two stories of young people with ASD that have learned to communicate well through hundreds of hours of intensive intervention. The first book was written by the young man himself when he was a teenager and includes beautiful quips of poetry.

This video at 2:50 summarizes it well:

"Tito, without your mother pushing you, how would your life have been different?"

"I would have been a vegetable."

http://youtu.be/Nfiap3a7Tuo?t=2m50s

The problem with the East is, except for the state and national parks, it is all private land -- fenced, keep out -- no trespassing. When the western states applied to the Fed for statehood, the Fed kept a large chunk of the land in trust for the American people. The fed owns around 50% of the land west of the Rockies; that means you own them, too. Hell, the Fed held more than 80% of Nevada.

The desert lands of the West, what used to be called wasteland, are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM isn't like the National Park Service; you can do pretty much anything you want within reason. On BLM lands, yes there are fences but only for livestock -- not to keep people out. If the gate is open, pass right on through. If the gate is closed, close it again behind you.

Protip: when you come out west, check out as much as you can of the Colorado Plateau, a 130,000 square mile red rock sticking out of the desert. This is among the wildest, most remote places within the lower 48. OP's photo is likely of the Grand Canyon which is the very southern tip of the Colorado Plateau. About half of the Plateau looks just like that; not quite as grand but every bit as colorful and beautiful.

Reading suggestions:

Desert Solitaire

The Secret Knowledge of Water

Edit: grammar

Freeman Dyson's Disturbing the Universe is pretty fantastic, going from his experience in WW2 to his development as a scientist during the atomic age and involvement in ethics and space exploration/futurism.

Wonderful animals. On the topic, if anyone wants a good book to read, I recommend The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony.

If you're crunched for time and super lazy, read books with picture like Ted Rall's nice summation of Ed Snowden's story

This article is word-for-word identical (including the same pictures) as the original version published by the Sunday Telegraph on April 29 last year: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/spying-shock-shades-of-big-brother-as-cybersecurity-vision-comes-to-light/news-story/bc02f35f23fa104b139160906f2ae709. I'm not sure why it has appeared again on another website with today's date. There is no new information here.

On a related note, Edward Snowden's book "Permanent Record" has just been released: https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238. For anyone who is unaware, Snowden was an insider at the NSA (the US equivalent of our ASD); he had access to and in 2013 leaked to journalists a historically unprecedented amount of information about the mass surveillance activities conducted by the US, UK, Australian and other five eyes intelligence agencies.

Any time you hear about the government requesting new powers like those discussed in the article, there's a good chance it's merely an attempt to obtain proper legal footing for activities they've already been conducting (or collaborating with other five eyes partners to conduct) for many years. For an overview of the revelations see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present).

Pretty old video. If you want her book: https://www.amazon.ca/Carlys-Voice-Breaking-Through-Autism/dp/1439194157/ref=mp_s_a_1_1

It's been sitting in my cart for like 2 years ...

I'm interested in the Basic Kafka and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, unless you have anything else you wish to offer (my collection is skant and what I offer is all to give).

The editions are here and here.

I've never done this before and should have said earlier: I am in the continental u.s.

I feel like there's a whole site dedicated to this

Meh. There is no writer noted, it's AP publicity puff as seen anytime anyone with name recognition is releasing a book.

In his case he can't exactly go on tour, yaknow?

So, the publisher - or a contractually obligated and independently contracted 3rd party - pays to play , puts it out there they will pay for any type of clickbait articles (100 words or more!) to drum up business.

Or even releases their own made to order press release - in the old days these would be marked as press release, for immediate release etc.

Make no mistake, the main idea of that article was to remind you there is a Edward Snowden alive and free in the world and now has a memoir.

​

NYT Review

Amazon $18.95

​

[EDIT] https://www.ap.org/en-us/services/ap-content-services

I find the concept of Relative Deprivation to be more compelling than either of those two.

A recent book titled The End of Protest does provide a modern discussion of the J-Curve. I can scan the relevant pages if you're interested (I can't remember exactly what's there).

I haven't read a whole lot in this field, but I'm told this book's pretty decent: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Interview-Lessons-Master-Craft/dp/1400050715/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348520045&sr=1-1&keywords=the+art+of+the+interview

And this book is not specifically geared to interviewing, but has tons of good info on craft: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Journalism-Conversations-Nonfiction/dp/140003356X/ref=pd_sim_b_5

His subtle sexism and borderline racism aside he was a great man . . . a giant flawed great man.

If you haven't read "Down the River" or "Desert Solitaire" definitely pick up a used copy of these books somewhere. If you can't find them, let me know and I'll send you copies.

Just a sidenote to this, the Derek he refers to is Derek Black, the son of the creator of Stormfront, godson of David Duke and ex prodigal son of the white nationalist movement. I say ex because he renounced all his racist beliefs and broke free from the movement. A book--written by a Pulitzer-winning WP reporter--just came out about him last month. I really recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Out-Hatred-Awakening-Nationalist-ebook/dp/B078LJKP88/

Released today. Amazon has it.

Also, Desert Solitaire and Cadillac Desert.

This

Correct. The book is Desert Solitaire.

>They whole device is a spy tool to sell your data.

Not only that but provide this is a permanent record available to the government. So it's a spy tool for them too.

https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238

Permanent Record https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250237238/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_n7uGDb4CH21BX

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238

You should read Rachel Lloyd's memoir.
http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Like-Us-Fighting-Activist/dp/0061582050

Here's a book for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record-Edward-Snowden/dp/1250237238

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250237238?pf_rd_p=183f5289-9dc0-416f-942e-e8f213ef368b&pf_rd_r=X8XPQR5BNKF3VB8GS04R

Encounters with the Archdruid

Tongass: Pulp Politics and the Fight for the Alaska Rain Forest

Desert Solitaire

Desert Solitaire

Leaves of Grass

One Man's Wilderness

Into the Wild

Wilderness Essays

Call of the Wild

Walden Shocking huh?