Friends of Bill Monning: Bill's Reading List

Readings

Friends,

The following list represents some current and recent readings that I have found to be informative and fun.

You may have other suggestions that we will consider including on our recommended readings list. I am particularly interested in books and articles addressing current issues impacting the Central Coast, the State of California, and our planet: Healthcare, Education, Environment, Economics, and Participatory Politics.

Bill

Non-Fiction:

Game Change: by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Harper Collins (2010), ISBN 978-0-06- 173363-5
Compelling insight to the 2008 presidential election campaigns including strategy, fundraising, challenges, and drama.
Endangered Dreams The Great Depression in California: by Kevin Starr, Oxford University Press, (1996), ISBN 19-510080-8
A timely analysis that presents similarities to California’s current challenges.
Free Fall, America Free Markets and the Sinking World Economy: by Joseph Stiglitz, (Nobel Prize in Economics) WN Norton (2010), ISBN 978-0-303-07596-0
The title says it all.
Deep Economy The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future: by Bill McKibben Holt Paperbakcs (2007) ISBN 10:0-8050-8722-2
Makes the case for economic development and environmental protection being linked. Challenges the assumptions of unchecked economic growth being compatible with sustainability.
The Way It Was: by Alana Haywood-Myles, Easy Break Publishing/Multimedia Royal Oaks, (2002) ISBN 1-89157-07-9
A story based on real life story of a young African American girl named Susy.
How Soccer Explains the World: by Franklin Foer, Harper Collins, ISBN 13:978-0-06-073142-7
Jerry West The Life and Legend of A Basketball Icon: by Roland Lazenby, Ballantine (2010) ISBN 978-0-345-51083-9
Prescription for Survival A Doctor’s Journey to End Nuclear Madness: by Dr. Bernard Lown, Forward by Howard Zinn, Berrett-Kohler Publisher (2008), ISBN 10:1576754820
First person account of the building of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the 1985 organizational recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Escape from Antwerp From Terror to Paradise: by Eda Lew Balsam, Community Printers, Santa Cruz (2003), ISBN 0-615-1247004
The author was welcomed and recognized by Assemblymember Monning at the Holocaust Memorial event held on the Assembly Floor in Sacramento in 2010. Ms. Balsam lives in Santa Cruz and has been active in the arts community. Her story shares a compelling history of her family's trials and tribulations escaping the Nazi occupation in Belgium, then in France before their successful exodus via Spain to Cuba and finally to the United States.

Fiction:

The Rising Tide: by Jeff Shaara, Ballantine Books (2006), ISBN 13:978-345-46141-4
A historical novel about WWII and the heroism and sacrifice of allied troops in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy.
The Lacuna: by Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Collins (2009), ISBN 97-8006085-2573
A powerful novel that focuses on young man of Mexican and U.S. heritage who works with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Leon Trotsky in Mexico then concludes his life journey in USA during the McCarthy era/HUAC hearings, etc. A historic novel with clear implications for today's world.