Truthout
Progressive Picks
Books and films that we find thought-provoking and insightful.

Series Introduction
As part of its commitment to providing independent information and resources to its readers, Truthout chooses a “Progressive Pick” every month: an independent book or film that we find thought-provoking and insightful.

Nuclear Power Isn’t Clean — It Creates Hellish Wastelands of Radioactive Sewage
Nuclear power carries with it an unbearable price tag: nightmarish contamination and the threat to survival itself.

Reimagining the Commons Is One Step Toward a Future Without Police
This is about far more than access to goods and services; it’s about a new conception of community and social relations.

“The Earth Is Telling Us It’s Exhausted”: An Interview With Poet Natalie Diaz
How we iterate or commodify things flies in the face of what the land told the human body to become, says Diaz.

Twenty Years Later, It Is Still Time to Dismantle the War on Terror
New book "Innocent Until Proven Muslim" demands we hold war criminals to account for decades of systemic Islamophobia.

We Both Were Incarcerated at Rikers Island. Now We’re Discussing Its History.
I met Jarrod Shanahan before my own sentence at Rikers. His new book details how the jail “took New York City hostage.”

How Can We Organize in Ways That Challenge Boundaries and Defy Exclusion?
Our organizing must be grounded in -- not bounded by -- local conditions, argues Ruth Wilson Gilmore.

Violence of Settler Colonialism Stretches Across Generations of Native Families
"An Enemy Such as This" tells the history of colonialism from the perspective of those who suffered war and occupation.

New Book Explores Why “Inclusion” Can’t Bring an End to Anti-Trans Violence
"Atmospheres of Violence" argues that the U.S. political system depends on violence against trans people.

When Revolutionary Moments Arise Again — and They Will — What Will We Do?
When the left demobilizes the grassroots for elections, it cuts off popular forces that enable social transformation.

Neoliberal Era Was Rich in Revolutionary Lessons. Movements Must Learn Them.
Left movements will succeed only if they overcome the barriers faced by past struggles, writes Colin Barker.