Readings that Changed My View of History

Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth, the Illusion of Consent, and the Fight for Our Future by Raoul Martinez...'Creating Freedom' examines the limits placed on freedom by human nature and society and reveals historical myths at the heart of our economic, political, and criminal justice systems. Reading it transformed the way I think about democracy and fairness.

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano...I couldn't stop reading this book, a translation from Spanish by Cedric Belfrage, yet I did so with my heart in the pit of my stomach. Mr. Galeano spared nothing in revealing how the artesanal crafts practiced by the peoples of Latin America have been sacrificed to the machines of the (so-called) 'industrial revolution'.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne...I read this while working as a prospector and sleeping in my snow-covered tent during temperatures below 5 degrees Celsius. Never have I had such an appreciation (and longing for) a buffalo skin, the necessity and significance of which in relationship to the Comanche peoples is so clearly expressed in this book.