Any time I try to learn about these topics it always references super old books that are written in a complicated English that’s beyond my simplistic knowledge.
I’m Gen Z and didnt know the difference between Democrat and Republican until like 4 years ago because I never cared about politics (and pretty personal reasons), this has obviously changed as of recent. As I went through highschool in one of, if not THE most censored history classes in the country (and from a trump supporter teacher too…) I wasn’t given the best background knowledge for these topics.
I would like a book that essentially explains the ideas and some of the historical events in a more understandable way that won’t lead me to the Wikipedia page for some random person from Russia in the 1900s confused as hell.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
So, to get more than a surface level understanding you’re going to have to either live real hard ajd fit through a lot of real meaty filters, or read a lot-and some of the words won’t be small.
That’s not to say reading archaic 19th century dialects will be necessary in all cases, but deep complex ideas and honest accounts of complex events can be difficult to portray accurately in a thirty second video.
But graeber is s good place to start. Lifelong new yorker, died of covid complications.
Debt: the first 5000 years
The dawn of everything: a new history of humanity
Revolutions in reverse
Those are the big ones, but he wrote a lot. The guy who made debt: the first 5000 years a slick read also wrote at least one volume about pirates.