My little cousin is a pretty good kid who really loves history and is broadly familiar with US imperialism. He starts university this fall and is majoring in Mathematics and Economics -which is a cesspool of capitalist indoctrination. Are there any books that you'd recommend to send him that would push him to think more critically of the neoliberal indoctrination that he is likely to receive? I could obviously just give him Marx or Lenin but I was looking for something a little more subtle.
I got a finance degree and econ classes were part of the curriculum. the best recommendation i could possibly give you is graeber's debt: the first 5000 years. a good chunk of that book is dismantling the "before capitalism was barter" lie, which is taught in every econ 101 class. i think being exposed to the fact that the field of economics can get something so terribly wrong (or at least is ignorantly accepting of this naiive narrative) will help develop a healthy skepticism as he takes econ classes. its also just a good book. blends history and economics very well, but is still approachable and not too dry
also, i thought foucault was helpful in understanding the big picture that like, the institutions you've interacted your entire life serve to perpetuate the dominant ideology. in my opinion its a more approachable primer to marx's base & superstructure or gramsci's cultural hegemony (although tbf i havent read gramsci)