I tried reading manufacting consent and holy fuck I couldn't even go a few pages without having to look something up to even get close to understanding it. That said, I do get the overarching principle of it so I guess something sunk in. Currently, I'm flying through Understanding The World or something, a collection of speech from Chomsky. It's totally understandable, and even enjoyable to read. Another one that I havent got yet, but seem to like the look of is Capitalist Realism, it's only 90 pages.

Any suggestions?

    • Corbyn [none/use name]
      1·
      4 years ago

      I enjoyed blackshirts and reds, and while it wasn’t incredibly dense or inscrutable, it probably isn’t quite “easy to read”

      I would say it is quite an easy read. The language is mostly easy to understand, with maybe a few words (that likely reappear throughout the book) that someone needs to look up. The only issue I would have recommending it, would be if someone already has some knowledge about the history of communist countries or even European history in general, since there are chapters that feel a bit boring when they give a brief summary of history. Overall it is a good introductory book for anyone new to the topics, but also good to refresh your knowledge on a wide range of historic events.

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Yeah, I look stuff up usually, and I go down random Wikipedia foxholes all the time because there's something I don't understand in one Wikipedia article. It just gets frustrating when I have to look stuff up multiple times on a single page, for 10 consecutive pages.