Prosthetic Conscience

Latest non-fiction books read

Instead of posting reviews, I’m going to try to catch up on a brief descriptions of books I’ve read recently or am reading, starting with the non-fiction.

• The Divine Right of Capital by Marjorie Kelly.

  A good book on the corporation, from a libertarian socialist perspective. Kelly champions the free market, but demonstrates how the legal and common-law structures surrounding corporate governance work against the free market and against economic democracy. The best and most important aspect of this book is that she demonstrates that the world view underlying corporatism is essentially the same as that underlying feudalism, based on the principles of Privilege, Property, Governance, and Sovereignty, as opposed to Equality, the Public Good, Democracy, Justice, and Revolution.

  The really interesting thing about this is that if you go to the book’s page on Amazon, the negative reviews all essentially paint this book as in favor of Marxist-Leninist state communism, when in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s fascinating how in some people’s minds, there can only be two possible positions on economics (corporate capitalism and state socialism). This book is more on the spectrum of individualist anarchism, though it’s actually very moderate (some would say wimpy).

• Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control, by Gary Kleck and Don B. Kates

  I’ve just started reading this. It’s been recommended as a good pro-gun book from a liberal perspective. I’m not sure how correct that description is, but it looks to be worth a read.

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