If you could make a fundie read a book what would it be?

[latraviata]

Mine would be "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

If any book could shatter their rose colored glasses of history it would be this one.

Richard Dawkins, 'The God Delusion'

[jaynie]

...all of them? Really, the lack of exposure to all of these great works of literature -- and therefore to all different ways of thinking -- is one of the things that disturbs me most about the SOTDRT. Obviously some people turn fundie after an entirely normal education, but that bothers me less.

Practically speaking, though, it depends on the fundie. Much as I'd like to give them all a big book of Shakespeare, there are enough well-educated people that struggle with Shakespeare that I fear all but the cleverest would just give up on it, or read it very superficially. So I'd probably go with something like Harry Potter, since the less advanced readers can understand it and the smarter ones can analyze it. Though I'd be seriously tempted by the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- on the surface, harmless random fun, but they might accidentally pay too much attention and learn something about religion or science!

(I also think Les Mis, or at least a well-abridged Les Mis, might be good fundie reading. Jean Valjean is practically an embodiment of the principle of putting others before yourself, and yet the kind of rigid legalism that fundies adhere to is shown again and again to be not just wrong, but harmful. It would also nicely shatter the "good-old-days" image. This one I'd probably save for the smarter fundies, though.)

[MonkeyMomma]

In addition to The Handmaid's Tale and The Poisonwood Bible already mentioned, I would recommend:

The Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti

Dance of the Dutiful Daughter, Sue Monk Kidd

[Clementine]

Anything by Charles Dickens and also Les Miserables by Victor Hugo to teach them what the romantic "Victorian life" was like for most non-upperclass people.

Also "How to cure a fanatic" by Amos Oz.

I also like the suggestion "Nickel and Dimed" by Ehrenreich.

[titus2_4u]

@MonkeyMamma

I agree with you on Dance of the Dissident Daughter and Handmaid's Tale.

I'd also throw in "Half the Church" since it meets fundies where they are and uses their language, yet points out all of the logical and spiritual flaws of keeping women in the home and out of leadership. I think it's one that could actually make an impact.

[2xx1xy1JD]

1984

Backlash, by Susan Faludi (a bit dated but should still be eye-opening)

Moonwebs: Journey into the Mind of a Cult (Josh Freed)

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Jung Chang)

[AnnoDomini]

(I also think Les Mis, or at least a well-abridged Les Mis, might be good fundie reading. Jean Valjean is practically an embodiment of the principle of putting others before yourself, and yet the kind of rigid legalism that fundies adhere to is shown again and again to be not just wrong, but harmful. It would also nicely shatter the "good-old-days" image. This one I'd probably save for the smarter fundies, though.)

Ah Les Mis, yes. Definitely. I noticed some strong Christian themes, good ones. Salvation through works as demonstrated by Javert as opposed to salvation through grace as demonstrated by Valjean. Powerful stuff. (Though I do love me some Javert. He is hot.)

[browngrl]

I was reading the Huffington post this morning and came across an article that seems pertinent to this thread. Here is the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/tarek-fata ... ref=canada

This article reminded me of the book A Thousand Splendid Suns. Here is a quote from the article: " In Khaled Hosseini's soul-piercing novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the character Nana, a poor unwed mother, tells her five-year-old daughter, Mariam: "Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam."

Hosseini's novel is about life in Afghanistan, but in the 30 words above he sums up the way men govern the lives of women across most of the Muslim world. Like Mariam, millions of Muslim girls are told very early in life by their mothers that their place in society is one of submission; submission, not to God, but to man."

This is the secret heart of fundamentalism: misogyny. Every fundie girl needs to read this.

[keen23]

Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell. It doesn't sugar coat real Victorian times...hint- people were poor, had to work, and died.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Richard Dawkins, 'The God Delusion'

I was thinking in a similar vein, but to start apart from religion specifically and ease in with "The Blind Watchmaker" also by Richard Dawkins. I can honestly say that's one of the most informative books that starts slow (so ordinary people can follow along) that I've found. I like how it just plainly makes the case, again and again, that so many of the "couldn't possibly have just happened!" things in fact did, once you understand the true meaning of probability (including with conditions) and time scales that DEFINES "happened." The book then just says essentially "where you go with this is up to you, but just so you know, actually, yeah, science and probability does explain all that stuff - it doesn't require a supernatural explanation."

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell. It doesn't sugar coat real Victorian times...hint- people were poor, had to work, and died.

Along this line I'd suggest "The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap" by Stephanie Koontz and "The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible" by Otto Bettmann.

Also I'll second the recommendation for "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. The best part is it shows how GROUPS and organizations change history over long struggles, it's not a sequence of lone magical heroes suddenly rising up and acting in inspiration like so many of the old-style patriotic or colonial traditional histories so beloved by a certain part of the homeschool market would have you believe. AND, it shows how those groups and organizations are belittled and mocked and fought against in the beginning every time, so just because the powers that be are belittling and mocking your group now and saying that you're not the same as the "true" heroes now recognized in hindsight - in fact, they were mocked too. It wasn't easy for them to stand up either. (Personally I think that's the subversive subtext of the book that earns it so much hate among some.)

[NurseNell]

Along this line I'd suggest "The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap" by Stephanie Koontz and "The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible" by Otto Bettmann.

I need to add those to my list. My Dad was born in 1904 and whenever I'd say "tell me about the good old days" he'd say, "they weren't the good old days, life was very hard."

[Peas n carrots]

Pippi Longstocking

Anne of Green Gables

My Antonia

The Color Purple

Jane Eyre

All my favorite books had strong females in them.

I'd probably have them read some of Karl Marx's works, as they always talk about socialism, but they really seem to have no idea what socialism is.

[LynnKaboom]

The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I first read it when I was in high school, and then again this past summer, and I was happy to discover that it still spoke to me.

Ugh, really? That is one of the few books I can honestly say I despise. I had to read it my senior year of high school. I still haven't forgiven my English teacher for that.

But as for books I'd want the fundies to read- Harry Potter, definitely. I would also want them to read Idiot America: How Stupidity Became A Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce. And then I'd want them to read the Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series, because those are damn funny.

[GeoBQn]

Lies My Teacher Told Me and Lies Across America by James Loewen

The Diary of Anne Frank

Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (the original play, though I would also love to secretly whisk the older Duggars off to see the musical)

[Eponine]

Les Misérables here as well (no surprise, ahem, see the username..).

It shows many things amazingly well:

True faith and struggle with faith

Forgiveness and charity

The danger of becoming thinking in too black-and-white terms, especially when it comes to religion and morality

The extremely difficult positions women can find themselves in; what might lead a woman in such a position to do things others might consider immoral

How difficult poverty can be and how hard it is to get out of it

What it looks like to fight for things you believe in

I could go on but I think the fundies we snark on really need a lesson in each of those things.

[marmalade]

If they were 18 or younger, I would have them read Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville. If they were older than that, I would probably choose Poisinwood Bible or Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres.

I am embarrassed that I forgot JesusLand, especially because I know Julia, but not well, through her husband who was a professor of mine.

[dairyfreelife]

Pippi Longstocking

Anne of Green Gables

My Antonia

The Color Purple

Jane Eyre

All my favorite books had strong females in them.

I'd probably have them read some of Karl Marx's works, as they always talk about socialism, but they really seem to have no idea what socialism is.

Never read much Marx or My Antonia, but agree with the rest. Also, my vote in for Harry Potter too. Adding Pat Conroy's novels, The Diary of Anne Frank, anything by Charles Dickens, The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill, A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Chinese Cinderella , War of the Worlds and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Lord of the Rings (if they have not read them), The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Beowulf, Many of Shakespeare's works which I got to read with a Professor or English teacher, making them understandable and likeable, something these fundies won't get the chance to do. I could go on and on about books I have read in school that I am sure many children raised like the Duggars have never read.

[latraviata]

I was thinking in a similar vein, but to start apart from religion specifically and ease in with "The Blind Watchmaker" also by Richard Dawkins. I can honestly say that's one of the most informative books that starts slow (so ordinary people can follow along) that I've found. I like how it just plainly makes the case, again and again, that so many of the "couldn't possibly have just happened!" things in fact did, once you understand the true meaning of probability (including with conditions) and time scales that DEFINES "happened." The book then just says essentially "where you go with this is up to you, but just so you know, actually, yeah, science and probability does explain all that stuff - it doesn't require a supernatural explanation."

I like the 'Blind Watchmaker' very much but I am afraid it is a bit too difficult for simple homeschooled fundies.

[meow139]

Two....

Damn You Autocorrect- opens up their eyes to the outside world.

Any Book... Filled with sleeping powder- Knock em out, and while they sleep, whisper in their ears "Wassup fundie? This is God. Just wanna tell you... GET A LIFE MAN!!! Women can wear pants, and kids can dance! What's the matter with you?! FUNDIES ARE BAD FOR YOU!!!!!!!! STOP BEING ONE!!!" Hey, it could work.

[GenerationCedarchip]

NIckeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

I don't know - I've known fundies who have read that book and consider it an argument for why we should be entrepreneurs and not allow ourselves to be "enslaved" by working for other companies. I think they miss the point.

I would actually like to see some fundies read Christa Parrish. She writes very good, realistic characters and shows deep faith without the cultic quality we find on much of the fundie-farm.

[She Who Laughs]

Native Son by Richard Wright. We were assigned a lot of reading in my HS Ethnic Studies class; this one made a big impression on me.

[Nomorearrows]

i would recommend Their Eyes were Watching God and Awakening for the girls. The boys might also benefit from them.

[supernova8610]

1) Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture (by Romanowski)

2) Understanding Evangelical Media

3) Systematic Theology (by Grudem)

4) Harry Potter

[emmyfair]

Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird".