Daniel Alarcón’s Resistance Reading

Authors pick books that bring solace and understanding in a time of rancor.


We asked a range of authors and creative types to name books that bring solace or understanding in this age of rancor. More than two dozen responded. Here’s what the Peruvian American novelist Daniel Alarcón, who is also an executive producer for NPR’s Radio Ambulante, had to share with us.

Latest book: At Night We Walk in Circles
Also known for: Lost City Radio
Recommended reading: Nazi Literature in the Americas was one of the first of Roberto Bolaño’s books I ever read, and for that reason alone I remember it fondly. It’s hilarious, disturbing, bizarre, humane—a faux encyclopedia of failed attempts to use art to justify fascism. Those who’ve read Distant Star will recognize the themes, and even a few of the characters.

James Baldwin, The Last Interview: No one is as trenchant and unforgiving and sharp about race and love and class in America as Baldwin.

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood: Sometimes I think dystopian literature is the only literature we can write these days. That Atwood’s masterpiece feels so resonant today, more than 30 years after it was published, is singularly depressing. Read it as a cautionary tale.

Illustration by Allegra Lockstadt
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The complete series: Daniel Alarcón, Kwame Alexander, Margaret Atwood, W. Kamau Bell, Ana Castillo, Jeff Chang, T Cooper, Michael Eric Dyson, Dave Eggers, Reza Farazmand, William Gibson, Mohsin Hamid, Piper Kerman, Phil Klay, Alex Kotlowitz, Bill McKibbenRabbi Jack Moline, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Peggy Orenstein, Wendy C. Ortiz, Darryl Pinckney, Joe Romm, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Tracy K. Smith, Ayelet WaldmanJesmyn Ward, and Gene Luen Yang.


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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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