The Mission:
To create a community that delves into both leftist theory and explores a wide range of written works. We engage in thought-provoking discussions about essays, speeches, theory, plays, novels, short stories, poems, and more.
Upcoming Meetings
Our book club meets the first Sunday of each month from 4:00-5:30pm on Zoom. All are welcome to join, even if you’re not yet a member of DSA.
RSVP with the buttons below to receive the meeting link in your email.
February
Going for Broke: Living on the Edge in the World’s Richest Country, edited by Alissa Quart & David Wallis
A collection of first-person essays, poems, and photos that expose what our punitive social systems do to so many Americans. These dozens of fierce and sometimes darkly funny pieces reflect the larger systems that have made writers’ bodily experiences, family and home lives, and work far harder than they ought to be.
March
The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin
Lenin wrote State and Revolution in 1917, while he was hiding from the Russian secret police. Drawing on detailed quotes from Marx and Engels, Lenin describes the inherent nature of the State as a tool for class oppression, a creation born of one social class’s desire to control all other social classes.
Previous Reads
2026 Reading List
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
This 1969 science fiction novel follows the story of Genly Ai, a human native of Terra, who is sent to the planet of Gethen to persuade its nations to join a confederation of planets. Individuals on Gethen are ambisexual, with no fixed gender, and this cultural difference creates a barrier of understanding for Genly. Unless he can overcome his ingrained prejudices about the significance of “male” and “female,” Genly may destroy both his mission and himself.
2025 Reading List
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba
What is Socialism? – DSA NPEC module
- “Democratic socialism, explained by a democratic socialist” by Meagan Day (Vox)
- “Building Socialism from Below: Popular Power and the State” by Ben Tarnoff (Socialist Forum)
- “Socialism for Realists” by Sam Gindin (Catalyst)
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
The Tulsa Race Massacre: The Dept. of Justice Review & Evaluation
(Consider visiting or donating to the Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire; Translated into English by Myra Bergman Ramos
Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body, and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture by Oswaldo Zavala; Translated into English by William Savinar
Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal & Leonardo Vilchis
(To get involved with local tenant organizing, check out the Oklahoma Tenants Union.)
People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism by Leigh Philips & Michal Rozworski
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis
2024 Reading List
The Origin of the Family: Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
What is Social Ecology? by Murray Bookchin
Here is a Rent Strike by Rane Stark-Buhl
How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm
The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade
2023 Reading List
Where the Bird Disappeared by Ghassan Zaqtan
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by adrienne maree brown
Sweat by Lynn Nottage
Competition v. Cooperation by Eugene V. Debs
Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook by Mark Bray
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Towards a ☭ueer Marxism: A manifesto by Rojo del Arcoíris
Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression by Robin D. G. Kelley
Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times by Carla Bergman
The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists by Naomi Klein
Connect with Book Club
Follow @okcdsa on social media to find out about upcoming reads and meetings.
Become a chapter member to join the Discord server, where we host discussion threads for each month’s reading and poll members to decide what to read next.