History, power + human judgment¶
Five ranked references. Rank 1 is the default spine, not a requirement to read all five.
1 | The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought¶
David Miller, Janet Coleman, William Connolly, Alan Ryan (eds.) | Political-thought reference | Undergraduate / graduate
Broad reference across political concepts and traditions; useful precisely because no single ideological lens is sufficient.
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2 | A People's History of the United States¶
Howard Zinn | Counter-history lens | Undergraduate
A deliberately oppositional narrative useful for practicing source criticism, missing-actor analysis, and perspective shifts; pair with primary sources and competing histories.
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3 | Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need¶
Sasha Costanza-Chock | Sociotechnical design | Undergraduate / graduate
Directly relevant to who defines problems, who participates, who benefits, who bears harms, and how design processes encode power.
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4 | The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence¶
Ervin Staub | Violence / bystander psychology | Graduate / advanced undergraduate
Mechanistic account of difficult life conditions, group processes, ideology, bystanders, escalation, and mass violence.
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5 | Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most¶
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen | Conflict practice | Undergraduate / professional
Highly usable framework for factual disagreement, identity threat, emotions, contribution, and learning-oriented conflict.
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