Bibliography and resources
Books, articles, writers, and thinkers who have influenced my work and my life
This is an incomplete and ever-growing, cross discipline, cross genre, cross topic bibliography of pieces of work that have influenced me over the years. I have loosely organized it by topic and form to make browsing it easier, and individual sources are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. I will keep adding to it so check back if you’re curious.
People often ask me for a list of my influences, particularly for my stance that no one is disposable and everyone deserves compassion. The truth is that my stubborn compassion grows out of my lived experience, my socialist politics, my knowledge of trauma, my love of addicts, my lifetime of reading fiction, my animist spirituality, and my solidarity with nonhuman animals, to name only a few sources. None of the works listed here gave me my politics or my principles; all of them played some role.
I like to move through levels, zooming in and zooming out to produce a holistic way of thinking and being. That means that my politics are as interested in the personal and the interpersonal as they are the economic and the global.
It should go without saying but my listing these works does not mean a total endorsement or agreement with the ideas therein. These works moved me. They changed me somehow. Some of them match my current thinking quite well. Others are things that I have moved on from but that still played a generative role in the development of my ideas. Still others compel me without my being in total agreement with them. And so on.
I want to encourage people to read and think widely and deeply. Don’t limit yourself to any particular genre, style, form, or framework. You don’t need a formal education. You don’t need permission. You don’t need to wait for some other time. Let your mind wander and hone your own capacity for critical thinking, connection making, discernment, and integrity. Make your own list of beloved thinkers.
I’m not here to tell you what to think. Neither are these thinkers. These ideas are just here for your consideration. Maybe you can make something entirely new with them.
I have done my best to link to places where you can access or buy the work that is not Amazon. If at all possible, I recommend taking the time to find places to buy that aren’t Amazon. Amazon has atrocious labour practices and is actively working to put independent bookstores out of business. If you are looking for audiobooks, Libro.fm is a non-Amazon option that supports small bookstores. If you want to track what you’re reading, StoryGraph is an alternative to the Amazon-owned Goodreads.
Trauma, Addiction, Healing, Recovery, Anti-Psychiatry
Articles
Heterogeneity in psychiatric diagnostic classification by Kate Allsopp, John Read, Rhiannon Corcoran, and Peter Kinderman
I was the poster girl for OCD. Then I began to question everything I’d been told about mental illness by Rose Cartwright
The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence by Joanna Moncrieff, Ruth E. Cooper, Tom Stockmann, Simone Amendola, Michael P. Hengartner, and Mark A. Horowitz
Dissociation: An Insufficiently Recognized Major Feature of Complex PTSD by Onno van der Hart, Ellert R.S. Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele
Proposal to include a developmental trauma diagnosis for children and adolescents in DSM-V by Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD and Robert S. Pynoos, MD
Books
The Big Book, The Basic Text of Alcoholics Anonymous
The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
The Maps We Carry: Psychedelics, trauma and our new path to mental health by Rose Cartwright
The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation by Deb Dana
The Heart of Addiction: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors by Lance Dodes
Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction by Lance Dodes
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation by Janina Fisher
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence — from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Judith Herman
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Maté
When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard Schwartz
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
Relationships, Attachment, Sexuality
Books
Compersion: Meditations on Using Jealousy As a Path to Unconditional Love by Deborah Anapol
Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent by Katherine Angel
The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships by Diane Poole Heller
All About Love by bell hooks
Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson
Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski
Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence by Esther Perel
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
Videos
Anxious Obsessing Makes You Unavailable (Insecure Attachment) by Alan Robarge
Socialism, Anti-Capitalism, The Left
Magazines, Journals
The Breach is an independent media outlet producing critical journalism to help map a just, viable future.
Catalyst is a peer-reviewed journal with the focus to develop a theory and strategy with capitalism as its target — both in the North and in the Global South.
Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture.
Nonsite.org is an online, open access, peer-reviewed quarterly journal of scholarship in the arts and humanities.
Books
Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right by Michael Brooks
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons by Silvia Federici
Dirtbag by Amber A’Lee Frost
Fragments of An Anarchist Anthropology by David Graeber
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
No Politics but Class Politics by Adolph Reed Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels
Videos
Understanding Capitalism with Vivek Chibber
Capitalism and the State with Vivek Chibber
Capitalism and Class Struggle with Vivek Chibber
Feminism, Gender, Women
Articles
The Laugh of the Medusa by Helene Cixous
Can trans women and radical feminists find sisterhood? by Kai Cheng Thom
Books
How to Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ
Race, Racism, Anti-Racism
Articles
Unions Are Essential for Eliminating Racism by Meagan Day
On “whiteness as a death cult” by Molly Frances
Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness by Annie Olaloku-Teriba
Afropessimism, or Black Studies as a Class Project by Adolph Reed Jr.
The Trouble with Disparity by Walter Benn Michaels and Adolph Reed Jr.
Books
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality by Walter Benn Michaels
What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri
Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in America by Karen Fields and Barbara Fields
After Black Lives Matter: Policing and Anti-Capitalist Struggle by Cedric Johnson
The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives by Adolph Reed Jr.
Toward Freedom:The Case Against Race Reductionism by Touré Reed
Videos
In Conversation: Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields with Adolph Reed Jr.
Why Liberals Make Everything About Race with Touré Reed
Podcasts
Lexicon Valley: Who's Afraid of Ayesha Rascoe? by John McWhorter
Lexicon Valley: Black Like Us by John McWhorter
“Social Justice” Orthodoxy, Cancel Culture
Articles
An open letter: why I'm leaving the cult of wokeness by Africa Brooke
Planet of Cops by Freddie deBoer
You Can't Censor Away Extremism (or Any Other Problem) by Freddie deBoer
When Good Political Arguments Go Bad: On “Critique Drift” by Freddie deBoer
Are Social Justice Politics Serious or Not? by Freddie deBoer
Exiting the Vampire Castle by Mark Fisher
Why Cancel Culture Matters by Molly Frances
Trashing: The Dark Side of Sisterhood by Jo Freeman
Why I left Social Justice by Kier Adrian Gray
Excommunicate me from the church of social justice by Frances Lee
The Traumatic Impact of Media Humiliation, Misrepresentation and Victim-Shaming on Narrative Identity and Well-Being by Christine Marie
Hot Allostatic Load by Porpentine
Books
Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times by Carla Bergman and Nick Montgomery
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik (Freddie) deBoer
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair by Sarah Schulman
I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World by Kai Cheng Thom
Videos
Canceling by ContraPoints
Log the Fuck Off with Amber Frost, Matt Christman, and Ben Fong
Podcasts
Out of the Woods: Shame, punishment & social justice culture with Kira Rosen
Veganism, Animal Agriculture, Animal Ethics
Articles
The Myth of Regenerative Ranching by Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg
Reimagining the Role of Farmed Animals in Regenerative Agriculture by Laura Driscoll
Plant-based permaculture by Meghan Kelly
Why regenerative farming works and regenerative ranching fails by Eric Molvar
Human Vulnerability and the Experience of Being Prey by Val Plumwood
Study shows vegan diet is best for people and planet by David Suzuki
Books
The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy and Why They Matter by Marc Bekoff
Music
Liberation by Ernesto Melchor
Creativity, Focus, Personal Growth
Articles
On Self-Respect by Joan Didion
Books
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Spirituality, Philosophy, Science
Articles
Nature’s Queer Performativity by Karen Barad
Books
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women by Sylvia Brinton Perera
Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything by Barbara Ehrenreich
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle by Carl Jung
Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One With the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
Podcasts
Red Enlightenment by Graham Jones
Lexicon Valley by John McWhorter
The Common Descent Podcast by David Moscato and Will Harris
Memoir, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry
How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir by Amber Dawn
Sugarblood by Liz Bowen
Doris Book: an anthology 1991-2001 by Cindy Crabb
You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson
My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home by Amber L. Hollibaugh
A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance by Jane Juska
Shame is An Ocean I Swim Across by Mary Lambert
A Long Sound by Joan Larkin
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
If You're a Girl, revised and expanded edition by Ann Rower
Witchbody by Sabrina Scott
A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings From The Girl Zine Revolution edited by Tristan Taormino and Karen Green
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
The Chronology of Water: A Memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch
Fiction
Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
Clay’s Ark by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
To Be Taught, if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Motherhood by Sheila Heti
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula Le Guin
The Three Body Problem Trilogy by Liu Cixin
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Film
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Clementine Morrigan is a writer and public intellectual based in Montréal, Canada. She writes popular and controversial essays about culture, politics, ethics, relationships, sexuality, and trauma. A passionate believer in independent media, she’s been making zines since the year 2000 and is the author of several books. She’s known for her iconic white-text-on-a-black-background mini-essays on Instagram. One of the leading voices on the Canadian Left and one half of the Fucking Cancelled podcast, Clementine is an outspoken critic of cancel culture and a proponent of building solidarity across difference. She is a socialist, a feminist, and a vegan for the animals and the earth.
Browse her shop, listen to her podcast, book a one on one session with her, or peruse her list of resources and further reading.
thank you for sharing this, I've been really enjoying Stolen Focus as a result and will be reading several of the other recommendations too.