DDC 320-329: Beware the festering swamp

A Teach Me How To Dewey production

This Is How We Dewey:

  • 320 Political science
  • 321 Systems of governments & states
  • 322 Relation of state to organized groups
  • 323 Civil & political rights
  • 324 The political process
  • 325 International migration & colonization
  • 326 Slavery & emancipation
  • 327 International relations
  • 328 The legislative process
  • 329 Not assigned or no longer used

Ah yes, politics: the second of the Banned At Thanksgiving Dinner topics is finally at hand. Personally, I’m fascinated by politics (American specifically). Notice I didn’t say I love them: as a history nut I enjoy viewing current events in historical context, and also enjoy dissecting the various political narratives that come out of them, but horse-race politics disgust me. I’m a moderate through and through, leaning left on some issues and right on others, but I’m a radical in my view that cable news is generally a vapid abomination of journalism and that politics in the U.S. is a festering swamp of ego and soul-crushing skullduggery.

All that to say that I took extra care in this section to avoid those shoddy polemics by pundits, hucksters, and otherwise annoying public figures who for some cosmically sad reason make a lot of money saying stupid and/or wrong things on TV. There are so many of those books! But there are just as many interesting, well-written ones about a variety of political issues that you ought to check out.

The Dew3:

The Black Panthers Speak
Dewey: 322.42
Random Sentence: “Whose benefit are they concerned with, Huey P. Newton’s or black lawyers?”

Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America A Democracy
By Bruce Watson
Dewey: 323.1196
Random Sentence: “Beer cans flew, and a SNCC car’s tires were slashed.”

Will the Gentleman Yield: The Congressional Record Humor Book
Dewey: 328.7300207
Random Sentence: “I await with eager anticipation my trophy.”

Reply