Five books about progressivism

John Kerry is United States Senator for Massachusetts, and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2004 election, running against the incumbent George W Bush. Senator Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran and the author of three books.

He discussed five books on progressivism with Neera Tanden at The Browser, including:

Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson

What is your first book that represents progressivism to you?

I’d start with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which looked at how pesticide use was harming, and in some cases killing, animals and humans, and really was the first book of its kind to illustrate this environmental destruction. I’ve been so involved in the environment for years and years and that has been a great guideline – it was really the awakening, if you will, to the environmental movement and to the progress we’ve made over the last quarter century or more.

She was considered an author activist. She helped create a movement.

She was. She was writing about her own, what she found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The book speaks to not just an important issue – our environment – but how we can all make changes in our communities and in our societies. It speaks to how individuals can change things and also focus on a particular injustice – environmental health risks.

Read about another book Kerry tagged.

Silent Spring made a list of the best books on global warming at the Guardian in 2009.

--Marshal Zeringue