Economics
Teaching Guides
On Coal River
Film and Teaching Guide. Directed by Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood. 2010. 81 minutes.
This documentary follows four individuals and their struggle to stop the damage caused by Massey Energy to the health of the people and to the environment.
Democracy & Citizenship, Economics, Environment & Food, Social Class
Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers
Teaching Guide. Edited by Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson. 2005. 180 pages.
Lessons and articles on social justice math education for elementary and secondary school classrooms.
Speaking Out: Women, War and the Global Economy
Teaching Guide. By Jan Haaken, Ariel Ladum, et al. 193 pages with DVD. Ooligan Press. 2005.
Interactive lessons on the 1990s civil war in Sierra Leone and broader issues such as cross-cultural awareness, the global trade in diamonds and guns, and the effects of war on women.
Economics, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History, World History/Global Studies
Studs Terkel’s “Working”: A Teaching Guide
Teaching Guide. By Rick Ayers. 2001. 208 pages.
Discussion questions and teaching ideas for Terkel’s classic 1974 text.
Teaching Economics As If People Mattered: A Curriculum Guide to Today’s Economy
Teaching Guide. By Tamara Sober Giecek. 2007. 182 pages.
Economics curriculum for high school with lessons on the human implications of economic policies.
Books: Fiction
Freedom Road
Book – Fiction. By Howard Fast. 1944. 294 pages.
This politics and economics of Reconstruction told through memorable historical fiction.
Journey of Dreams
Book – Fiction. By Marge Pellegrino. 2009. 250 pages.
Historical fiction for young adult readers about the experience of Central American refugees and the long journey north.
Books: Non-Fiction
Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery
Book – Non-fiction. By Anne Farrow, Joel Lang and Jenifer Frank. 2005. 304 pages.
Challenges the misconception that only the South was involved in or benefited from slavery.
The Field Guide to the Global Economy
Book – Non-fiction. By Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh and Thea Lee. 2005. 160 pages.
The economics of globalization in easy to read charts.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Book – Non-fiction. By Barbara Ehrenreich. 2008. 256 pages.
Undercover journalism exposing hard realities of life for the working poor.
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present
Book – Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005. 702 pages.
Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details the lives and facts that are rarely included in textbooks — an indispensable teacher and student resource.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Economics, Education, Immigration, Imperialism, Individuals in US History, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Social Class, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History
The Real Cost of Prisons Comix
Book – Non-Fiction. By Ellen Miller-Mack, Craig Gilmore, Lois Ahrens, Susan Willmarth, and Kevin Pyle. 2008. 104 pages.
This comic book presents the human stories behind the statistics.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Book – Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2008. 720 pages.
Klein demonstrates how shock has been used by global elites to push through a radical agenda of privatization and “free trade.”
Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies & Sparked the American Revolution
Book – Non-fiction. By Alfred Blumrosen and Ruth Blumrosen. 2006.
A detailed account of the role slavery played in the drawing of the U.S. Constitution and in shaping the United States.
Ultimate Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America
Book – Non-fiction. By Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, James Heintz and Nancy Folbre. 2006. 256 pages.
Easy to read graphs make complex economic data accessible to all ages.
Films
Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story
Film. By Jordan Mechner. 2004. 26 minutes.
A documentary about the politics and economics of land in the U.S., based on the story of a Mexican American village razed in the 1950s to build Dodger Stadium.
The Corporation
Film. By Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan. 2004. 145 minutes.
This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.
Dirty Business: “Clean Coal” and the Battle for Our Energy Future
Film. Produced by Peter Bull, Justin Weinstein, Alex Gibney. 88 minutes. 2010.
A feature documentary that addresses the questions: Can coal be made clean? Can renewables and efficiency happen on a scale large enough to replace coal?
E.Y. “Yip” Harburg: Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Film clip. E.Y. “Yip” Harburg’s “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” (1932) is performed by Allison Moorer. From Voices of a People’s History of the United States.
Made in L.A.
Film. By Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar. 2007. 70 minutes.
Emmy award-winning feature documentary follows the story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops on an odyssey to win basic labor protections from a clothing retailer.
On Coal River
Film and Teaching Guide. Directed by Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood. 2010. 81 minutes.
This documentary follows four individuals and their struggle to stop the damage caused by Massey Energy to the health of the people and to the environment.
Democracy & Citizenship, Economics, Environment & Food, Social Class
Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy
Film and website. Produced by Mary Becker and Renée Bergan. Writer/Narrator: Edwidge Danticat. 2009. 50 minutes.
Documentary about Haiti and global economics told through the lives of five women.
Rethinking the Economy: Ideas from Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef
Film clip. September 22, 2010. Democracy Now!
Interview with people’s economist Manfred Max-Neef.
Roger and Me
Film. Directed by Michael Moore.1989. 91 minutes.
Documentary chronicling the efforts of the world’s largest corporation, General Motors, as it turns its hometown of Flint, Michigan, into a ghost town.
Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy
Film. Produced by National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. 2001. 28 minutes.
Stories of three immigrants (from Bolivia, Haiti and the Philippines) to the U.S. and how global institutions and multi-national corporations erode people’s capacity to survive in their home countries.
Picture Books
Grandpa’s Corner Store
Book – Fiction. By DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan. 2000. 40 pages.
A children’s book about the benefits of a neighborhood store vs. a big box store and how a community can rally to support a local business.
Posters
Social Stratification in the United States
Poster and book. By Stephen J. Rose. 2007. 56 pages.
Visual representation of the distribution of wealth in the United States.
Songs and Poems
E.Y. “Yip” Harburg: Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Film clip. E.Y. “Yip” Harburg’s “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” (1932) is performed by Allison Moorer. From Voices of a People’s History of the United States.
Websites
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