MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

INTRODUCTION

We thought it would be a good idea with interesting results to devote this entire issue -- marking The Workbook's 25 years in print — to books.

The Workbook has always been a resource for activists on a variety of social and environmental fronts, and we have tried to bring current information about important topics and strategies for addressing them to readers concerned about acting for positive change. The Workbook's niche among the "alternative" press has been its regular reviews of books — nearly 100 every year — and it seems particularly appropriate for this landmark issue to ask people about some of the books that stay with us.

More than two dozen activists and writers responded enthusiastically when we asked them to tell us about a few books they considered especially enlightening, essential to understanding a particular field of study, or personally enriching. Some contributors to this issue identify books that helped to direct their own paths early on; some name books they think everybody should read if they have a chance; some describe books they think are the absolutely best sources of information on a given subject.

We have here a wonderfully eclectic mix of recommendations that make up a stimulating, to say the least, reading list. For those of us who think we've read everything that's been said about certain issues and are perhaps a bit tired of some of the subject matter, this collection is a pleasing revelation and an invitation to discover or rediscover a book that delighted, impressed, or simply knocked out somebody whose work we may already admire.

We're deeply grateful to this issue's contributors for taking time from intense work schedules to offer their insights about books in the form of written comments. We hope you will be as energized and as inspired as we are. As Hunter Lovins put it, some of these are books that remind us of why we do what we are doing. We also want to thank Byron Anderson, who exemplifies a good librarian's cheerful doggedness, for doing much legwork and for several informative and penetrating annotations.

We haven't compiled a list of these books; the 100 or so books recommended here do not make up our (or anybody else's) definitive "best books" of the century. We have little doubt that if asked again next week, some folks might come up with a pretty different list of their favorites. Some people found it impossible to limit their recommendations to three or four — and when they were able to, it was nearly always with the caveat that these weren't to be taken as the most important books, just that they sprang to mind for one reason or another. David Walls' rather long list, as you will see, offers a kind of historical tour of organizing for social change in the United States. Helen Caldicott, on the other hand, so passionate about the dangers of nuclear weapons and production, puts her own books at the top of the list, because to her this is the most important subject. Carl Jensen, not surprisingly, immediately thinks of books by muckraking journalists; Ed Marston and Rick Bass name books that illuminate land issues in the West. Grace Thorpe mentions books that reveal the lives of Native Americans. But, interestingly enough, many contributors name books that seem to have little or nothing to do with their life's work but are, rather, books that happen to affect them in a very personal way, or bring delight or refreshment. As Chellis Glendinning says, books that "burn into the soul," that "illuminate the big stories of our lives."

And, dear friends — please remember that The Workbook requires a huge financial commitment for Southwest Research and Information Center, which continues to struggle to maintain this publication as an essential tool for activists and information resource for concerned citizens. We exist only because some of our readers have become sponsors of The Workbook and because SRIC's board and staff believe its mission is so integral to who the organization is. But our current sponsorship does not provide enough money to pay the bills, and we need your help. If you are already a sponsor, please renew, and if possible, increase your contribution to help us stay in print. If you haven't yet become a Workbook Sponsor, please consider doing it now. A $25.00 contribution means a great deal to us. We hope you will, as we do, think of The Workbook as an important means to reach people with ideas and information that may inspire them to take action for positive change — knowing that it, too, has the potential to remind us why we are doing what we do — and find it worthy of your support.

Kathy Cone, Editor

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