Political Books/Articles Still Worth Reading

[Battista Minola 1616]

Having been a poll worker at the Italian elections that happened two weeks ago, I cannot not recommend Italo Calvino's The Watcher.

Even though by his own admission it is not actually a political book - its main theme is the meaning of humanity and love - it still has an obvious political perspective. Its main character is a liberal intellectual serving as a PCI poll watcher at a Church-owned nursing home for the most disabled and sick members of society, where patients are apparently routinely tricked into voting DC.

Sadly I have the feeling it is pretty hard to find in English. Original title is La giornata d'uno scrutatore.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Sadly I have the feeling it is pretty hard to find in English. Original title is La giornata d'uno scrutatore.

Not sure if it's still in print, but it has certainly been published in English.

Yes I know. I don't know if it is still in print, I think it might be in some volume together with his other short novel from the same period La speculazione edilizia.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Sadly I have the feeling it is pretty hard to find in English. Original title is La giornata d'uno scrutatore.

Not sure if it's still in print, but it has certainly been published in English.

Yes I know. I don't know if it is still in print, I think it might be in some volume together with his other short novel from the same period La speculazione edilizia.

A quick search has it easily available in English on Amazon, so presumably it can be found from less-evil online retailers too.

Glorious news!
I actually tend to think all online retailers are intrinsically evil, although yes, Amazon is likely the evilest.

[Battista Minola 1616]

Having been a poll worker at the Italian elections that happened two weeks ago, I cannot not recommend Italo Calvino's The Watcher.

Even though by his own admission it is not actually a political book - its main theme is the meaning of humanity and love - it still has an obvious political perspective. Its main character is a liberal intellectual serving as a PCI poll watcher at a Church-owned nursing home for the most disabled and sick members of society, where patients are apparently routinely tricked into voting DC.

Sadly I have the feeling it is pretty hard to find in English. Original title is La giornata d'uno scrutatore.

Wait, does that mean “The Journal of the Scrutinizer” or “The Day of the Scrutinizer”? I have a very minor interest in linguistics, but I don’t really know how I would distinguish which meaning the non-native word has, compared to the two native ones.

It means the latter, but "scrutinizer" is either a poll worker or a poll watcher (in this context, a watcher).