Person
Every book Christopher Wong recommended on podcasts
Christopher Wong’s most recommended books
- The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
- The Magical State by Fernando Coronil
- An Inquiry Into the Principles of the Good Society by Walter Lippmann
- Brain of the Firm by Stafford Beer
- Debt by David Graeber
- Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer
- The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin
- The constitution of liberty by Friedrich A. von Hayek
Christopher Wong has discussed and recommended various influential books across multiple episodes of the Behind the Bastards podcast. During a discussion on Venezuelan history and politics, Wong highlighted Fernando Coronil's book The Magical State, describing the author as a legendary Venezuelan anthropologist and strongly recommending the text. He also brought up several works concerning economic theory, cybernetics, and radical social change. When analyzing cybernetic systems in Chile, Wong referenced Stafford Beer's Brain of the Firm and his collection of presentations titled Designing Freedom, noting that the latter work consistently amused him. In discussions surrounding neoliberal history and the Chilean constitution, Wong referenced Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, transcribed during the show as The Road to Mount Pelleon, as well as The Constitution of Liberty, highlighting Hayek's views on providing basic market alternatives like food and housing. Additionally, Wong utilized David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years to illustrate the direct consequences of International Monetary Fund austerity programs in Madagascar. Exploring the intellectual roots of twentieth-century political thought, Wong mentioned Walter Lippmann's An Inquiry Into the Principles of the Good Society, examining its arguments concerning totalitarianism and the absence of private property, as well as Hayek's arguments regarding state intervention and market structures.
Books recommended by Christopher Wong
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The Road to Serfdom
F.
Discussed“I'm going to read a section from the road to Mount Pelleon describing Virginia school titan James M. Buchanan's work.”
Where to get it
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The Magical State
The Magical State by Fernando Coronil is an analytical exploration of the political culture and oil-fueled modernization in Venezuela, examining how petroleum revenues shape the relationship between the state and society.
Recommended“I'm going to be drawing heavily here from the work of the legendary Venezuelan anthropologist Fernando Coranil in his book, The Magical State, which I highly recommend”
Where to get it
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An Inquiry Into the Principles of the Good Society
Discussed“And in 1937, Walter Litman, an American writer who would become most famous for inventing the term Cold War, wrote a book called An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society, which argued that totalitarianism was a product of not having individual private property and that the state needs to be limited to administering justice and not, you know,”
Where to get it
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Brain of the Firm
Discussed“there was a really interesting thing to me about this because you know if if you look at how like if if you look at how the socialist block sort of responds to to the crisis of the 70s and you know their sort of decay in the 80s like they they have this option available to them right they”
Where to get it
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Debt
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber is an anthropological examination of how debt systems, financial classes, and power dynamics have shaped human civilization over millennia.
Discussed“The anthropologist David Greyber described the consequence of one such IMF austerity program in debt the first 5,000 years.”
Where to get it
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Designing Freedom
Discussed“There's one little line from uh Beer's book. Well, it's actually a set of presentations called Designing Freedom that I absolutely love. It cracks me up every time I read it.”
Where to get it
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The Conquest of Bread
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin is a classic anarchist text that outlines a vision for a libertarian communist society based on mutual aid, voluntary cooperation, and the expropriation of resources.
Discussed“So, let us return to the source. Kirkotkin in the conquest of bread.”
Where to get it
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The constitution of liberty
Friedrich A.
Discussed“The constitution was not only named after Hayek's book, The Constitution of Liberty, but also incorporated significant elements of Hayek's thinking.”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| It Could Happen Here Weekly 21 | Behind the Bastards | 2022-02-12 | 2 |
| It Could Happen Here Weekly 14 | Behind the Bastards | 2021-12-18 | 4 |
| It Could Happen Here Weekly 13 | Behind the Bastards | 2021-12-11 | 2 |
| It Could Happen Here Weekly 11 | Behind the Bastards | 2021-11-27 | 1 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“There's a thing in volume one of Capital about this that I was like, 'Oh, I could pull this up.' And then I was like, 'That is too much work. I'm not going to do it.'”