It Has to Be Read. – May 2025 Selections
Each Friday this May, we gather not just to read, but to reckon.
This month’s It Has to Be Read. lineup is about pulling back the curtain. On propaganda. On theologies that have been hijacked. On American pain. On the radicalization of boys. On the mechanics of authoritarianism itself.
These are books that refuse to let us look away—and they aren’t content with hand-wringing. They demand clarity, courage, and community.
Here’s what we’re reading:
May 2 – Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults
by Dr. Mara Einstein, PhD
A searing exposé from media scholar Dr. Mara Einstein, PhD on how modern marketing mimics the manipulative playbook of cults—and why we’re all more susceptible than we think.
May 9 – Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism
by Brian Kaylor
Forget the myth of “radical evangelicals as the problem.” This book reveals how respectable, mainline denominations quietly laid the groundwork for Christian nationalism.
May 16 – America in Therapy: A New Approach to Hope and Healing for a Nation in Crisis
by Phyllis E. Leavitt, MA
A therapist’s urgent invitation to treat America like a trauma survivor—acknowledging harm and rebuilding with honesty, compassion, and justice.
May 23 – Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood
by Rev. Angela Denker
From pulpits to YouTube pipelines, Denker traces how white Christian culture shaped a generation of boys into warriors for a false gospel.
May 30 – One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps
by Andrea Pitzer
This haunting history draws the throughlines between past atrocities and present policies—and insists we learn before we repeat.
Subscribe to join the weekly discussions, and bring your questions. These aren’t easy reads—but they are necessary ones.