#TeamCap vs. #TeamIronMan: Books Edition

Books are heroes too.

So the newest trailer for Captain America: Civil War just came out (and if you didn’t know, now you know). And we’re asking the real questions.

In answer to our own question, we give you:

#TeamCap Reading List

1. People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
   For Team Cap, who see themselves fighting for civil liberties and protection of individuals from the government, Howard Zinn would be essential reading for its documentation of the long history of exploitation of various groups by the United States.
2. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
   This play depicts the overthrow of a tyrant by a sympathetic group of rebels — and yet the charismatic Mark Antony who opposes them is also sympathetic. The play ends with the tragic death of the rebels — but also recognition of the nobility of their characters.
3. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
   This dystopian novel follows a drug-addicted man who is forced into a rehab center that is intended to break the will of its patients. The directors have stated that a driving factor in Captain America’s fight is the desire to protect his friend Bucky from being persecuted for his crimes committed while brainwashed.
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry
   This novel features a community under extreme control of the authorities — there is no hunger, no war, and no suffering, but also no music, beauty, or love. The repressive regime claiming to protect humanity has in fact smothered it — a fate Team Cap perhaps fears.
5. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
   This might be a little too on the nose — but it’s a book about a man with amnesia trying to recall his past while shadowy government agencies try to kill him. You see where we’re going with this.
6. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
   This book, written during the McCarthy Era of the Cold War but set during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, explores the dangers of fear and how it can cause a community to turn on itself. Maybe that scenario sounds familiar too.

#TeamIronMan Reading List

1. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
   Iron Man often plays the pragmatist/realist to Captain America’s idealist. This ancient military treatise, which often emphasizes outsmarting one’s enemy and avoiding outright battle, would likely appeal to that pragmatism.
2. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
   This book about the dangers of unchecked technological/scientific advancement resonates with the argument that power needs supervision — and recalls Tony Stark’s creation of the villain Ultron.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
   The emphasis in To Kill a Mockingbird on laws written and unwritten and the importance of doing the right thing even when friends and neighbors oppose you has an obvious application here.
4. The Next 100 Years by George Friedman
   Team Iron Man believes they are looking forward and guarding the future — they’re clearly aware of the potential consequences moving forward, and are thinking long term — hence this book by George Friedman exploring the possible direction of the 21st century.
5. Master & Commander by Patrick O’Brian
   The attention to technical detail in this epic series by O’Brian is only part of the appeal here — an even greater one is the close, intense friendship between the commander Jack Aubrey and the surgeon Stephen Maturin, very different people who nonetheless become friends. (Sound familiar?)
6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
   This dystopian novel might seem an odd fit for the team advocating increased government oversight. Nonetheless, Team Iron Man is probably aware of the possibilities of a dystopian future — and perhaps sees excessively powerful superheroes with no oversight as the new World State of benevolent dictators.

Now you can read like a superhero would (probably) read. There’s still time to pick up the comics version of Civil War, too.

Get more great literary content delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Strand Insider newsletter here!