A newly formed Progressive Book Club includes Michael Chabon as one of six panelists reviewing the monthly slate of books.

The International Herald Tribune reports that the club, which began this week, is inviting readers to buy three books for $1 each. Members are then required to buy other four books over two years. “The right has always understood the power of ideas, the power of books as legitimizers of ideas,” said club founder Elizabeth Wagley. “I see the opportunity with the book club structure to create a powerful tool to showcase the ideas of the left.”

Other panelists include novelists Erica Jong and Barbara Kingsolver; John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress; Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation; and Todd Gitlin, a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University.