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New Book Shares Antiracist History of White Poor

A protest against urban renewal called by JOIN. (Photo: Nancy Hollander)

The authors intentionally challenge published history that emphasizes working-class white opposition to civil rights and radical politics and attributes most white radicalism to students. By Maya Pisel “Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times” presents the histories of five organizations that fought racism in the 1960s and ’70s by [...]

February 2nd, 2012 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Do Social Democratic Parties Have a Future?

While Barack Obama and the Democrats triumphed at the polls in 2008, their ascent did not result in a dramatic swing to the left. (photo: realjameso16/Creative Commons)

In light of the popular movements of today and the debate on democracy they triggered, we don’t even know if traditional party politics will be the most adequate vehicle to address the challenges related to globalization, financial capitalism, inequality or the environment. But, thanks to “What is Left of the Left?” we have a better [...]

January 8th, 2012 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Do Civil Society and Corporate Social Responsibility Provide the Best Hope for the Re-Regulation of Big Business?

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“The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism” offers a broad, well informed and accessible account of why neoliberal ideas and those who gain from them have so far emerged unscathed from a crisis of their own making. By Matthew Lloyd-Cape To many observers, neoliberalism seemed terminally wounded by the 2008 economic crisis, but do not have much of [...]

November 13th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

New Novel Explores Life on a 19th Century Plantation in Puerto Rico

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History aficionados will find “Conquistadora” a fascinating text with detailed views of a Puerto Rican sugar cane plantation in the mid-19th century. By Rafael Ocasio Esmeralda Santiago was born in the working-class neighborhood of Villa Palmeras, in Santurce, in the outskirts of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1948. In 1961, when she was barely a teenager, she arrived [...]

October 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Working to Learn? Internships and the New Spirit of Capitalism

John Hancock Building. Photo: Ernst Halberstadt/ Creative Commons

“Jam packed with shocking statistics and revealing interviews with interns and those that employ and coordinate them, “Intern Nation” provides an inside view into the topic and a welcome break from the hordes of self-help books proclaiming the value of an unpaid internship.” By Ben Lear It is clear that the economy has changed dramatically [...]

October 18th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Alter-Globalization: The Author Responds

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“A proposal for a better understanding of the global justice movement.” Geoffrey Pleyers, author of “Alter-Globalization: Becoming Actors in the Global Age”, writes: I usually really appreciate your website and its articles. As you may imagine, I’m quite disappointed with the review of “Alter-Globalization” that was published on October 3. There is no doubt that [...]

October 15th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

How Not to Theorize the Alter-Globalization Movement

Zapatistas, far more than experts from NGOs, epitomize the global justice movement. (photo: Ernstl, Creative Commons)

  Scholarship that fails to analyze the motivations and strategies of most actors in a social movement and instead exalts a group of self-proclaimed “experts,” who the author readily admits were alternately dismissed or hated as charlatans by a broad swath of the movement, does not provide an account that is honest to the history [...]

October 3rd, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

What Can a City Farm Accomplish?

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It is  a testimonial to the power and potential of the sustainable food systems movement to transform not just the lives of the Whole Foods set, but of a diverse group of people. by Abbe Futterman Part coffee table book, part documentary account, “Growing a Garden City” by  journalist Jeremy N. Smith is a celebration [...]

September 30th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

New Book Explores the Legacy of Colonization and Decolonization for Native American Rights

(image:  Florida Photographic Collection/Creative Commons)

There is enough book here – an arm-wearying 934 pages – that it is no great trick to find plenty to respect, admire, and learn from, while also not running short of elements that are disappointing and off-putting. By Scott Neigh The best part of “Earth Into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism,” the second and [...]

September 27th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Is Green the New Red? Thinking About Political Repression Today

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“While corporations and the state have certainly targeted activists as ‘eco-terrorists,’ too many other populations have also been targeted for repression to sufficiently pair the Red Scares and the Green Scare.” By Craig Hughes and Kevin Van Meter “McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled,” said Joe McCarthy to a public audience at the height [...]

September 22nd, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Rob Nixon’s “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor”: A Review

A memorial for the victims of the Bhopal disaster. photo: Luca Frediani/Creative Commons

Rob Nixon’s “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor” (Harvard University Press 2011) explores the slow, steady, and often ignored violence of socio-environmental degradation around the globe, and the writer-activists trying to bring it to light.  By Christine Shearer In “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor” (Harvard University Press 2011), Rachel Carson Professor [...]

September 5th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

What Happens When a Factory Closes

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This up-close view of the end of a factory in Detroit is valuable for both policy makers and general readers. By Margie Burns “Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant” details the last months and ultimately the last days of a Detroit manufacturing plant. It is the second title by Paul Clemens, whose [...]

August 28th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

New Book Highlights the Intersection of Sports and Racism

Kobe Bryant (photo: USMC)

“Commodified and Criminalized” shows how black athletes’ success becomes evidence of American colorblindness, while their failure is made to remind us of the persistent power of race. By Paul Heideman It is almost an axiom of American culture today that sports and politics don’t mix. Despite the militarization of sporting spectacles, the intimate involvement of [...]

August 14th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Troublemaker, A Memoir from the Front lines of the Sixties: A Review

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The portrait that emerges is of a courageous person who cared about the welfare of other people. By William J. Kelleher, Ph.D. “Troublemaker” is the memoir of Bill Zimmerman, a 60s-through-70s activist who then became a professional political consultant for progressive candidates and causes. In part, it is an excellent history of the times, written [...]

July 4th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away: A Review

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In “Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away,” first-time novelist Christie Watson lays bare the poverty stricken lives of traditional Nigerian villagers through the perspective of a young girl named Blessing. By Eva Wojcik “Eh! The politicians are controlled by the oil companies! This war would not be happening if the oil companies did not pay for the [...]

June 27th, 2011 | Posted in Reviews | Read More »

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