Monthly Archives: September 2012
Johnson, Chalmers. NEMESIS: The Last Days of the American Empire. 2006. Metropolitan Books. USA.
NEMESIS: In Greek mythology,/ the goddess of retribution,/ who punishes human/ transgression of the natural,/ right order of things and/ the arrogance that causes it.
So begins this detailed account and analysis of USA foreign and military policy which the author believes carries the seeds of its own destruction. Johnson is a prolific writer of history and political criticism and a scholar of Asian affairs. He is president of the Japan Policy Research Institute.
NEMESIS is the third of a recent series which includes Blowback and the Sorrows Read more [...]
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Filed under Book Reviews, Chalmers Johnson
Isitt, Benjamin. FROM VICTORIA TO VLADIVOSTOK: Canada´s Siberian Expedition 1917-19. UBC Press. 2010. Vancouver, BC.
“Canada lost in Siberia, its first foray as a world power, and then quietly ignored this history.”
On December 21, 2010, peace activists gathered outside the armed forces recruitment centre on Fort Street, Victoria. Just a few feet away, at the corner of Quadra, a group of conscripts returned from WW1, mutinied on December 21, 1918 against being forced to fight against the new Russian government. For some of us it was the first time we had acknowledged or learned about this hidden rebellion.
Isitt´s research provided the background Read more [...] Comments Off on Isitt, Benjamin. FROM VICTORIA TO VLADIVOSTOK: Canada´s Siberian Expedition 1917-19. UBC Press. 2010. Vancouver, BC.
Filed under Benjamin Isitt, Book Reviews
Hooks, Margaret. Tina Modotti: Photographer and Revolutionary. 1993. Pandora, HarperCollins Publications, London UK.
Tina Modotti came from a poor family in Italy to the USA: her beauty and strong character lead her into a modelling and acting career. She became a model, mistress and assistant of USA photographer, Edward Weston. Together they went to Mexico; she fell in love with that country and stayed after he went home and became an amazing photographer in her own right — first with photos of flowers but soon her political convictions moved her to social documentary photography.
She was a friend and colleague to many of the art and left Read more [...] Comments Off on Hooks, Margaret. Tina Modotti: Photographer and Revolutionary. 1993. Pandora, HarperCollins Publications, London UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Margaret Hooks
Honoré, Carl. In Praise of Slow: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed. Vintage Canada. 2004.
"There is more to life than increasing its speed"
Gandhi, quoted in this book
It started with the slow food movement which has spread from Italy to many countries. So Honoré starts his journey of slowing down with a report of the most popular slow movement, but his own epiphany as a frantic London-based journalist trying keep up with he demands of work and his attention to his small children. He saw an "AD" for "The one-Minute Bedtime Story". Too good to be true - until he realizes that his whole life has become an exercise in hurry – Read more [...]
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Hodges, Tony. WESTERN SAHARA: The Roots of a Desert War. Lawrence Hill & Co. USA.
Described by a Canadian expert on the issue as the canonical work on this little known part of African history and geography; Hodges, a UK scholar and journalist, provides readers with a coherent and comprehensive record of the Western Sahara. For those coming late to the issue of Africa´s last colony, this issue, there is a wealth of complex history going back to the Neolithic to learn in order to understand the present day ongoing struggles for independence.
Hodges provides the essential background to understand the struggle for independence Read more [...] Comments Off on Hodges, Tony. WESTERN SAHARA: The Roots of a Desert War. Lawrence Hill & Co. USA.
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Hines, Colin. Localization: A Global Manifesto. Earthscan Publications, London, UK, 2000.
This British writer-activist has excellent ideas on how to create a necessary alternative to industrial, monoculture globalization. How to create cultural diversity and preserve biodiversity while localizing economies with human priorities.
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Hildebrandt, Zeporah. MARINA SILVA: Defending Rainforest Communities in Brazil. 2001. The Feminist Press, New York, USA.
“To see families that lived in the forest in dignity; in the favelas, in terrible poverty— that was a great motivation to become involved in political work, in social movements.”
One of my memorable moments at The World Social Forum in Porto Alegro, Brazil was seeing and hearing a small frail woman take the stage and capture the hearts of the audience when she spoke. Marina Silva was then the Senator from the Amazon in Brazil´s national government and was passionate about protecting the people and the ecology of her home.
Silva was Read more [...] Comments Off on Hildebrandt, Zeporah. MARINA SILVA: Defending Rainforest Communities in Brazil. 2001. The Feminist Press, New York, USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Zeporah Hildebrandt
Heath, Joseph and Andrew Potter. The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can’t be jammed. 2004. HarperCollins, Toronto, ON.
I have long had my doubts about the idea of "culture jamming" as promoted by some magazines and recent acclaimed books. It often seems like shallow theatre to me. Thinking it may be an age related ideological problem of my own, I was pleased to see this book by two obviously young writers.
Their thesis is that a preoccupation with "jamming" the consumer culture - what Warnock calls market capitalism in his very different book, Saskatchewan - is really a form of consumerism. I think of that whenever I see a "Che" T-shirt. We commodify everything Read more [...]
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Hawthorne, Susan. Wild Politics. Spinifex Press. North Melbourne, Australia.
In her opening statement Hawthorne lays out our problem and our solution: Disconnection is critical for a system based on profit. By contrast, biodiversity relies on connection and relationship. If DISPOSABLE PEOPLE is depressing, WILD POLITICS provides an inspiring antidote to its message by giving a feminist critique of our present world, an explanation of the structures that enable exploitation and an amazing range of actions by women, peasants, farmers, workers everywhere who defy the globalization paradigm and connect to our common humanity Read more [...]
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Hawthorne, Susan. THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. 2005. Spinifex Press. Melbourne, Australia.
From the physical sciences comes the theory that all life is interconnected, that even the gentle movement of a butterfly’s wing can connect to vast and distant changes and consequences. The pages of this book are like those frail wings; marks on delicate paper that connect and relate.
In Wild Politics Hawthorne explored the growth of wisdom and strength in a world of biodiversity and cultural diversity; a world where everything is connected and politics are best nurtured in their own home environment. She showed how disconnection is vital Read more [...]
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Hawthorne, Susan & Bronwyn Winter eds. After Shock: September 11, 2001 / Global Feminist Perspectives. 2003. Raincoast Books, Vancouver, BC.
“There are a hundred ways to be a good citizen, and one of them is to look, finally, at things we don't want to see.”
Barbara Kingsolver in After Shock
This volume was originally published as SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives in 2002 by Spinifex Press of Australia. It has lost none of its importance or relevance in the last two years. The words of women on the evils of violence are prophetic as we see in horror the war of occupation in Iraq, the increase repression in Palestine and the fallout of USA militarism everywhere – including Read more [...]
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Handal, Nathalie, editor. THE POETRY OF ARAB WOMEN: A contemporary anthology. 2001. Interlink Books USA.
This extensive collection contains works from more than 80 Arab women poets around the world. The editor writes that poetry is historically revered in Arab culture and is the genre of choice of women writers – many known writers date back 1500 years. For this reviewer it is exciting to discover so many contemporary poets in one volume. Arab woman and their creativity have been sidelined in today´s politicized world and this book is a great contribution to our knowledge of Arab poetry in translation.
The introduction is lengthy and extensive, Read more [...]
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