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 [...] Category Archives: 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
Human Rights in History by Morgan Avanti.2015. Morgan Avanti Publications. Toronto, ON ISBN978-0-9918346-0-0
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“What are human rights? They are rights belonging to all by virtue of being human. One can say possessing human rights makes it possible to be fully human.”
Human rights have become so commonly and often carelessly discussed these days that we seldom think about the concept embedded in these words, Avanti makes it very clear.
“The concept of human rights is based on several fundamentals. One is that rights are universally held by everyone. Secondly, rights exist regardless of the legal jurisdiction in which Read more [...] Comments Off on Human Rights in History by Morgan Avanti.2015. Morgan Avanti Publications. Toronto, ON ISBN978-0-9918346-0-0
Filed under A M Elmessiri, Uncategorized
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
Janice Williamson, editor. Omar Khadr, Oh Canada. 2012.McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal, Canada ISBN 978-0-7735-4022-4
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“The oppressors are playing with me,
As they move freely about the world...
They have monuments to liberty
And freedom of opinion, which is well and good.
But I explained to them that
Architecture is not justice. -Sami al Haj. Quoted at beginning of the book
The “Khadar case is a black mark on my own country’s international reputation and standing.” -Gen. Romeo Dallaire, one the book’s contributors
This collection by 34 Canadian Read more [...] Comments Off on Janice Williamson, editor. Omar Khadr, Oh Canada. 2012.McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal, Canada ISBN 978-0-7735-4022-4
Filed under Janice Williamson
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
Johnson, Harriet McBryde. Too Late to Die Young, Nearly True Tales from a Life. Henry Holt, New York, 2005.
Surprisingly little has changed in “fitness” circles since the Washington Post first asked, “Who are the unfit?” and then pointed out that the “unfit” tended to be anyone not belonging to the particular group having the discussion.
In the ninety-one years since the Post posed the question, those belonging to the groups having such discussions have managed to do away with a considerable number of those “under discussion”. Unfortunately, the question behind the “who are” question was too frequently, “And what are we going Read more [...]
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Filed under Book Reviews, Harriet McBryde Johnson
Johnsson—Latham, Gerd. A study on gender equality as a prerequisite for sustainable development. The Environmental Advisory Council, Ministry of the Environment, Sweden.
This is a booklet, readily available from the above site. It gives, in absolutely simple, jargon—free English the clearest and best written analysis of women´s place in the physical environment I have ever read. The author illustrates how, wherever they are, women consume less than men, even as those of us in the minority world consume far more than the majority of the world´s population. She also explains how crucial it is, that these different consumption patterns need to be taken into account in any planning of sustainable development. Read more [...]
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Jones, Esyllt and Adele Perry. PEOPLE´S CITIZENSHIP GUIDE: A response to conservative Canada. 2012. Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Winnipeg, MN, Canada.
“Canada has a capitalist economy which means that the bulk of decisions are made by private, for–profit firms hiring wage labour…The Canadian economy is an unequal one… Since the 1980s Canada has become more liberal and less equal. Its tax system is less progressive.”
Intended for recent immigrants as a response to the official citizenship guide which lauds Canada´s military history and the monarchy, this book is a little gem which should be read by all Canadians. A group of Canadian academics, activists and writers have produced a Read more [...]
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Filed under Adele Perry, Book Reviews, Esyllt Jones
Kaldor, Mary. New & Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK. 1999.
The UK academic shows the links between militarism, globalization, crime and the breakdown of society in this well documented book.
Follow
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Filed under Book Reviews, Mary Kaldor
Karmi, Ghada. MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine. Pluto Press. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-7453-2065-6
Review & author photo by Theresa Wolfwood
The author writes that the title of this book comes from, “following the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 at which the idea of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine was first mooted, the rabbis of Vienna dispatched two representatives to investigate the suitability of the country for such an enterprise. The men reported the result of their explorations in this cable to Vienna: The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man. It was not “A land without people for a people without Read more [...] Comments Off on Karmi, Ghada. MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine. Pluto Press. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-7453-2065-6
Filed under Ghada Karmi
Karmi, Ghada. IN SEARCH OF FATIMA: A Palestinian Story. Verso 2002 London, UK.
This is a poignant and sad memoir, and a vivid description of the life of one of the many Palestinians displaced by the “Nakba”, told by a woman torn from her childhood Jerusalem home with her family, forced into a permanent exile that was promised to be brief – the first of countless betrayals for her and many Palestinians.
We never set eyes on Fatima or our dog or the city we had known again. Like a body prematurely buried, unmourned, without coffin or ceremony, our hasty, untidy exit from Jerusalem was no way to have said goodbye to Read more [...] Comments Off on Karmi, Ghada. IN SEARCH OF FATIMA: A Palestinian Story. Verso 2002 London, UK.
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Keefe, Patrick Radden. CHATTER: Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping. Random House.
With all the publicity surrounding Wiki leaks´ technology, management and the revelation of many governments´ secret documents, we should not forget that our private communications are regularly hacked and monitored by a sophisticated system of spying posts and satellites by our government and others -using our tax money to fuel this clandestine industry.
Echelon is the network that the USA/UK has created to spy on any electronic or telephone message they choose. Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, England is one of the largest spy stations, known to Read more [...]
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Filed under Book Reviews, Patrick Radden Keefe
