“...This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrines.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. ...”
Words by Lloyd Stone set to O, Finlandia by Jean Sibelius
This song was translated so that Iraqi children in the Baghdad School of Folk Music and Ballet could sing it for the author. After the school was ransacking, following the USA invasion, the tape of this song was all that survived of the school. Kelly heard it and remembered.
She Read more [...] Category Archives: Book Reviews
Kelly, Kathy. OTHER LANDS HAVE DREAMS: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison 2005. CounterPunch & AK Press, USA &UK.
“...This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrines.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. ...”
Words by Lloyd Stone set to O, Finlandia by Jean Sibelius
This song was translated so that Iraqi children in the Baghdad School of Folk Music and Ballet could sing it for the author. After the school was ransacking, following the USA invasion, the tape of this song was all that survived of the school. Kelly heard it and remembered.
She Read more [...] Comments Off on Kelly, Kathy. OTHER LANDS HAVE DREAMS: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison 2005. CounterPunch & AK Press, USA &UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Kathy Kelly
Kent, George. FREEDOM FROM WANT: the human right to adequate food. 2005. Georgetown University Press, USA.
Freedom from want; the right to adequate food is included in many international agreements, most notable, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is enough food for all on earth, even as our population increases. But many people are hungry; food security may be the major issue of our time. Some of us enjoy the over-abundant food availability of the minority world; but we may soon face food insecurity as the petroleum basis of our industrial agriculture dries up. Then the human right to adequate food may not be ’out there’, but ’right Read more [...]
Comments Off on Kent, George. FREEDOM FROM WANT: the human right to adequate food. 2005. Georgetown University Press, USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, George Kent
Khalidi, Anbara Salam. MEMOIRS of AN EARLY ARAB FEMINIST: The life and Activism of Anbara Salam Khalidi. 2013. Pluto Press. London, UK. Translated from Arabic by Tarif Khalidi ISBN 978 0 7453 3356 4
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“I do not intend to write journal or history of my family...these memoirs might be described as a history of some landmarks of the age in which I lived...”
Readers should not be put off by the naïve and simple style of writing in this memoir. The author, lauded in the Arab world for her early bold feminism, writes with clear insight and impassioned engagement about a complex and conflict-ridden period of history in Lebanon and its neighbouring states; complexities and conflicts that are still with us today.
Khaladi, Read more [...] Comments Off on Khalidi, Anbara Salam. MEMOIRS of AN EARLY ARAB FEMINIST: The life and Activism of Anbara Salam Khalidi. 2013. Pluto Press. London, UK. Translated from Arabic by Tarif Khalidi ISBN 978 0 7453 3356 4
Filed under Book Reviews, Khalidi Anbara Salam
Kiguli, Susan N. & Violet Barungi. I DARE TO SAY: 5 testimonies by Ugandan women living positively with HIV/AIDS. 2007. Femrite Publications, Kampala, Uganda.
It is rare to find accounts and personal stories of Africa and HIV/AIDS that are not told through the filter of northern white liberals; I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning first hand about African women´s experiences with AIDS and the way in which people react to this illness.
The authors are Ugandan women writers who know the women they write about. They also understand the obstacles, the hardships, the cultural attitudes and family problems that surround HIV. Although HIV/AIDS was publicly identified very early Read more [...] Comments Off on Kiguli, Susan N. & Violet Barungi. I DARE TO SAY: 5 testimonies by Ugandan women living positively with HIV/AIDS. 2007. Femrite Publications, Kampala, Uganda.
Filed under Book Reviews, Susan N. Kiguli, Violet Barungi
King,Thomas. THE INCONVIENIENT INDIAN: A curious account of native people in North America.2012. Anchor Canada. Random House. Canada ISBN 978-0-385-66422-6
This is a widely recommended book in Canada and deservedly so. King is a witty, articulate and colourful writer and that comes through even in this painful and devastating history of the 1st peoples of the two largest countries on our continent – native people, as he writes, do not recognize our European-imposed borders. For more than 500 years, Europeans have occupied native land; we may have wanted to eliminate or assimilate them, but King and his book are proof that native people and their culture have not only survived our mistreatment, but Read more [...] Comments Off on King,Thomas. THE INCONVIENIENT INDIAN: A curious account of native people in North America.2012. Anchor Canada. Random House. Canada ISBN 978-0-385-66422-6
Filed under Book Reviews, Thomas King
Kneen, Brewster. Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada. 1999.
Personal, scientific, philosophical and moral expose of the chemical industries control of modern agriculture. An elegant and moving writer.
Follow
Comments Off on Kneen, Brewster. Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada. 1999.
Filed under Book Reviews, Brewster Kneen
Kollwitz, Kathe. PRINTS AND DRAWINGS OF KATHE KOLLWITZ selected by Carl Zigrosser. 1969. Dover Book, General Publishing Co. Toronto, Canada.
When the Cold War was at its most virulent, abstract artists in the USA were funded secretly by their government. The official line was that art is not political. Art classified as ´social realism´ was considered politically suspect if not darn right subversive and communist. So the art of Kollwitz was brushed aside along with Ken Sprague as outdated and unfashionable. This book may be out of print but is well worth looking for; other works about her are also available in English and German. I like this book because it is large format Read more [...] Comments Off on Kollwitz, Kathe. PRINTS AND DRAWINGS OF KATHE KOLLWITZ selected by Carl Zigrosser. 1969. Dover Book, General Publishing Co. Toronto, Canada.
Filed under Book Reviews, Kathe Kollwitz
Kovel, Joel. HISTORY and SPIRIT: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Liberation 1991. Beacon Press. USA.
This is a book I read and reviewed in 1991. I recently re-read it and still find it to be an important and profound work that confronts me with many questions about my journey through life and the society I live in.
History is a concept we can all understand, even though it has shades of meaning. Spirit and spirituality are difficult terms, used loosely in many ways, so Kovel is careful to start the book with his own definitions: spirit, “what happens to us at the as the boundaries of self give way. Or we could say that it is about the ´soul,´ Read more [...]
Comments Off on Kovel, Joel. HISTORY and SPIRIT: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Liberation 1991. Beacon Press. USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Joel Kovel
Kovel, Joel. OVERCOMING ZIONISM: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. 2007. Published by Between the Lines. Toronto ON & Pluto Press, USA & UK.
´This book is absolutely fundamental for those who reject the unfortunate confusion between Jews, Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel –– a confusion which is the basis for systematic manipulation by the imperialist power system. It convincingly argues in favour of a single secular state for Israelis and Palestinians as the only democratic solution for the region.´ Samir Amin, director of the Third World Forum
Joel Kovel is one the most original and creative thinkers in contemporary USA. His previous books range on subjects from racism Read more [...] Comments Off on Kovel, Joel. OVERCOMING ZIONISM: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. 2007. Published by Between the Lines. Toronto ON & Pluto Press, USA & UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Joel Kovel
Kovel, Joel. The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? Zed Books London, UK, & New York, USA. 2002.
Kovel, a USA activist-scholar and one of the most original and radical thinkers in that country, has written many thoughtful and challenging books on subjects ranging from Nicaragua to political witch hunting in USA.
The Enemy of Nature, not exactly a cheerful title, is an analysis and action plan to create an ecological socialist society. Although Kovel admits the obstacles to creating such a society are enormous, he says that we really have little alternative. Capitalism has alienated and disconnected us from nature and as Susan Hawthorne Read more [...] Comments Off on Kovel, Joel. The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? Zed Books London, UK, & New York, USA. 2002.
Filed under Book Reviews, Joel Kovel
Kurlansky, Mark. Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea. 2006. Modern Library, Random House, New York, USA.
The kind of pacifism that does not actively combat the war preparations of the government is powerless and will always stay powerless. Albert Einstein
One of the twenty-five lessons tells us that there is no proactive word for non–violence – at least in English and most languages. Another says that the state imagines it is impotent without a military because it cannot conceive of power without force; yet another lesson states that people motivated by fear do not act well. What are we ruled by? In my lifetime our society has always been fear Read more [...]
Comments Off on Kurlansky, Mark. Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea. 2006. Modern Library, Random House, New York, USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Mark Kurlansky
Langley, Billy & Dan Curtis. GOING WITH THE FLOW: Small scale water power. 2004. Centre for Alternative Technology Publications, Wales.
This little book excites me more than the whole heavy stack that PN recently sent me. It is immediate, politically and socially relevant, practical and comprehensive – we need it. Small scale water power - that is.
The price of petroleum increases as the reserves dwindle; wars and coups are planned and executed to ensure the minority world gets what it considers “our oil”, no matter where it is. And those who complain about polluting coal-based energy, also from a non-renewal resource, are told the answer is nuclear which supposedly will Read more [...]
Comments Off on Langley, Billy & Dan Curtis. GOING WITH THE FLOW: Small scale water power. 2004. Centre for Alternative Technology Publications, Wales.
Filed under Billy Langley, Book Reviews, Dan Curtis
