Category Archives: Book Reviews
Milosz, Czeslaw, editor. A book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry. 1997. Harcourt Brace & Company. USA & UK.
This is a wonderful collection of poetry that will never date from many lands and many centuries. I usually find anthologies disappointing, but I found this volume of 300 poems chosen by the Nobel Prize winner, Czeslaw Milosz, to be the best gathering of poetry in one volume that I have read. His choices are based on his criteria of, ‘…realist, that is loyal toward reality and attempting to describe it as concisely as possible.’ He selects poems that are universal in their timeless themes of love, transience, death. He quotes the philosopher, Read more [...]
Comments Off on Milosz, Czeslaw, editor. A book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry. 1997. Harcourt Brace & Company. USA & UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Czeslaw Milosz
Mitchell, Adrian. The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000-2004. 2004. Bloodaxe Books. UK.
The blurb on the back cover says that Mitchell is “restoring a radical, subversive voice to the public face of British poetry.” For that he is most welcome! Mitchell is a skilled and imaginative poet, creating humorous works about sacred cows and searing indictments of war, greed and violence.
It was the mainstream media’s mania for royal hagiography that gave the magazine, Red Pepper, the idea to anoint a shadow poet laureate who could speak to and for the people. I’ll always remember Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper saying Read more [...]
Comments Off on Mitchell, Adrian. The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000-2004. 2004. Bloodaxe Books. UK.
Filed under Adrian Mitchell, Book Reviews
Monbiot, George. Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain. Pan Macmillan. London, UK. 2000.
One of Britain ’s best journalists uses his own country for an in-depth case study of how industrial capitalism has invaded and mostly conquered every aspect of British life. It could be applied to Canada and many other countries.
Follow
Comments Off on Monbiot, George. Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain. Pan Macmillan. London, UK. 2000.
Filed under Book Reviews, George Monbiot
Monbiot, George. HEAT: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. 2006. Doubleday Canada.
Monbiot, the brilliant and prolific writer for the UK Guardian, blazes out his excellent ideas for saving our environment from global warming. In the special preface to this Canadian edition, he tells us that Canada is one of the highest producers of greenhouse gases.
“You think of yourselves as a liberal and enlightened people….But you could scarcely do more to destroy the biosphere if you tried…The sustainable limit for carbon dioxide emissions is…one—sixteenth of what you currently produce.”
Much of what he writes Read more [...] Comments Off on Monbiot, George. HEAT: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. 2006. Doubleday Canada.
Filed under Book Reviews, George Monbiot
Moyer, Bill with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley, Steven Soifer. Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements. New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island, BC. 2001.
“There is no way; we make the road by walking it”.
Antonio Machado
The seriousness of social movements in recent decades can be judged by the fact that many academics who seldom leave the ivory tower deem them worthy and timely to study and joyfully criticize and deconstruct. Their studies are rarely available or of value to working activists.
This book is different; Moyer and the other authors have been deeply committed social activists for many years. Their book is a very practical guide and a clear analysis of movements that activists Read more [...]
Comments Off on Moyer, Bill with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley, Steven Soifer. Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements. New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island, BC. 2001.
Filed under Bill Moyer, Book Reviews, JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley, Steven Soifer
Nebenzahl, Donna and Nance Ackerman. WOMANKIND: Faces of Change Throughout the World. 2003, Raincoast Books, Vancouver BC.
This is a handsome and big book, qualifying for ”coffee table“ status, but it also a wonderful collection of stunning photos and wise words of women who work with a passion for social change. Nebenzahl and Ackerman travelled the world finding the answers from each woman to their question: Why do they care enough to dedicate their lives to helping other? The answers are diverse but they found a common thread: “That activist women often come to their work out of sadness and despair, because of personal loss, but sometimes simply out of deep Read more [...] Comments Off on Nebenzahl, Donna and Nance Ackerman. WOMANKIND: Faces of Change Throughout the World. 2003, Raincoast Books, Vancouver BC.
Filed under Book Reviews, Donna Nebenzahl, Nance Ackerman
Newman, Jessica R., Editor. From The Web – A Global Anthology of Women´s Political Poetry. Radical Poetry Collective. Denver, CO, USA.
I have a poem in this book, otherwise I would not know of it. So I am glad my poem was printed here so I could read and appreciate the writers of a vast collection of poetry on subjects including war, cultural identity, political art and privilege – a book that the editor said she produced because it was the kind of poetry she wanted to read. I think it is a book many women – and men – would want to read. I read it cover to cover when it arrived and was amazed by the scope and breadth of the poems included. Let´s hope it gets well advertised, Read more [...]
Comments Off on Newman, Jessica R., Editor. From The Web – A Global Anthology of Women´s Political Poetry. Radical Poetry Collective. Denver, CO, USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Jessica R. Newman
Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. 1980-1994. James Currey, UK & Hieinemann Kenya.
“In my view language was the most important vehicle through which that power fascinated and held the soul prisoner. The bullet was the means of the physical subjugation. Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation.”
This slim volume was and is important enough to go through many printings. Everything the author, a respected Kenyan scholar & writer, says is still relevant today. He pens with a vivid description of the role of a writer who must have a passion for truth and a rigorous analysis of reality – like a surgeon.
“Writers Read more [...]
Comments Off on Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. 1980-1994. James Currey, UK & Hieinemann Kenya.
Filed under Book Reviews, Ngugi wa Thiong’o
NIKIFORUK, Andrew. TAR SANDS: Dirty OIL and the Future of a Continent. 2008. Greystone Books. Vancouver, BC.
“Nations become what they produce. Bitumen, the new national staple, is redefining thr character and destiny of Canada.”
“Investment in the tar sands, including pipelines and upgraders now totals approximately $200 billion. The tar sands boom has become the world´s energy project, the world´s largest construction project, and the world´s largest capital project. No comprehensive assessment of the megaproject´s environmental, economic or social impact has been done.”
It starts with a declaration of a political emergency — the Read more [...]
Comments Off on NIKIFORUK, Andrew. TAR SANDS: Dirty OIL and the Future of a Continent. 2008. Greystone Books. Vancouver, BC.
Filed under Andrew Nikiforuk, Book Reviews
Niosi, Goody. Magnificently Unrepentant: The Story of Merve Wilkenson and Wildwood. Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd (October 2001).
The story of a sustainable logger, a committed social activist and a persistent thorn in the side of governments and corporations. Merve is one of my heroes. He lives near Victoria and his beautiful forest is in the process of becoming a preserve now that he is in his eighties and is slowing down a little bit.
Comments Off on Niosi, Goody. Magnificently Unrepentant: The Story of Merve Wilkenson and Wildwood. Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd (October 2001).
Filed under Book Reviews, Goody Noisi
Noble, David F. BEYOND THE PROMISED LAND: The Movement and the Myth Between the Lines. 2005. Toronto, ON. Canada.
“What better place than here
What better place than now”
This quote really sums up the main thrust of this highly original critique of the Judeo–Christian mythology of future and distant rewards. He makes a strong case for ignoring determinist historic theory and urges us to seize the moment and make our own destiny, where we are, now, using many examples of social action that were unpredicted and successful from the decline of the WTO starting in Seattle to the rise of autonomous power in Chiapas, Mexico. Recently I have hears Read more [...] Comments Off on Noble, David F. BEYOND THE PROMISED LAND: The Movement and the Myth Between the Lines. 2005. Toronto, ON. Canada.
Filed under Book Reviews, David F. Noble
Nusseibeh, Hazem Zaki. Jerusalemites: A Living Memory. 2009. Rimal Publications, Nicosia, Cyprus, & Melisende Publishing, London, UK.
“…although the story is recounted from the viewpoint and perspective of an individual, it is in many ways the story of the unparalleled tragedy of the Palestinian people.”
“The inhabitants of Jerusalem, a highly sophisticated versatile and experienced community, suddenly found themselves jolted into dispersal: uprooted physically from their homes, civil service jobs…They migrated to all corners of the globe…”
Intended to be a personal memoir, without references or scholarly footnotes, the author has written the story of his remarkable Read more [...] Comments Off on Nusseibeh, Hazem Zaki. Jerusalemites: A Living Memory. 2009. Rimal Publications, Nicosia, Cyprus, & Melisende Publishing, London, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Hazem Zaki Nusseibeh
