Books by Friends
January
2008
Dear
friends and family,
I'm
fortunate to be connected to a caring community that includes dedicated
organizers, hard-working teachers and health-care providers, loving parents
& care-givers, tireless activists, and people in all walks of life who give
generously of their time, money and energy in the quest for a better world.
Among
these are a number of friends who write books. Their contributions help us
understand the world better and/or move us to perceive it in new ways. I'm
thankful for these volumes, and I'm writing to call a few new ones to your
attention.
In
today's so-called "media environment" it's not easy for books not
promoted by corporate giants to gain a significant audience. So that's one more
reason to check out one or more of the books below. And here's another, in bell hooks' words: "Life-transforming
ideas have always come to me through books."
Have fun
reading! Peace,
Max
*Check
out the stunning combination of photographs and bilingual text in 500
Years of Chicana Women's History by Betita Martinez, now available from
Rutgers University Press.
*Three good friends wrote essays that are
included in a new collection of top-notch analyses from Verso, War
With No End: Phyllis Bennis penned "The Global War on Terror: What
It Is, What It's Done to the World"; Tram Nguyen authored "Homeland
Wars" and Judith LeBlanc wrote the book's introduction.
*SDS
co-founder Tom Hayden had this to say about Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS):
A Graphic History, edited by my old friend & comrade from 1960s
Madison SDS days, Paul Buhle: "My own radical journey began with Mad
Magazine, so it feels great that SDS should enter the culture of comic
folklore…."
*If you
know a young reader who is ready for an engaging story about human and
environmental relationships, then the new children's novella by New Jersey high
school teacher Terry Moore is a perfect gift. The Watchers is available
at any bookstore or on-line; while you are at it take a look at the on-line
environmental webquest Terry has created at: http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/%7Etmoore/Webquest/envir.webquest.htm.
*There's
a wealth of eye-opening information in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz' revised
and
updated edition of Roots of Resistance: History of Land Tenure In New Mexico. For
more on the volume, and Roxanne's many other inspiring writings, go to http://www.reddirtsite.com/
*For a
new examination of the very timely matter of "liberals, leftists, and the
tortured relations between the two" check out Doug Rossinow's new book, Visions
of Progress: The Left-Liberal Tradition in America. (Also useful if you are trying to get a
handle on the last 60 years of U.S. history is a collection Doug co-edited in
2006, The United States Since 1945: Historical Interpretations; it
includes my 2001 essay, "What Legacy from Radical Internationalism of
1968?”)
*All you
poetry fans out there will appreciate James Tracy's Sparks and Codes for both
the quality of the writing and its "extremist ideology of human
decency." For information: http://civildefensepoetry.com/book_sparks_codes.html
*Carlos
Muñoz, Jr. has just updated and expanded his award-winning volume Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano
Movement with "a groundbreaking afterword that brings the imperative
of multiracial democracy to a new level of clarity."
*Undoing
the Silence: Six Tools For Social Change Writing provides a host of
valuable tools for anyone who wants to write for social change. And author
Louise Dunlap hasn't just given us this book, she is leading in-person,
hands-on workshops around the country. Find out about – or organize! – a
session in your area by going to http://www.undoingsilence.org/
*Keep
your eyes open for Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward
Social Justice by Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin, due off the
press in June.
*This
one isn't a book - it's a magazine - but if you want to keep up with what's
happening in on the ground popular movements, then Left Turn ought to be on
your list. Radical magazines are much-needed but harder to sustain then ever;
the talented young radicals who produce Left Turn deserve all of our respect
and support: http://www.leftturn.org/ to subscribe or sustain.
*Last,
if you are not already on the War Times/Tiempo de Guerras email
list (2-4 messages a month, including my 'Month in Review' antiwar column), you
can sign up at http://www.war-times.org
And if you haven't yet read the preface to the paperback edition of my
own book, Revolution In The Air, give this new edition a whirl and I'd be
eager to hear your comments, and post them at http://www.revolutionintheair.com