Activism Books

Rubin has written a great primer on one of the most important topics today. Today, Hamas lawfully earned the right to form a government in Palestine. Hamas is a not a group of liberal want to be democratizers, they are instead violent radical Islamists. This topic is so relevant to what is unfolding right now!

Rubin skillfully shows that there are liberals in the Broader Middle East and that they are fighting to be heard above Islamists. There is hope for Arab liberalism but the way forward is very rough indeed, as Rubin details. Anti-americanism, anti-israeli sentiment, and the war in Iraq are giving the field of discussion over to the radicals.

In the west we can not easily understand what is happening. Across the Middle East, authoritarian governments and radical islamists have created a climate that ignores the truth and history and that then propagates a twisted reality out to the masses. Conspiracy theories and finger pointing abound as the Middle East continues to seek deeper and deeper into chaos. Can we imagine a place where intellectual thought, curiosity and truth are not valued? It exists and it is the Middle East.

Overall, Rubin's book is a valued contribution to the field of Middle Eastern studies. Scholars, students and lay alike must understand the political climate of the region. Elections and democracy are good so long as usher in positive and progressive forces, and not radical Islamists.

We must do everything in our power to support the liberals - as the Islamists, born out of the repressive nature of their countries, are not a force for progressive change. In the end, the future of the region may boil down to revolutionary change or evolutionary change as the repressive governments begin to collapse. Arab liberals must be ready and supported to pick up the pieces, or else the way of Khomeini will prevail.

You hear a lot of things about the Middle East. On the one hand, countries such as Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan hold elections, and Saudi Arabia and Jordan are monarchies. Lebanon and Tadjikistan are run by coalitions of various political parties within the country. These facts give the casual Western observer the idea (backed up by natives of the region) that the Muslim world is no different from ours, really. In reality, the similarities are at best superficial, and the differences are often profound. This book is an attempt to survey the reform movements in the region, examining the opinions of various reformers on subjects ranging from Israel and the United States on the one hand to the basic freedoms (speech, the press, courts, women, etc.) on the other.

Rubin (a columnist and university professor from Israel) looks at the whole subject topically, starting with a background chapter that examines the Arab and Muslim world's progression through the ages in terms of philosophy, culture, and religious belief. He then spends several chapters talking about such things as the struggle to define Islam in various lights. Next, he attacks a series of more specific subjects, talking in turn about Israel, the United States, the war in Iraq, and the war on terror, in each case outlining what the various players in Arab countries have said on each subject.

At times, my eyes glazed over as I read this book. Half of the arguments in each case were at least somewhat predictable. In any particular instance you can think of two or three opinions that are sure to be held by *someone* with regards to a particular subject. Since Rubin feels the need to discuss *anyone* who's got a position where he can speak publicly and have people listen, that means you get points of view from across the spectrum, many of which aren't particularly surprising or enlightening. Given this, the material presented here is very informative.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

This book explains just how bad the assault on truth has become in much of the Arab world. Rubin shows us the plight of those Arabs who would prefer freedom and democracy. But no matter what system of government the Arab nations may choose, the most important reform will be to get the populations of those nations to value truth. Have any Arab nations done so? Rubin does tell about Tunisia, which may be the best of the bunch in this regard.

Even the realization that one's government may be lying does not help much. We've seen that even in the free world, mere mistrust of government pronouncements does not translate into actual determination of facts or into public support of sensible policies. As the author shows us, in the Arab world, there is considerable suspicion of some of what the government says, but many absurdities are in fact believed. In addition, challenging what one's leaders say publicly is a very dangerous exercise. Meanwhile, were Arab leaders to permit some reform, their regimes would be in great danger of being overthrown.

Rubin explains that in the Western world, "freedom" is defined as a set of individual rights, such as that of speech, the press, religion, assembly, and so forth. However, when the government of Saudi Arabia talks about "freedom," it means the ability to submit to what is called the will of God. We need to define our terms properly when we deliberate public policy on this topic!

Some diplomats have noticed an Arab recalcitrance to compromise. This uncompromising attitude can be misinterpreted as the genuine reaction of people who are totally right and know it. But Rubin cites a liberal Arab, Tarek Heggy, who indicates that much of this steadfastness is simply the result of intentionally ignoring reality. By contrast, Rubin explains that Western philosophers have tended to argue that systems, laws, institutions, and ideas need to be judged by "how well they work and must be changed if they do not meet this test." The Western approach, as Rubin warns us, sometimes results in a bogus and counterproductive assault on tradition, high standards, and anything else that may be good about the past. But without a willingness to judge and compromise, progress is precluded.

There is an interesting chapter about Arab attitudes towards the United States. In general, the dominant feature of Arab attitudes towards us is the huge degree to which our words and deeds are misreported. As Rubin tells us, "even if the main complaint about the United States concerns its policies," the problem is that what these policies consist of is subject to enormous distortion. This is a point far too often missed in Western discussions of this issue." I was struck by the prevalence of Arab claims that the United States or Israel were behind the September 11 attacks. And it's fascinating to see the malicious intensity of replies to a very polite American request to Egypt to, just as a favor, stop making such claims as a routine part of what the state-controlled media dish out. After all, bin Laden's responsibility for the attacks is manifest, even from his own words.

The author shows that a big problem for Arab liberals who wish to give some credit to America is that to be politically correct, they are forced to stipulate that Americans are terrible people who want to hurt Arabs and Muslims. Once this slander is conceded, it is hard to argue that Arabs ought to take any of our advice seriously.

There is also an excellent chapter about Arab reactions to Israel. Some folks see the Arab reaction to Israel as a reasonable response to Israeli actions. But Rubin shows that something else is going on. As he says, "Israel is almost always defined in the Arab discourse as absolutely evil, not a state with interests or a people with rights but a force designed to injure and destroy Arabs or Muslims." Israel then becomes "the great excuse" for Arab inability to modernize. Whatever reform is asked for, the answer is that it can't be done until the problem with Israel is solved. Rubin implies that the problem with Israel can never be solved, and I agree. I feel that even if Israel were destroyed, and even if all Israelis, Zionists, Jews, and Hebrew-speakers were eliminated, the problem would remain, and the excuses would remain. In any case, the Israel that the Arabs are fighting is generally a demonic fantasy, very far removed from the genuine article.

Rubin makes one point that I feel is overstated. He says that the West did far more than the Arab side in trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, and he cites all the work Clinton did, which was thwarted by relatively effortless Arab maximalist demands. While he's right about this, I think we also ought to consider the work of Sadat in bringing about a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Here, I think it might well be argued that the Arab side did more than the West.

Rubin has an excellent test for the extent of reform in the Arab world, namely Women's rights. After all, it could be claimed that, say, opposition to the West or xenophobic reactions to Israel do not clearly show opposition to human rights. But that claim can't be made when one mistreats half of one's society! In addition, we see plenty of Arab nationalists boast that their fight is for some social agenda. We ought to expect some sort of progress here. But we don't see very much of it.

Rubin's conclusion is unsurprising. Only the Arabs can solve the problems we've been discussing, especially the problem of blaming all their misfortunes on others. And we all need to hope that they move in the right direction soon.

This is an excellent book, and I recommend it.

This is an important, but depressing, book. Its 253 pages of text is one long list of examples of Islamic self-deception and lies, relieved only by the rare counter example of a dozen or so Muslim "liberals", who state plain truths but who are drowned out by the shouts of the Arab street. One cannot help but feel sympathy for these few Muslim "liberals," but it is hard to believe they will become significant voices in thier home lands anytime soon. (A significant proportion, perhaps half, of these liberals have moved to the West where they typically hold university appointments.)

What do I mean by "self-deception and lies"? Well, the lie that Jews caused the events of 9/11 for one. Despite the open admission by Osama bin Laden that his people did it, from the beginning Arab Islamists have claimed it was the Jews who did it, and that the events were just punishment for the sins of the West (p. 181). Why are the Arab nations so economically backward and militarily ineffectual compared, for example to Israel, or even to South Korea? It is all the fault of the Jews and of the West, especially the Americans (pp. 204, 236, 240).

None of this is even remotely related to the true sources of Arab backwardness and misery. It is plausible to me that even if Israel had not been created in 1948, the Arab Muslim states would would be in the same fix they are today. America had done nothing specific to harm any Arab state, until it attacked Iraq to defend Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein. Yet this act of aid to innocent Arab victims of a dictator's aggressions was what so infuriated Osama bin Laden that he plotted the attacks of 9/11. Why are these Arab Muslims so hopelessly irrational?

A decision was made, by Sunni Muslim jurists and government officials back at the end of the 10th Century, to "Close the doors of interpretation" (p. 106). The practice of interpretation (Itjihad) was the means by which Shari'a Islamic Law was created out of the vague and ambiguous pronouncements of the Koran. So long as these doors of interpretation were open, islam was a flexible, pragmatic, and adaptive religion. After the doors were closed at the end of the 10th Century, Islam became set of fossilized dogmatisms which drifted ever further out of touch with reality. Christianity went through a similar period of defensive rigidity, especially in Spain during the Inquisition. But the Reformation and Enligtenment moved Christian nations past that period of inflexible dogmatism (p. 236). The mission impossible of the Muslim liberals is to lead the massive weight of Sunni Muslim public opinion away from such rigidity toward a re-opening of the doors of interpretation. I feel both pity and admiration for them. I fear their task will take many generations, and who knows how many civil wars will be required? These Muslim-on-Muslim religious wars could well be at least as nihilistic as the 17th Century European Wars of Religion.

Fred Hallberg

While I enjoyed this book, I found it to be heavy on "women's issues" and light on other progressive issues of importance right now, particularly ENDA and marriage/civil union rights for GLBT persons. I also couldn't help but wonder why this book came out so close to the end of the Bush 43 administration, when it would have been much more helpful to have the information earlier in his term(s) so that one could use the information to take political action.

This book is a Progressives' dream.

Here comes a relentless chronicle of what the Bush Administration has brought us in so many areas [US Weapons of mass Destruction, Women's Issues, Education, Mainstream Media, Elections & Voting, Environment, Foreign Policy...]. Heather Wokusch tells us very concisely where we stand as a result, with simple suggestions on what we can do about it.
Chock-full of well-documented facts yet very easy to read, lively, uncompromising, here's the perfect Reference Book for our troubled times.

This was a colossal undertaking, no doubt, on the behalf of us the *real* people who may get confused at times by the thickness of the lies raining on us. This book feeds our mind and also frees our intuition and vision for a better world.

It also provides countless tips on what we can do to hold on to this vision and help it unfold.

What a Must-Read, we have much to thank Heather Wokusch for!

This November 2007 updated version of The Progressives' Handbook (Volume 1) is even better than the first one, including a lot of new links and information. I've never read a better summary of the Bush administration's hidden weapons of mass destruction programs anywhere else and Wokusch's rundown of rollbacks in women's issues, education and media should be recommended reading for all Americans. She has a fun and accessible writing style, but the information packs a punch. Buy one for your best progressive friend - buy two for your right-wing relatives.

I consider myself informed but was stunned at the information presented here. I've read Wokusch for years and waited for this book, and it lives up to all expectations. She's got a way of making complex topics understandable and getting across how big political issues affect each of us personally.

The US Weapons of Mass Destruction chapter is amazing, and should be mandatory reading for all Americans. I don't think anyone else has brought out so much information about US biological/chemical/nuclear weapons programs before. Readers will be stunned at how much money is being diverted to these secretive programs and how much danger they pose to all of us.

The Education chapter comprehensively covers threats to American public education. As Wokusch writes: "Put it all together and the Bush administration's scam seems clear: force public schools to meet impossible demands through NCLB testing, don't give them enough money to make the required changes, and then question the patriotism of anyone who disagrees. Shut down the many schools which inevitably fail and offer vouchers as the solution, thereby privatising education and mandating that taxpayers fund religion in the classroom. Nifty way to institutionalize huge corporate profits with almost no accountability."

The Women's Issues chapter is a great review of rollbacks in women's rights under Bush, with witty subsections like "Back to the Kitchen, Betty" and well-documented facts. It's worth buying the book just for the Mainstream Media section on Jeff Gannon alone ("Snow job or blow job?"). Hysterical.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Wokusch describes the problems America is facing but then gives tons of ideas for how each of us can make the situation better. Can't wait to start reading Volume 2.

This is an eloquent book, veering to poetry at times. For a book about the modern wars of militias and warlords within failed states, its eloquence actually gets in the way of the message at times. Occasionally one can even see that sometimes Ignatieff says something just because he has thought of an eloquent way of saying it. Not that I am accusing him of insincerity, for he is not. Nor that the book is without an honest message, for it has several.

The book is a sort of meditation on the nature of these "modern wars" that is colored much by his own personal experiences in several of them. The observation that is central to the book is that diverse people (who are really much alike too) can fall into a state of viewing the "other" as the enemy when a state begins to fail to protect them, and anarchy looms. In successful modern states, the protection is present, and the fiction that diverse people are underneath it all, the same, is maintained.

The book has a very intelligent treatment of the dilemma of the various aid agencies such as the Red Cross and the UN Peacekeepers in trying to ameliorate the effects of war, and maintain their credibility, while not prolonging it or even intensifying it.

On the other hand, the author is a little too reverent of Freudian and even Marxist ideas on the nature of man, both of whom have about zero credibility to the discerning reader. His account of the "Narcissism of Minor Differences" is just so much hooey to me. Ignatieff seems to be entirely uninformed of modern thinking on this problem, which goes by the name of evolutionary psychology, and to me, seems so much more insightful and informative.

The general problem of war is not treated here, only a particular form of it. The wars that inform his thinking in this book are those in Angola, Lebanon, Ireland and, especially, Yugoslavia, with a few "lessons" from the holocaust thrown in. There is not much in the way of systematic study, but rather a grab bag of ideas and anecdotal observations. Eloquently written, though...

At the moment there are many books being published examining the successes and failures of the humanitarian interventions that have followed the end of the Cold War - more failures than successes, truth be told. As part of my job, I read as many of them as I can. It is this book, however, that I constantly return to. My copy is dog-eared, and deeply scored with underlinings. In every paragraph, Ignatieff has something worthwhile - and frequently confronting - to say.

He addresses the role of the media and the triangle of relationships between audience/media/political leaders; he looks at the rise in humanitarian organisations and the peculiarities of the ethics under which they work; he brings insights from the field on the way the UN is so often programmed to fail.

The power of Ignatieff's writing stems from his unique capacity to bring together the perspectives of news correspondent, novelist and philosopher. He is direct and extremely readable, while also knifing into the subtle heart of the "New World Order."

In the chapter entitled "The Narcissism of Minor Difference" he comes as close anything I have read to explaining why ordinary people are moved sometimes to conduct atrocities on their neighbours. It is vivid and convincing.

If you feel exasperated by the hideous mysteries of ethnic and sectarian conflict, I urge you to read this book, if for that chapter alone.

I read this book through a class I took and I was impressed by the deep analysis on the issues of ethnic war including a focus of television and media, charitable empathy, the need for conflict, and a warrior's honor. Ignatieff differentiates ethnic wars happening now (civil wars, ethnic wars, brother vs. brother) than that of wars the US has waged in the past (vs. country/nation). These new types of war show a new dynamic of intervention and war atrocities relating to it. The common thread Ignatieff points out is relating to a warrior's honor. Much like chivalry, a soldier in battle should follow certain rules of conduct like not committing atrocities against the indigenous population or letting interventionists take care of the wounded. Ignatieff also focuses on many ethnic conflicts of today in Rwanda, Somalia, and Serbia as examples of the dimension of ethnic war. Ignatieff uses loaded terminology and might be too much to comprehend, but his examples help the reader understand the context he is pushing for. Further examples from Freud's "Narcissism of Minor Diffence" and James Joyce gives this book a well-rounded academic feel. This book gives great insight to human need during ethnic war especially with the current conflict in Kosovo.

The streets in downtown Montreal were filled with people - hundreds of them, shouting, waving banners and wearing the ubiquitous "target" emblem on their shirts. They had gathered to demonstrate against the NATO intervention in Kosovo, which had been launched by the Western alliance to end the ongoing cleansing of ethnic Albanians in the region. That particular day had a strange feel to it, not unlike the first day the US-led Coalition began bombing downtown Baghdad in 1991. In a way it felt as if war had somehow found its way, through a crack in space, maybe, into the otherwise peaceful metropolis. On that day, on the recommendation of a friend (thanks Robert), I purchased Ignatieff's The Warrior's Honor. However, I did not read it until very recently, as it had gotten lost (or drowned, rather) among the tons of other "must read" books (their reproductive rate is admittedly very high) that inhabit my bookshelves.

Now that I have read it, however, I understand why it so often gets quoted by other authors; despite its relatively short length, it is literally one of the very best books on the issue of ethnic-based conflict. Ignatieff's writing is extremely quotable, and on numerous occasions I found myself highlighting passages which so aptly drove to the heart of what other authors require whole chapters to evoke. Rich in sources - both literary and philosophical - it is, unquestionably, a master's exercise in conciseness and analysis.

The chapters "The Narcissism of Minor Difference" and "The Seductiveness of Moral Disgust" are especially enlightening, and I know I will be revisiting them frequently.

This book, along with Jonathan Glover's Humanity, should be read by anyone who hopes to cast a ray of light, however feeble, into the shadowy realms of man's inhumanity to man.

"The cultural convergence of art, science, and technology provides ample opportunity to challenge the very notion of how art is produced and to call into question its subject matter and its function in society...Envisoned as a catalyst for enterprise, research, and creative and scholarly experimentation, the [Leonard] book series enables diverse intellectual communities to explore common grounds of expertise." The 20 collected articles by professors, artists, curators, and writers in this book in the Leonard series from MIT press fulfill this purpose. The global communications network for organizing and reporting the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, email art, computer-created and disseminated music, and telecommunication are among the subjects examined in exploring the new forms of art and activism with the erosion of the lines between art, communication, technology, and computer science in contemporary culture. The international group of artists known as Fluxus, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2002, is but one activist group whose aim is the "elimination of art as a special activity." The essays offer new, out-of-the-box, perspectives on different much-publicized events (such as the Seattle demonstrations) and report on representative and influential groups, activities, and individuals that are little known by general readers. The essays as a whole give an unrivaled, panoramic view of what is going on in the broad, modern-day field which has come to be known as the media. As much perspective as possible on this widely diversified, extraordinarily, almost preternaturally, vibrant, and continually evolving field is given in showing the sources and precedents of the ideas and activities. Some of these sources and precedents are surprising and intriguing. But this is what one expects from this collection of essays working toward a new, relevant way of seeing the world being shaped by the new media and technology.

MIT Press impresses with another beautifully designed book, presented as an anthology of "precursors to art and activism on the internet." Editors Chandler and Neumark set the tone in their introduction by attempting to refute recent scholarship which finds both alpha and omega on the WWW, suggesting, no insisting, that there was indeed life before HTML. It's an interesting collection of documents, some from sources very far afield, most all of them fascinating both to look back on in nostalgia, others we watch and recall with amazement amounting to shock, for they describe experiments in the past which we are repeating again to our diminishment.

John Held, Jr., provides a succinct account of "Mail Art Exhibition," reminding us of Mail Art's utopian beginnings within the gathered contexts of Fluxus and Black Mountain experimentation (1940s, 1950s), When he recalls the "vanished borders" that Mail Art was supposed to float blithely over, we think now with bitterness of the tracking devices with which it is said we are going to now be adding to all of our overseas mail, not to mention our passports. For every innovation, comes a reduction in our personal freedom--such is true of the net as well of course with its "cookies" etc.

Melody Sumner Carnahan contirbutes a charming memoir of working with some visionary artists in the far-away, long-ago 1980s while creating Burning Books and allied artists projects. by turns her writing is hilarious, wry, witty and quite touching. Roy Ascott is a little scary recalling the psychic experiments of the 1960s, including X FILES type of parapsychology experiments, which even in the Cold War represented some kind of like minds thinking in Russia and the US. I love him meeting up with Luiz Antonio Gasparetto, a "Brazilian psyhcic who demonstrated the ability to paint four paintings, each in the style of a different 'modern master,' siumultaneously with his feet and hands." Ascott managed to film Gasparetto doing this! Wish I had access to that footage! In general the individual art object is downplayed, a characteristic of current art practice, in favor of networked and relational (often "serial") projects.

Though the book seems strangely Bay Area-cenrric, I have the suspicion this is entirely coincidental, or perhaps more than anything else it is a symptom of our propensity here to work communally and to ignore as far as possible the ego drives of the individual artist. John Bischoff's account of Mills College (Oakland) as the center for the "LEAGUE OF AUTOMATIC MUSIC COMPOSERS" is a mind-shiveringly inspiring version of the same. Funny that the book comes to us all the way from Sydney, Australia, where the two editors both work at the University of Technology there.

At a Distance makes a convincing case for an analog prehistory of the Internet. Read this book and discover a genealogy for today's electronic culture that comes from musicians and mail artists instead of geeks and gizmos.

If the Internet's technical pedigree hails from the RAND Corporation, Berkeley, and MIT, At a Distance proves that its social wellsprings span a much wider geography of creative eruptions, from Mexico's estridentistas to Brazil's Xerofilms, from Tokyo's Mini-FM to Brisbane's InterRaves. As a network artist and critic, I fancied before I read this book that I had a pretty good handle on precursors to Internet art. But I was enlightened--and a bit overwhelmed--by the rich lode of unfamiliar history dug up by the authors of this anthology.

In fact, one of my few criticisms of the book would be that the editors seem to have trouble corralling all of these dispersed activities into a coherent historical shape. With the exception of a couple large-scale topics like Fluxus, each essay addresses a different micro-movement in isolation, without comparing or contrasting them. This may be consistent with the ethic of many of the works, as exemplified by Fluxus artist George Brecht's prescription for "a network of active points all equidistant from the center." Nevertheless, I found it hard to grasp the larger picture of new media's family tree without knowing more about the affiliations and antagonisms of its branches.

Apart from the relationships among these movements, another set of dots the reader must connect on her own lies between the examples of networked art of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s and Net art of the 1990s and 2000s. With the exception of Tilman Baumgaertel's essay--which is also the only contribution to touch on the critical precedent of Conceptual art--there are very few references to actual artworks from today's electronic networks.

These quibbles aside, At a Distance contains enough new research to plug a good number of holes in the late 20th-century art historical record, and the editors at least attempt to unite the material via some thematic generalizations--probably the most important of which is that networks are about connecting people rather than Ethernet cables. Besides, given the isolated nature of the commentaries you really don't need to read the book's pages in order anyhow. Readers inspired by John Cage's random juxtapositions may want to work backwards from the index, slicing through the book by following references to specific movements or people like Ray Johnson or Radio art.

However you approach this text, it's a great antidote to the Wired-inspired myopia that focuses on the latest gadget or trend.

The group portrait of Afro-Americans painted in popular media during the first half of the twentieth century was one composed overwhelmingly with stereotypical images on top of a background of bigotry-needless to say, it is not flattering, and radio was no exception. This fact is so overwhelmingly documented in the public record and within historical scholarship that it barely needs enunciation here, and Professor Savage does not dwell upon it. What she does dwell upon is how radio was used by activists, artists, and entertainers, very often with the assistance of the federal government, during the period in question. As Savage argues, through the efforts of a great many people forgotten within the dominant narrative of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's, new ground was broken which would yield much greater fruit than before, during, or immediately after the Second World War-the period when it was first aired.

Savage is interested primarily in how a few radio programs, nearly all produced with no, or next to no, commercial backing, bucked, but sometimes also skirted, the dominant perceptions of blacks in the popular media. That Savage only concentrates so thoroughly upon less than a dozen programs during this period would at first seem reasonable cause for concern that a good deal of primary documentation had been left out. What becomes depressingly clear over the course of Savage's narrative is that programs she details represent virtually the only broadcasts of their kind. Namely, programs that acknowledged there was a race problem in the United States, and, that with the increasing likelihood of war, something needed to be done about it. Savage shows in her descriptions of the programs Americans All, Immigrants All; Freedom's People; New World A' Coming and Destination Freedom, that the contributions of black men and women were unknown or unacknowledged. These programs were certainly inadequate to task of overthrowing on-air racism, but each one attempted in their own novel ways to counter racial stereotypes.

When Savage describes how radio roundtables and panels, not dissimilar from those we still see on Sunday mornings, approached questions of race in the months before American participation in the Second World War commenced, the timidity of the national networks is nearly comical. Very often the programs would broach the subject of black America without the presence of a single black person. The sort of milquetoast conversation that one would expect from a completely "objective" and moderate circle of people with little or no personal stake in the status of a subject is how Savage describes the first, and lily-white, discussion of race that the popular University of Chicago Round Table broached-being a non-confrontational conversation between three people who nearly completely agreed with each other and reflected the mainstream opinion that discrimination was bad, but having no idea of what to do about it except accept it-garnered very little controversy. As black intellectuals began to find their way onto these programs, Savage shows through her study of listeners' letters just how virulent and widespread white supremacist and visceral anti-black feelings were when they were confronted head on-just virulent these feelings were is one of the surprises of Savage's study and goes along way towards showing what blacks and racial progressives were up against.

Savage is a part of what is today the dominant school of the thought on the Civil Rights Movement, namely, that it had its roots in the struggles of the 1930's and that the Second World War were the biggest social catalysts behind the Movements parts coalescing-equal to, if not more important than, Brown v. Board of Education. Rightfully, Savage does not make any grandiose claims for the effectiveness of the radio broadcasts in laying the groundwork of the Movements' imperatives or goals, but instead shows how the changing dynamics of American racial politics made possible the first baby steps in what Americans today would recognize as the continuous dialogue on what is the most intractable problem in American politics; racial inequality and injustice. As such the book deserves nothing but praise.

Broadcasting Freedom focuses on national public affairs programming from 1938 to 1948. It explores the dependent relationship between the infant electronic media and government against the backdrop of African American struggles for equality and respect. Savage dramatically describes how radio's national broadcast networks initially resisted the black community's efforts to air programming aimed at challenging America's paternalistic notions about Negro culture. As she recounts the efforts of blacks in the 1930s and 1940s to gain access to this nascent electronic medium, Savage highlights how trailblazing African American activists, public officials, intellectuals, and artists struggled for opportunities to utilize the power of radio to spark a national debate about racial inequality. It wasn't until the Roosevelt administration gave its blessing that the networks finally consented to the production of programming featuring black history, culture, and achievement.

The author's central argument is that government sponsorship and assistance - catalyzed by the specter of war and the Roosevelt's need for domestic unity - was needed to provide impetus for the production of radio programs for and about blacks. Even so, radio remained cautious about engaging the political issue of race until the race riots of 1943 and President Truman's racial reform proposals of 1947 and 1948 provided sufficient justification for the inclusion of "the black problem" in national broadcasts. Savage also contends that much of the eventual success of the `60s civil rights struggle can be traced to the insights learned by African American leaders in the 1940s as they honed their presentation and debate skills on radio, making the case that many of the lessons learned during this earlier era propelled the civil rights movement forward.

Tracing the origins, content, and reception of selected programs, the first half of the book focuses on public affairs programs produced by the federal government and aired over national networks. The second half focuses on programs produced privately by radio networks and nonprofit organizations - broadcast both nationally and locally. Included at the end of the book is an appendix listing the name, broadcast dates, networks or stations, and sponsor of every radio program discussed in the text.

Savage combines archives of radio material with personal interviews in this heavily researched book. She makes liberal use of the manuscripts, audiovisual collections, personal papers, and archives. Also listed in the bibliography are hundreds of books, articles and dissertations.

Savage's arguments are effective and persuasive. She shows how the African community "worked within the system" to overcome the radio industry's reticence, and developed the methods of mass communication needed to change the hearts and minds of white America. In the process, African American leaders made a place for themselves at the table of radio programmers and broadcasters through sponsorship by FDR during World War II, and leveraged this initial victory into a national movement.

Savage brilliantly demonstrates that much of the eventual success of the 60's civil rights struggle can be traced to the insights learned by African American leaders in the 40s as they began to master the presentation of their cause on radio. By shifting the movment's earlier focus on "converting" individuals to developing methods for intervening with the media which reach virtually every citizen, African American leaders were able to introduce a new black voice on the radio, especially programming sponsored by the federal government during WWII. This programming challenged accepted stereotypes of black abilities and placed African American accomplishments at the heart of American history. Using seldom seen archives of radio material and the recollections of surviving participants in this dramatic phenomenon, Savage makes the case that many of the lessons learned during this era served the civil rights movement well. Just as radio became a forum for debates about race in the 40s, so too television functioned in the 50s and 60s. While black leaders could not control either radio or television, they understood from their earlier work with radio how television needed "images" only they could supply. The awareness of the potential power of an "alliance" between African Americans and televion was one of the legacies of the 40s radio programming Savage unearthed.. I have to say that Savage is an especially fluid and engaging writer. A lot of the material would have been a painful slog in a less capable writer's hands. I suspect that this book will become a "core text" on the evolution of the civil rights movement. Personally, I can't wait to see what else Savage tackles.

After reading this incredible first person account of Jeri Laber's remarkable life and accomplishments you feel that you know her well. From a solid but not prominent upbringing to a growing awareness of the world and a possible role for her in changing it, you walk step by step through her early years into her development as one of the most influential if unsung human rights advocates in history.
It has been famously said that 'evil triumphs when good men do nothing.' This autobiography is a classic example of the opposite: how much good even one person is able to do when she sets her mind to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Ms Laber fills this story with understated but chillingly suspenseful stories of acts of personal bravery that put story-book heroes to shame. Like a classic secret agent Ms Laber carried out her misions under the constant threat of discovery and arrest.
Travel with her as she carries funds for Czech dissidents past stone-faced border guards who would be predisposed to arrest and abuse if they caught her. Learn tradecraft with her: She perfects a system of writing notes on meetings with a microscipically tiny had then crumpling them in her pocket or bag to read later in safety. She mentally rehearses cover stories about these seeming scraps of trash to use in case questioned. She lives in an underword of pantomine, gesture and whispers for fear of secret recording equipment and straining ears of barbaric police forces.
Not satisfied with winning the human rights fight in the field, Ms Laber takes on the bureaurcatic wars within her own organization and with outside agencies. She successfully expands Helsinki Watch to encompass a global mission and receives presidential level recognition when the Soviet occupied countries of Eastern Europe achieve independence.
This is a must-read for all who revel in stories of special people meeting extraordinary challenges. It moves quickly and reflects the workmanlike compentence of Ms Laber as a writer, yet another of her amazing array of talents. One suspects that even in this work she has left many stories untold and the reader will close the book hoping for a follow-on work.

Jeri Laber?s ?Courage of Strangers? is a touching book about her journey as an early human rights activist. The book starts with Laber?s early life to a fortunate family. Yet, the real essence of the book comes into concentration when Laber begins to tell about the early human rights movement. She writes about traveling to communist countries to quietly meet with dissidents, smuggling her notes out of the countries, taking a contraband computer into a communist country, reporting on the horrors of torture, and other narratives to which many can only imagine.

All of these accounts are intertwined with stories about Laber?s personal life. She talks about her abrupt divorce, attempting to keep a balance between work and home life, and her dedication to the dissidents who relied upon her to tell their stories and bring aid to their plights. A very relevant book to the world we live in today, and a wonderful book chronicling the beginnings of Human Rights Watch.

The Courage of Strangers is a wonderful combination of important and intimate: Jeri Laber's personal awakening, in her mid-40s, as a single mother in the wake of a divorce that shook up her "perfect" life, and the awakening of the human rights movement that we take so much for granted today but which barely registered a generation ago. Laber brings off the difficult challenge of making her own journey a major part of this beautifully-written memoir -- and her honesty about herself, her family and her colleagues is in itself an act of courage -- while honoring the stories of the others whose courage has inspired her. I have been giving this book to many people, particularly young women friends who are eager to learn about the pioneers who came before them. As a longtime activist in the human rights movement -- and a colleague of Jeri's for many years -- I am thrilled she has written this book because anyone can connect with it. Because of it, many more people can begin to "get" the work that human rights advocates do through a gripping story about what happened in the amazing time she writes of, as a first-hand observer and participant in the fall of repressive regimes in the Soviet world. Jeri Laber carries this off this feat of storytelling without sacrificing the sophistication and expertise she acquired in helping to build one of the world's leading human rights organizations and serving as a crucial partner of those whose courage toppled governments.

This short book by Malise Ruthven provides a discussion of the meaning and context of religious fundamentalism (Ruthven often refers to it as the F-word). Ruthven looks at different aspects of the phenomenon, comparing and contrasting fundamentalists, traditionalists, and those who believe in the inerrency of their given religious texts.

The most valuable insights of this short book are the two on relatively long chapters on fundamentalism and nationalism, and how the two often intertwine and provide justification for the other.

The only weakness is that Ruthven focuses a majority of his efforts on the three "Abrahamaic" religions, i.e. Christianity, Islam, and Judiaism. There are some incursions into eastern religions (especially the recently kicked out of government BJP in India). Other than this, the book was an excellent effort to discuss this pressing topic.

This is an extended essay on the nature of fundamentalism, its historical roots and its relationship to religion and nationalism. The book is not just about Islamic fundamentalism, but rather fundamentalism as a 'family' including Christian, Jewish, and other siblings

The most crucial insight is that fundamentalism is not about religion but about fighting the oustider. The core issues of fundamentalism, for example homosexuality, women's rights, or evolution, are often of token significance within religion. Fundamentalists choose issues based on their utility in drawing lines between themselves and others, the focus is on fighting rather then on God. The fundamentalist strives for unity by removing the outsider, and pluralism is the worst kind of heresy.

Another insight is the relationship between fundamentalism and nationalism. They're both about drawing lines of separation, they both have shrines and saints, and both can be used to justify murder. They are essentially symbiotic, the one promoting the other.

Recommended as a first book on understanding the 21st century.

This short volume (available in hard and soft cover editions) is a very solid and accessible introduction to the topic. Like most contemporary scholars, Ruthven treats the issue of Fundamentalism as a reaction to the challenges of modernity. As a way of demonstrating this, his approach is comparative and cross-cultural, including not only the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but also serious treatment of other traditions as well (most notably Hinduism, but other religions are covered).

This being said, his primary concern is the development of fundamentalisms in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the majority of the work is devoted to trends in these three religions. In this (and in his emphasis on modernity), the work is similar to Karen Armstrong's THE BATTLE FOR GOD. Armstrong's work is far more detailed but, in my opinion, Ruthven is more analytically sound.

While certainly not the last word on this very important subject (the scholarship on fundamentalisms is both rich and broad), this is a fine introduction, well thought out and well written. A useful book for the classroom and an enjoyable read for everybody else.

Wickham-Crowley's work examining revolutionary movements in Latin America is perhaps the finest text of its kind. Writing in clear yet copiously researched prose, Wickham-Crowley creates an interesting, useful paradigm for understanding insurgency in Latin America.

I would recommend it to students of Latin American politics, revolutionary movements, and readers looking for a more systematic, rather than dogmatic, exploration of the topic.

Revolution is a hard topic to write about, at least in any sort of useful, scientific fashion. Problems start with defining revolution and thus deciding what events to include, but they certainly don't end there. Wickham-Crowley never shies away from making clear, well-deliniated definitions, even if it means including or excluding controversial events. This alone makes this book a useful addition to the literature of revolution.
The author confines his study to revolution in Latin America, but this hardly confines him; Wickham-Crowley studies nearly a dozen revolutions, and could easily have included a dozen more. Indeed, despite, or perhaps because, this is a narrow, scientific study, Wickham-Crowley's observations on revolution can easily be applied to revolutions around the world and throughout history. Readers will be struck, for example, by the similarity of these revolutions to, say, the French Revolution or the Iranian.
Be prepared for a dense read. This book is full of charts, graphs and statistics, and much of the book consists of a statistical analysis of such factors as the age of revolutionaries and revolutionary leaders, social class, and level of education. Although this is precisely what makes this difficult to read, however, it is also what gives the book so much validity and usefulness.

If you're interested in recent revolutions and revolutionary movements in Latin America (or elsewhere, for that matter), Wickham-Crowley's book can't be beat. It's a model of clear thinking and writing, and it's amazingly comprehensive in scope. The book condenses a phenomenal amount of research on a dozen major guerrilla movements in Latin American, and presents a compelling analysis as to why only the Cuban and Nicaraguan movements successfully seized power. (Hint: It helps when your enemy is a brutal dictator whom nearly everybody -- including middle- and even upper-class people -- despises.) This book is must reading for anyone interested in contemporary Latin America, guerrillas, or revolutions.

"Killing Me Softly" by Eddie Girdner and Jack Smith is a highly readable study of the environmental justice movement and the toxic waste industry. The book skillfully blends economic theory with a real-life case study to create a work that is both deeply thought-provoking and dramatic in its narrative. Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, "Killing Me Softly" is an excellent book for both students and general readers who may be interested in environmental politics.

Girdner and Smith devote the first two chapters explaining how pollution is a systemic problem that is related to capitalism, production and the profit motive. Toxic waste in particularl is associated with the growth of the petrochemical industry in the post-World War II era, which not coincidentally has witnessed the rise of the modern waste disposal industry. The reader understands how the regulatory system seeks merely to contain (but not eliminate) waste and how the market tends to offload this waste onto the poor. The authors draw on Marx to explain that this process is historically linked "to the continued process of enclosure" of the commons but with the goal to "enhance the bottom lines" of the politically-powerful corporations that produce and dispose of these wastes.

Girdner and Smith then introduces us to the environmental justice movement which seeks to test the theory of grassroots democracy against the reality of corporate control. While minorities and women are most often targeted and disproportionately bear the costs of pollution, the authors argue that the case of Mercer County, Missouri demonstrates that the core issue is class, which in turn is rooted in capitalism's tendency to produce profits for the privileged few at the expense of the many.

The chapter about how the close-knit community of rural Mercer County organized to resist the "obliteration of a way of life" by a major corporation is a remarkable story that is written in a compelling manner. The people's ingenuity and determination to persist and continue their struggle in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is truly inspiring. The authors go on to share some of the lessons learned from the citizen's victory in Mercer County to provide guidance to others.

Ultimately, Girdner and Smith's work helps us recognize the necessity for the environmental justice movement to transcend race and national identities and become a much broader movement that struggles against inequality and capitalist exploitation. In the final chapter, the authors propose six principles for a form of local, sustainable development that would allow people to achieve "peace, fulfillment, and happiness" in a way that is not dependent on the pursuit of material acquisition.

I highly recommend this exceptional book to everyone.

Collaboratively researched and written by Eddie J. Girdner (Professor of International Relations, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey) and Jack Smith (Professor of English and Philosophy, North Central Missouri College), Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, And The Struggle For Environmental Justice is a gritty, realistic, pull-no-punches survey and expose of the toxic waste industry and its relentless expansion. Stressing the need for environmental justice in a society that tends to consider the homes of poor people to be "not sufficiently polluted", Killing Me Softly is a much-needed and clarion call for the importance of conservation, ecological responsibility, environmental protections, and corporate/governmental reforms in the modern age.

This book gives you an introduction to industrial pollution from a Marxist perspective. In this case, "Marxist" just means that the authors are willing to look at corporate causes, and show how the government interacts with corporations to ensure profits. Their description of the system is very good. In fact, it would be impossible to refute. They show how US taxpayers pay the cost for cleanup, then major chemical firms buy the cleanup companies and make a profit off of their own pollution.

After a brief but comprehensive overview of the chemical industry, public relations ("greenwashing"), and the history of dumping chemicals in poor areas, the authors turn their focus to a fight in Mercer County, Missouri. They tell the story of local activists trying to stop Waste-Tech, Inc.'s attempt to set up a toxic waste incinerator. Through public pressure, they struggle to defend their own health.

If you want a good book on the environment, try this one. The authors know how the system works and, although detractors may disregard their emphasis on the profit motive, everything here rings true. The footnotes are extensive, leading you to additional information.

This is a beautifully crafted personal account of the early years of the Navajo environmental justice organization Dine CARE (Citizens Against Ruining our Environment), which has worked for more sustainable forestry practices, protested the siting of toxic waste dumps near native communities, and fought for restitution for Navajo uranium miners. The author demonstrates an admirable awareness of the feelings and motivations of the community and individuals he is describing, while remaining conscious of the limitations inherent in his perspective as a white outsider.

"Land, Wind, & Hard Words" interweaves the narrative of how members of this community came together to found Dine CARE (including descriptions of some of their early struggles against government and industries) with excerpts of Navajo legends and more academic commentary on topics such as the disconnect between such grassroots groups and the fundraising system that claims to want to support them.

Anyone interested in the environmental justice movement will find this book a rich source of information on its potential and challenges. Anyone interested in native issues, Navajo history, or the Southwest in general, will find it a compelling story. I encourage everyone to buy this book - all royalties go to support the ongoing work of Dine CARE.

Excellent read on fascinating topic. Kudos to Mr. Sherry on writing a book that is academically rigorous yet accessible at the same time.

Dr. Sherry's unique humor and his insighful wit made this book a pleasure to read. It's obvious that Dr. Sherry is a man of values, courage, and spontaneity. I applaud Dr. Sherry for his efforts in really bringing to light the activism portrayed in the chronicle. While Sherry's other works were "farcicle," this one has all the makings of a gem.

My only concern is that this book is repetitive and obligatory at times. Dr. Sherry, you might want to be aware of this in future publications.