Cornel West
Race Matters
New York: Beacon Press, 1994
Cornel West’s Race Matters is about the black experience in America, much as one might expect. (more…)
Cornel West
Race Matters
New York: Beacon Press, 1994
Cornel West’s Race Matters is about the black experience in America, much as one might expect. (more…)
Arabic version here
In 1982, a foreign policy white paper appeared in a fairly obscure Israeli quarterly, which informally became known as the Oded Yinon Plan. That much wouldn’t have been too momentous, except that the author certainly wasn’t a run-of-the-mill policy wonk. Oded Yinon held a high post in the Israeli foreign ministry, and also seems to have been close to Ariel Sharon. More to the point, his far-flung agenda bore a remarkable resemblance to the future of the Middle East, and in particular, the last two decades of the USA’s fine messes therein. (more…)
Wilhelm Reich
The Mass Psychology of Fascism
New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1946
What makes Fascists tick? Wilhelm Reich said he had the answer in his groundbreaking book The Mass Psychology of Fascism. (more…)
Author’s note: An earlier version of this appeared at Return of Kings as “How Our Government Is Sanctioning A New Kind Of Tyranny.” The following expanded version is in my compilation Deplorable Diatribes.
My first encounter with anarcho-tyranny was when my grandfather got busted in a sting. His “crime” was cutting hair without a license, which got him a fine. (more…)
Could it be time for an alternative to the two-party system? For anyone who hasn’t yet got the memo, it’s time to stop holding out hope for the Republican Party. As conservatives, they couldn’t even conserve the women’s bathroom. (more…)
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me
New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015
Ta-Nehisi Coates has become one of the most eminent literary figures in recent time. In the last decade, his star has risen dramatically. He’s perhaps best known for his journalism work at the Atlantic, but he also has been published by NYT, WaPo, Time, and several other major periodicals. (more…)
If An Agent Knocks is a guidebook written by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Although they’re a left-leaning advocacy group, they’re not the sort likely to make you run away screaming as if Cthulhu is trying to eat your mind. Actually, some of their causes may be of interest. The intended audience is those who might be targeted by politically-motivated investigations and harassment under color of law. I’ll go over the basics, and add my extensive commentary as usual. (more…)
Erwin S. Strauss
How to Start Your Own Country
Port Townsend, Washington: Loompanics, 1984
Have you ever wanted to be the leader of your own micro-nation? Erwin S. Strauss might have the answer in How to Start Your Own Country. (more…)
1,772 words
Anyone with a decent education knows that the Iliad and Odyssey concern the fall of Troy and the struggle of Odysseus against a series of eldritch terrors on his voyage homeward. The timeless appeal is clear; the style is quite gripping, which especially comes out if one has a good translation or happens to know Greek. (more…)
Colin Jordan
Merrie England 2,000
Sandycroft Publications: 1993
In earlier times, there was much speculative fiction about conditions around the turn of the millennium. (We’re still waiting for those hovercars, dammit. . .) Other literature focuses more on changes in society than imaginative technology. (more…)
Things have taken a downward slide lately, to say the least.
The most notable event was the stolen Presidential election. Local courts didn’t want to hear it. SCOTUS didn’t want to hear it, despite reports of a shouting match in their chamber. (more…)
A. E. van Vogt
Slan
Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1946
Science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt’s first novel-length work, Slan, became a classic, notable for being a pioneer in the mutant protagonist genre that gave us the X-Men comic book series and its cinematic spinoffs. (more…)
New World Order proposals tend to appear feel-good or sensible on the outside, then reveal themselves to be rotten upon closer inspection. The International Monetary Fund’s new big idea about personal credit scores is no exception.
The IMF, of course, is one of those big international institutions (more…)