Che: A Graphic Biography
by Peter Wong‚
Oct. 22‚ 2008
Spain Rodriguez' “Che—A Graphic Biography” is graphic biography as alchemy. On the most basic level, it's a recounting of the life of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. But the veteran graphic artist does more than present biographical detail. His new work also discusses such subjects as the political clash between pragmatism and idealism as well as the American government's history of removing foreign democracies that refuse to be US boot-lickers.
Rodriguez is the perfect artist/writer to tell the tale of Ernesto Guevara's life. Left-wing politics provides the beating heart for the San Francisco resident's decades of graphic work. His most famous character, Trashman, is an urban guerilla fighting the forces of a near-future fascist America.
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How Low-Income Neighborhoods Stabilize
by Randy Shaw‚
Aug. 21‚ 2008
A common stereotype about low-income neighborhoods is that they are disorganized, and lack a distinct set of moral and cultural values. UC Berkeley Professor Martin Sanchez-Jankowski challenges this thesis, and has written a book that describes how such institutions as the neighborhood grocery store, the barbershop, the hair salon, the public housing project, the local high school, and the juvenile gang create order and continuity in distressed communities. There are not many books that speak to the merits of public housing or youth gangs, nor to the corner store, which is viewed negatively due to its liquor sales. But Sanchez-Jankowski calls it as he sees it, and spent nine years observing five low-income communities (two in the Bronx, two in Los Angeles, one in Brooklyn) before completing Cracks in the Pavement. Although the author is clearly on the political left, his analysis is also likely to trouble progressives, particularly regarding the causes of low achievement in inner-city schools. Meanwhile, his defense of public housing and youth gangs will raise hackles across political lines.
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“Rules for Radicals” Meets the 21st Century
by Paul Hogarth‚
Jul. 31‚ 2008
Markos Moulitsas’ new book, Taking On the System, is not really about political blogs. One would expect the founder of Daily Kos to write about the netroots (and his book offers plenty of anecdotes about how they’ve changed politics), but it’s really a guide for how ordinary people can make an impact in the 21st Century. Moulitsas writes about how the Internet has democratized the process – making old gatekeepers like party bosses, media moguls and even record companies less powerful and relevant than before. But modeling himself after the late Saul Alinsky, Moulitsas offers plenty of pragmatic advice for political activists – like “stay on message,” “how to handle your enemies,” and “pick your battles” – that was applicable in an earlier era. In the 21st Century, however, more can play this game. Taking On the System is a resource for progressives hopeful about November – but anxious about how to keep that momentum going in an Obama Administration.
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Activists Offer Path for Labor’s Renewal
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 19‚ 2008
In 2008, organized labor helped secure the Democratic presidential nomination of Barack Obama, who would become the most pro-labor President since Franklin Roosevelt. But despite labors’ political gains, the pace of organizing new workers remains slow. Less than 10% of private sectors workers are unionized, and labor’s manufacturing base continues to shrink. Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin are longtime labor activists who are among those who have concluded from these and other facts that the nation’s unions are in a state of crisis. Their new book, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and A New Path Toward Social Justice, offers a critical assessment of the labor movement while pushing unions to build a broader working class movement for social justice. The authors raise many provocative claims, some of which will prompt disagreement. Yet their aim appears less to achieve consensus than to provoke a reassessment of many of labor’s commonly accepted premises. The book will likely achieve this, and should spark considerable debate among those concerned about the labor movement’s future.
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Huffington Brings Progressive Analysis to Popular Mainstream
by Randy Shaw‚
Jun. 12‚ 2008
Arianna Huffington has done what many thought impossible: she has brought her left-wing critique to high-profile entertainment shows like Leno and Letterman, and created a website, The Huffington Post, that is the closest thing we have to a national progressive daily newspaper. Huffington has brought progressive politics to the masses by the lucidity of her writing, a focus on short, easy-to-digest news items, and her site’s heavy reliance on entertainment/gossip items typically found in People magazine and TMZ.com. Those who enjoy Huffington’s thoughtful columns will also like Right Is Wrong, which serves as a one-stop shop for those looking for facts and arguments challenging the traditional media and political status quo. Reading the book in the wake of the media’s often-hostile approach to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is illuminating, as Huffington shows how the media pundits of the world are “tough minded” toward progressives while looking the other way toward abuses by the right-wing and the Bush Administration.
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Unmasking John McCain
by Paul Hogarth‚
May. 29‚ 2008
With a frightening number of Democrats saying they plan to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate does not win the nomination, it’s time to evaluate who the senior Senator from Arizona really is. Two new books help answer that question. In The Real McCain, Cliff Schecter offers a gloomy portrait of a hot-tempered right winger whose opportunism has earned him mistrust from even those who share his beliefs. But it’s Free Ride: John McCain and the Media by David Brock and Paul Waldman that answers the more fundamental question: how does McCain get away with a “maverick” reputation that he does not deserve, and why does the press corps give him such fawning coverage when they gladly tear other politicians apart?
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Maintaining Bohemia in a Gentrifying San Francisco
by Randy Shaw‚
May. 15‚ 2008
During the late 1990’s, a zine in the form of a newsletter emerged in San Francisco’s Central City with the unusual name, Turd-Filled Donut. This title belied what was often an insightful and provocative look at the city’s politics. I never knew the people behind the publication, but its co-creator, Erick Lyle, has now put out a book that includes both stories from that publication as well as other materials he wrote from 1997-2005. At its heart, On the Lower Frequencies is the story of how some twenty-somethings sought to survive in San Francisco through their art, music, and political engagement at a time when most of their brethren were arriving in the city for high-paying jobs in the booming tech industry or in corporate offices downtown. Lyle raises some important questions about the prospects for an ongoing counterculture in steadily gentrifying cities like San Francisco, and also about the effectiveness of non-traditional strategies for impacting urban politics.
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The Politics of Homelessness and the “Quality” of Urban Life
by Randy Shaw‚
May. 01‚ 2008
Despite nearly three decades of widespread visible homelessness in America, the traditional media--as San Francisco Chronicle readers well know--remains a fount of misinformation in assessing causes and solutions. This makes the release of Alex Vitale’s City of Disorder particularly timely. Vitale worked for the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness in the early 1990’s, and is now a Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College. His book is the most balanced analysis yet produced of the origins, and political impacts, of the backlash against public camping, sidewalk drinking, panhandling, “squeegee men,” illegal peddling and other “quality of life” issues. Although Vitale focuses on New York City, his analysis also helps explain San Francisco politics. While he agrees that homelessness is a product of decades of inadequate federal spending on low-cost housing, he make a convincing case that “urban liberalism”--embodied in policies adopted by such liberal mayors like David Dinkins and Willie Brown--has contributed to rising homelessnes and its link to public disorder.
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Backlash: The Undeserved War Against Susan Faludi
by Randy Shaw‚
Apr. 10‚ 2008
“This, sadly, is the sort of tendentious, self-important, sloppily reasoned book that gives feminism a bad name.” --- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, Oct. 23, 2007
Susan Faludi is among the nation’s pre-eminent nonfiction writers. Her two prior books, the landmark Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women and the less successful but also provocative Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, stimulated wide-ranging public debate. But Faludi’s most recent book, Terror Dreams: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America, received far less attention. While most reviews were favorable, perhaps the most prominent was New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani’s unusually harsh critique. I think the reason Terror Dreams did not enter the public debate, and that Faludi’s journalistic credibility has been attacked, is that she effectively challenged the fundamental integrity of the United States media machine. Terror Dreams uses the media’s preference for fantasy over fact in its 9/11 coverage to demonstrate how “facts” are fabricated and widely spread regarding a broad range of issues to serve certain ideological agendas. Faludi hit too close to home in Terror Dreams, and the media industry responded by ignoring her message and demeaning her journalism skills---but this is a book that every progressive and media critic should read.
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Baxter’s Literary Puzzle
by Dana Crowell‚
Mar. 27‚ 2008
Charles Baxter’s The Soul Thief is not a typical novel. It is not formulaic. It is not plot-heavy. And, its characters are not predictable. Rather, The Soul Thief is Charles Baxter’s literary experiment to merge fiction and the real, a literary game for the literary-minded. Baxter’s novel grabs you on the first page and doesn’t let go.
November 21, 2008
