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Guns, Germs and Steel
|
I only put great books on this site so they all get four stars.
| Media Type +
Review |
Name | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| Film
*** |
Blue
Collar
|
How workers are artificially separated and set against one another so that they are not able to effectively stand up for their rights. What this artificial division costs workers. Very powerful statement. |
| Book
**** |
The
Magic Journey
Author |
Funny, highly entertaining yet ultimately sad and maddening novel that shows people trying to preserve tradition. Interesting look at differences of perspective between generations of people. Read all about "the Wonderful Horse without Sh--" |
| Film
*** |
Matewan
Director: John
Sayles
| Coal miners at a West Virginia operation struggle for a living wage. Matewan, W. VA. is famous for "the 12 second war" that left several dead and wounded due to employer dishonesty and greed. Great example of how diverse kinds of people can work together to achieve a goal unobtainable alone. |
| Book
**** |
A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present
Author |
You know all that stuff that never makes sense to you but you can't put your finger on what is exactly it is that doesn't make sense? Howard Zinn explains it all. Over half a million copies sold! |
| Book**** | The Politics of Law Editor David Kairys |
This is a series of articles by some of the most influential thinkers in law and society today. All have relevance to our daily lives. The topics include the myth that personal injury litigation is breaking corporations; how contracts become an ideology; the nature of property and how people can take on the characteristics of property; why trademark, copyright, and patent laws may not be as great as we think they are, etc. |
| Book
**** |
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Author |
Jared Diamond is a physiologist who teaches at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is also on the board of Discover, the science magazine.He wrote this Pulitzer-Prize Award winning book that will change the way we think. It is a materialist analysis of why societies and economies differ. One of the best books I have ever read. It explains why the Europeans have all the "cargo". Here is an excerpt. |
| Book | Labor's Untold Story
Authors |
This is an excellent history of workers in America, told by two historians in an informal style that reads like a novel. It was written in 1952, and today it seems that we need to heed the past more than ever. |
| Film **** | The Big One Michael Moore, writer, director, actor |
Michael Moore will make you cry with laughter, and then just feel like crying about the problems American workers have encountered trying to survive after "downsizing." It was partially filmed during a book promotion tour for our next recommendation. |
| Book**** | Downsize This! author Michael Moore |
Michael Moore writes again, a union worker who was laid off from General Motors and came to fame in a film called Roger and Me. He spent that whole movie in quest of Roger Smith, the CEO of General Motors. "Downsize This" features such pungent quotes as "Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are stockholders given any rights." |
| Book**** | A Civil Action Author Jonathan Harr |
I dare you to drink tap water after reading this book. It is the true story of how a young successful attorney wanted to get rich and do good at the same time by helping some people who had been injured by groundwater pollution. The pollution came from businesses that discharged organic chemicals into the aquifer. Proven cases of leukemia sprang from this pollution, yet the corporations won this suit. A real eye-opener about the power of corporations. |
| Book**** | Rainbow at Midnight Author George Lipsitz |
Lipsitz writes beautifully in this history of the labor movement, dealing primarily with the 1940's and 1950's. Among his well-argued premises: the Cold War began in part to control labor activism. Another that provides food for thought: pensions are used to take away mobility and free choice from workers while saving the corporation immediate cash outlay in the form of wages. |
| Book **** | The Milagro Beanfield War
Author: John Nichols |
For once, the regular folks win against the rich folks! A man waters his beanfield and the big boys get pissed! Forget that wimpy movie you saw and read this book. Lots of laughs. |
| Book **** | Labor and Monopoly Capital
Author: Harry Braverman |
Materialist analysis of working people and monopoly capitalism that is even more relevant today, three decades after publication. Not for the faint of heart, but well worth the time and effort. |
| Book **** | If the gods had wanted us to vote they would have given us
candidates...
Author: Jim Hightower |
Feel alienated from the current crop of politicians? In a very accessible manner, and with tongue firmly in cheek, this Texan (a former politician himself) talks about this year's storebought politicians and and how corporations control the electoral process. A good book for all working people. |
| Book **** | Anarchism
Author: Daniel Guerin |
What the heck IS anarchism, anyway? No cookbooks here. What anarchism is and how it is relevant to today. |
| Book **** | The Chomsky Reader--and anything else by Chomsky
Author: Noam Chomsky |
Chomsky talks about freedom. His anti-authority analyses and discussions help us understand the lack of freedom in the modern world. |
| Book **** | Adventures in Marxism
Author: Marshall Berman |
A must read for all working people. A materialist analysis. Street Marxism that works now. |
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