For your consideration: Adam Smith was as acutely aware of issues of power and class as he was of the dynamics of competitive markets. However, the neoclassical economists and the neo-Marxist economists bifurcated his holistic perspective on the political economy, one taking those portions of the analysis that favored the owners of property, and the … More David C. Korten
I have my grandmother’s copy of Land of Little Rain, but I see that it is now a Google Book, a Virginia e-text, a part of the Berkeley SunSITE, and a Gutenberg e-book. This book describes things as they were in the nineteenth century when my various relatives arrived. At random: I like that name … More Mary Austin
Here is a small excerpt from one chapter of a book by Robert Jay Lifton. The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of … More Robert Jay Lifton
James Baldwin died November 30, 1987, twenty years ago today. I was having a traumatic semester and I did not take note of his passing, but he has always been one of my favorite writers, so I will take note of it today. This post is intended as a James Baldwin Video Aggregator. CSPAN Baldwin … More James Baldwin
I am reading this book on the recommendation of Liz. It is smart. If I had not investigated its subject matter quite thoroughly before reading it, I might find it yet more epoch-making. On the other hand, I might not understand it so well. It has given me another insight on Reeducation. I have had … More Stalking the Soul
From Keith Gessen’s Gracelands: …But the book was also about hitchhikers, misfits and especially drug addicts–its title came from the Velvet Underground’s ode to heroin–and this put it in a different tradition, less of Carver’s suburban miniatures of desperation than of the American hopped-up song of the open road. …Tree of Smoke traces the gradual … More Armistice Day
Check him out. Wouldn’t you like to have him come to speak at your school? I know I would. I would need to get several departments on board with me to organize this, though. Perhaps for next year. Meanwhile, following the advice of Unsane and inspired by Morphological Confetti and Wandering Caravan, I have been … More Geoffrey Philp
1. Now it is Hallowe’en and I have a pumpkin and a black Cat. I admire the Cat who admires Birds; we both dislike Rats. We are lighting candles, pouring out rum for the saints, and reading Voltaire. 2. In news, Shakespeare’s Sister has an excellently reasoned critique of Clinton and Obama that everyone should … More Écrasez l’Infâme
“[An] aching debut…[with] echoes of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings…” —Publisher’s Weekly “Reading Dedra Johnson’s Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow, I was fully in the presence of the mind, heart, and soul of a richly rendered, fascinating fictional character. I knew I was also in the presence of the brilliant voice and sensibility of … More Dedra Johnson
Saturday there are war protests here and elsewhere, and our featured post on this matter is from the Hedonistic Pleasureseeker. Her featured music, recalling the first antiwar demonstrations we went to, is Peter, Paul, and Mary. We have responded with Grace Slick, in a particularly brilliant performance. Our featured writer for the present historical moment, … More Tacitus
coldhearted scientist وداد 