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  • Out of the Mainstream:Books and Films You May Have Missed
  • Matt Witt (bio)

Books

A Woman Among Warlords By Malalai Joya SCRIBNER, 2009

Joya is a young woman elected to Afghanistan's parliament in 2005 at the age of twenty-seven and then suspended from her post because of her outspoken criticism of the regime. "We Afghans remain trapped between two enemies," she writes, "the Taliban on one side and U.S./NATO forces and their warlord hirelings on the other." The Karzai government, she says, is no better than the Taliban, and Afghans must be allowed to determine their own destiny. "I hope President Obama in particular will be made to understand that more troops, more bombs, and an expanded war will solve nothing," she concludes.

Black Body Edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah SEVEN STORIES, 2009

Thirty writers—most, but not all, black—speak honestly and often with humor about their experiences related to the black body in American culture.

Cursing Columbus By Eve Tal CINCO PUNTOS, 2009

This sequel to the wonderfully written Double Crossing is a novel for those high-school-aged and up about Jewish immigrants in New York in the early 1900s. Besides telling interesting history, it deals with themes that are relevant to immigrants' experiences today.

Feminism Seduced By Hester Eisenstein PARADIGM, 2009

This thoughtful and provocative book by a feminist academic argues that global corporations and their political allies have co-opted "mainstream feminism," which Eisenstein says has not adequately analyzed and confronted issues of race, class, and economic globalization. The final chapter explores what the author calls "Islamophobia" and the use of professed concern for women in Afghanistan and Iraq to justify wars waged by the U.S. for other motives. [End Page 100]

Herbert Harrison By Jeffrey B. Perry COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009

This is an extraordinarily thorough effort to preserve the history of a relatively unknown but important black radical organizer who was involved with the Socialist Party, Industrial Workers of the World, and other organizations in the early black liberation movement based in Harlem. This first of two volumes covers the years 1883-1918.

IraqiGirl By Hadia HAYMARKET, 2009

An Iraqi teenager has been blogging since 2004 about her life and the impact of the war. Her blog itself is one way for American teenagers, as well as adults, to be exposed to her world, but this book that compiles highlights from her entries may be a more coherent and accessible vehicle. It includes discussion questions that could be used with school or youth groups.

Moral Underground By Lisa Dodson THE NEW PRESS, 2009

Workers talk about the human impact of the poverty-wage economy, and some of their supervisors, health care providers, and school teachers discuss how they bend rules in response to injustice—keeping workers on the clock while they take their children to the doctor, sending food home with a restaurant or food-store worker, providing care to someone who is uninsured, and more.

Rebecca Harding Davis's Stories of the Civil War Era Edited by Sharon Harris and Robin Cadwallader UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS, 2009

Long before anyone spoke of "people's history," Davis roamed the states most ravaged by war, profiling working people of all backgrounds and showing the war's effects.

Searching for Whitopia By Rich Benjamin HYPERION, 2009

For generations, white writers have reported on black or brown communities. Benjamin, a black writer, turns the tables, living for three months at a time in some of the fastest growing and whitest towns in America—Coeur D'Alene, Idaho; St. George, Utah; and Forsyth County, Georgia. It's part of his report on the rapid exodus of white urban dwellers to nearly all-white small towns across the nation.

Teaching for Joy and Justice By Linda Christensen RETHINKING SCHOOLS, 2009

This indispensable resource focuses on inspired, practical, and proven ways to help students draw on their own lives and the world around them as they learn reading and writing skills.

The Domino Effect By Thomas F. Coleman SPECTRUM INSTITUTE, 2009...

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