Out of the Mainstream: Books and Films You May Have Missed
- Out of the MainstreamBooks and Films You May Have Missed
Books
About Face
Edited by Buff Whitman-Bradley, Sarah Lazare, and Cynthia Whitman-Bradley
PM Press, 2011
In this book compiled by the anti-war organization Courage to Resist, brave young veterans from a variety of backgrounds tell how they came to join the U.S. military and eventually to refuse to participate anymore in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Aftershock
By Robert Reich
Vintage, 2011
The former U.S. Secretary of Labor has updated his book about how shifting wealth from working people to the top 1 percent put the economy in crisis—and what can be done now.
American Dreamers
By Michael Kazin
A.A. Knopf, 2011
Commentary on selected aspects of the American Left throughout history finds that activists have had lasting impact on culture and social justice even if they haven’t fully achieved their goals.
Anti-Capitalism
By Ezequiel Adamovsky
Seven Stories, 2011
An Argentinian activist argues that a new kind of Left movement around the world can succeed where its predecessors have failed.
At-Risk
By Amina Gautier
University of Georgia, 2011
This outstanding collection of artfully written short stories focuses on young African-Americans in New York. Gautier does not judge them but tries to show how they feel.
Boundaries
By Elizabeth Nunez
Akashic, 2011
A Caribbean immigrant with a successful career in New York’s publishing industry confronts boundary issues with her mother, a potential second husband, and her native-born white and African-American bosses. [End Page 124]
In the Land of the Grasshopper Song
By Mary Ellicott Arnold and Mabel Reed
University of Nebraska Press, 2011
In 1908, two East Coast women were sent by the U.S. government to serve as “field matrons” to teach native people in the Klamath and Salmon River country of northernmost California how to become “Americans.” This lesbian couple soon discovered that they had a great deal to learn from their hosts. Fifty years later, they drew on their letters and diaries from the time to recount their remarkable experiences with humor and honesty.
No Backing Down
By Tameron Keyes
Ashtad, 2011
A former stockbroker for Smith Barney details the sexual harassment and discrimination she faced and takes readers through her successful court case against the Wall Street firm.
Occupy!
Edited by Astra Taylor and Keith Gessen
Verso, 2011
A thoughtful compilation from the Occupy! Gazette, a publication produced after Occupy Wall Street began, gives readers who were not in New York a taste of the bold action and soul-searching debates participants were engaged in. Royalties go to support OWS.
River of Smoke
By Amitav Ghosh
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011
The second in a trilogy of historical novels that began with Sea of Poppies takes place in India, China, and other parts of Asia in the nineteenth century when the opium trade was becoming big business. Once again, Ghosh has produced a captivating blend of thoroughly researched history, compelling characters, and colorful language.
The Accidental Slaveowner
By Mark Auslander
University of Georgia, 2011
For more than 150 years, whites in Oxford, Georgia have passed on a story about a black woman enslaved to a white minister who was the first president of Emory University. According to their account, the minister offered to set the woman free but she chose to remain with him. Meanwhile, African-American families have passed down a very different account.
Trampling Out the Vintage
By Frank Bardacke
Verso, 2011
For decades, Cesar Chavez has been remembered as a great American hero. Recently, some on the Left have dismissed him as a paranoid madman who blew the chance to build a strong union for farm workers. Bardacke argues that both stories are too simplistic and ignore important aspects of the union’s experience, including what he calls its anti-democratic culture, distance from the membership, and compliant inner circle. [End Page 125]
Weirding the War
Edited by Stephen Berry
University of Georgia, 2011
A collection of essays revisits the Civil War, finding not heroes...
