Category: Monthly Review Press Blog

“New Era Demands Cooperation, Not Competition”: Facing the Anthropocene reviewed in Earth Island Journal

February 20, 2024

Ian Angus’ Facing the Anthropocene is required reading. Why? Angus weds natural and social processes of planetary import in 2016. To this end, his ‘essential background and context’ advances a vital discussion. The book, short and sweet at 277 pages, joins a literature of eco-social critiques from radical writers such as Paul Burkett, Brett Clark, Rebecca Clausen, John Bellamy Foster, Naomi Klein, and Stefano B. Longo. Foster’s Foreword sets the stage…

The American War in Vietnam: 2 Counterpunch Reviews

February 20, 2024

We are never going to get a better truth-telling antidote than the one John Marciano provides. Longtime activist and scholar, author of Civil Illiteracy and Education, the battle for the Hearts and Minds of American Youth and co-author of Teaching the Vietnam War, Marciano knows his stuff.

Marta Harnecker on “The Best Homage We Can Pay Fidel”

February 20, 2024

“Over half a century ago, as Latin American households were celebrating the start of a new year, some good news arrived from Cuba: a guerrilla army with a social base among the peasantry triumphed on the Caribbean island, liberating the country from the tyrannical Batista regime. A political process began that not only aimed to overthrow a dictator, but sought to follow a consistently revolutionary line: genuinely transform society for the benefit of the great majority….”

Ottawa Valley Faces Ian Angus (and the Anthropocene)

February 20, 2024

in which Ian Angus, author of Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System, talks to Jennifer Estendorp of Inside Ottawa Valley
“What is the Anthropocene you ask?
‘Geologists divide the history of our world into increments, based on what they know about eras,’ explained Ian Angus, local author. ‘Currently, we’re in the Holocene epoch.’

Studs Terkel now and then: Alan Wieder on KBOO radio; Studs himself, same station, 1996

February 20, 2024

Alan Wieder, author of Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation, talks to community radio station KBOO’s Gene Bradley on “Political Perspectives,” followed by an interview with Studs Terkel, from the same studio, in 1996. And, if you’re in Portland, Oregon on August 30, drop by Broadway Books, , 7:00 to 8:00pm, 1714 NE Broadway, where Alan will read from his book and talk about Studs Terkel.

“Facing the Anthropocene: climate change is a ‘global emergency’”

February 20, 2024

This summer, a panel of geologists voted to recognize today as an age where human activities match or exceed natural forces and are globally significant. They named it the Anthropocene. On September 13, Ian Angus, an author and eco-socialist activist, spoke at a colloquium organized by UBC’s geography department, addressing this proposed geological epoch and introducing his new book, Facing the Anthropocene.

The Vietnam War Was No Mistake: John Marciano’s book reviewed in the LA Progressive

February 20, 2024

John Marciano has written an absolutely essential book to counter the prevailing myth that the American invasion of Vietnam must be commemorated as a ‘noble cause’ of which all Americans need to be proud. We should not question that everyone who crossed the Pacific to kill and die there, as the embodiment of all that is great about America, has to be honored for their patriotic dedication and sacrifice. At least since Vietnam, if not much earlier, joining the military has been called ‘service,’ a selfless act for a higher good. Marciano points out that the call for honoring participants in the war does not include the hundreds of thousands who protested in opposition.

Alan Wieder Takes Studs Terkel to Cleveland

February 20, 2024

Alan Wieder talks about Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation with Dan Polletta of Cleveland’s WCPN/WCLV ideastream

“Writer of Studs Terkel biography started with a story in his head”: Alan Wieder in the Chicago Tribune

February 20, 2024

It was a not-so-happy Halloween in 2008 when the many thousands of his fans and followers heard that Studs Terkel had died. This news was perhaps softened a bit by the fact that he was 96 years old and that his life had been filled with activity: TV star, actor, radio host for nearly half a century on WFMT, author of nearly 20 books (among them such best-sellers as Division Street America, Working and The Good War, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1985), energetic activist and civic symbol. He got it right when some years before his death he crafted his own playful epitaph: ‘Curiosity did not kill this cat.’

Alan Wieder talks about Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation on WPFW-FM

February 20, 2024

On September 21, Alan Wieder, author of Studs Terkel, Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation, sat down with David Whettstone in a studio of Washington D.C.’s WPFW. There, on “Community Watch and Comment,”they talked about Studs and played some of his old radio clips.