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A history of militant fundamentalism in Islam: We hear more about Muslim extremists than ever before, but Kepel argues that the terrorism seen today throughout the world results from the failure of Islamic fundamentalism and not its success. Beginning...

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The news behind the events; the news mainstream media isn't reporting: The most complete book I know of, summarizing the relevant background and foreground intersecting upon the events of September 11... -- Barry Zwicker, Vision TV Insight...

Full commentary on "The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001"

The third of three books written about the Christmas Day Truce of WWI. For the full story see this entry....

Full commentary on "Silent Night, Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce"

The second of three books about World War I's Christmas Day Truce. For the full story see this entry....

Full commentary on "Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914"

One of three books about the impromptu WWI Christmas Day Truce. Here's the story: GLW: The soldiers' Xmas truce http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/480/480p21.htm BY PHIL SHANNON It was the war that was supposed ``to be over by Christmas''. It very nearly was. A...

Full commentary on "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce"

This little play, Wallace Shawn's monologue of 112 pages, rocked me when I first encountered it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival sometime in the mid '90s. Perhaps I'll add some commentary later, but for now, try these links: A reading...

Full commentary on "The Fever"

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead....

Full commentary on "In Flanders Fields and Other Poems"

An acclaimed introduction for young readers to the poem, World War II, and war generally....

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According to reviews I've read, be prepared to question your understanding of "freedom." Consider which freedom is the most valuable: to speak freely or to feed your family. For example, in dealing with enemies (say, Pol Pot, or Maoist China),...

Full commentary on "Development as Freedom"

The long-awaited primary-source companion to A People's History of the United States. For this new book, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies -- speeches, letters, poems, songs, memoirs, protests -- from our rich history of resistance. Here, in their own...

Full commentary on "Voices of a People's History of the United States"

I saw Chalmers Johnson in the film Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire, in which he spoke compellingly concerning the processes by which American foreign policy has elevated American reach and power to global proportions. So,...

Full commentary on "The Sorrows of Empire"

"The notion "al-Qaeda" is almost meaningless. If you're interested in something serious about it, read Jason Burke's book Al Qaeda."
~ Noam Chomsky

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A recommendation gleaned from the chomskychat forum on ZNet....

Full commentary on "Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East"

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera this film features Daniel Day Lewis, Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin, the two women in their breakout performances. This was not a simple adaptation by any means. Kundera's text...

Full commentary on "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"

Recall that Parecon (Participatory Economics) represents one option to Capitalism now that Communism is dead. Anarcho-Syndicalism is a second option. The full text of this book is available online, here....

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Epic (944 pages!) novel set in Victorian England. Reads well, and more quickly than one might expect with such a chunky volume. Unlike other somewhat revisionist time-pieces, everyone here regardless of gender or class comes off somewhat doltish, though victimhood...

Full commentary on "The Crimson Petal and the White"

Snow's epic recounting of months spent with China's Red Army during the Civil War. Includes extensive biographical material on numerous players on all sides of the conflict as well as an inspiring telling of the Long March. Snow also describes...

Full commentary on "Red Star Over China"

I'm just a few dozen pages into this book, so I'll comment more later. For now, I'll just say it's an interesting take on post-abolition plantation life in the US South. The Hoe in question, sharpened to a fine point...

Full commentary on "The Polished Hoe"