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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...

Full commentary on "Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam"

An unflattering perspective: Here "a senior U.S. civil servant with two decades of experience in the U.S. intelligence community's work on Afghanistan and South Asia" argues that the U.S. was unprepared for September 11 because "our own naivet‚ and insularity...

Full commentary on "Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America"

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"

One of my site visitors bought this book today. Looks interesting. It's a bit of a perk for being an Amazon.com affiliate: monitoring my site's Amazon sales and clicks stats is constantly expanding my reading list....

Full commentary on "The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination"

RTFM is an acronym used often in the computing industry' Read the Fucking Manual. Typically, it's an epithet thrown at colleagues asking simple questions regarding easily available information they should already know. There's a certain amount of exasperation implicit in...

Full commentary on "The U.S. Constitution for Everyone"

I must say, the title and subject of this book caught my attention. Then a reviewer on amazon.com reminded me of the pitfalls of expert pundits. The review: This shallow book is the evidence why America lost a chance, June...

Full commentary on "Squandered Victory : The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq (Hardcover)"

I missed this one when it premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year. I'm looking forward to catching the DVD. The World According to Bush covers much of the territory of Fahrenheit 9/11, but is a more sober,...

Full commentary on "The World According to Bush"

This is part I in producer Robert Greenwald's Un- Trilogy which also includes Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War and Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004). In the course of 47 provocative minutes, Unprecedented leaves...

Full commentary on "Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition (2002)"

Part III in Producer Robert Greenwald's Un-Trilogy. Part I is Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition (2002) and Part II Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004) Completing a trilogy that should be required...

Full commentary on "Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties"

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"

Arguably America's most articulate dissident, Zinn here offers his post-9-11 take on how the world's shaping up in the aftermath through a series of interviews: The continued expenditure of more than $300 billion for the military every year has...

Full commentary on "Terrorism and War (Open Media Pamphlet Series)"

The stories you never saw on television, heard on radio, read in the newspapers and magazines...and why you didn't: In past years Censored has been instrumental in helping to push underreported stories into the mainstream. In the 1997 edition,...

Full commentary on "Censored 2005"

Another in a series of books from Desmond Morris determined to upend the flattering view of ourselves as primarily rational beings, as anything other than The Naked Ape. Additional titles by other authors along parallel lines of inquiry include The...

Full commentary on "The Human Zoo"

This is Part II in producer Robert Greenwald's Un- Trilogy. Part I is Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition (2002) and Part III Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004)On a daily basis we,...

Full commentary on "Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War"

Doris Lessing's 1986 Massey Lectures expose many aspects of being human that are agonisingly familiar to our social scientists and psychologists but which have not risen to public consciousness. These include traits used against us as individuals and groups to...

Full commentary on "Prisons We Choose to Live Inside"

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 enjoyed this film, learned a fair bit and upped the termperature in my righteous indignation thermometer by several degrees centigrade. From the VIFF 2004 film guide: A short, sharp addition to the fast-growing body of documentaries indicting the current...

Full commentary on "Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire"

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"

I found the following in a ZNet newsgroup: This is an excellent book for anyone who would like to understand economics from the anthropological perspective, that is, that the market principle isn't operative in many cultures. In today's capitalist economy...

Full commentary on "The Humbled Anthropologist: Tales from the Pacific"

Three simple reasons explain why conservatives keep defeating the left [in US politics] : The right wins the battle of ideas, has a more determined and focused army of activists, and is reaping the benefits of long-term changes in American...

Full commentary on "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America"

"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

Full commentary on "Al Qaeda"

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....

Full commentary on "Anarcho-Syndicalism"

This book features prominently in the documentary film, The Corporation, being the text which begins the redemption of CEO Ray Anderson from corporate ecological rapist to good corporate citizen. Quite a transformation and, as it turns out, a sustainable and...

Full commentary on "The Ecology of Commerce"

This is raucous good stuff, with smashing beats and unruly guitars to match the smashingly unruly politics of a band out to challenge the status quo on all fronts....

Full commentary on "Songs of the Free"

On my reading list. For more info, see Participatory Economics....

Full commentary on "Parecon: Life After Capitalism"

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"

Huntington's thesis, established first in a 1993 article appearing in Foreign Affairs is that the West has been in decline for much of the last century and that several other resurgent civilizations are poised to compete for economic, political and...

Full commentary on "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order"

As of this writing, this book is not yet on the shelves....

Full commentary on "The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram"

I've just put this on my reading list. Here's an excerpt from a review on Amazon.com The essays and studies making this book treasurable (beyond their research value) can get one very emotional at times, especially when reading about some...

Full commentary on "Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm"

This is a film co-directed by Mark Achbar, who also co-directed Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Manufacturing Consent is arguably the most important documentary ever made about the Media. The Corporation may be the most important film made...

Full commentary on "The Corporation"

This play can be devestating to a complacent psyche. Delivered as a monologue, the un-named, un-gendered protagonist, wealthy and well-placed, describes the events and conditions leading to an emotional breakdown in "some third-world country where my language isn't spoken." The...

Full commentary on "The Fever"

I saw this Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival this past fall. Splendid. But don't just take my word for it: New York Times review: FRANK RICH Oldest Living Whiz Kid Tells All Published: January 25, 2004 There has...

Full commentary on "The Fog of War"