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The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale

1. February 2010

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The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale

Karen Davis’ The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale is a heretical book in the very best of senses. Davis challenges the firmly held beliefs of a society that systematically devalues the lives of nonhuman animals as a means of justifying their exploitation

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The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement

27. December 2009

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The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement

This richly illustrated and designed volume, featuring indigenous art and photographs on nearly every page and unprecedented interviews with members of the early villages, is a result of the seven years Mexican journalist Gloria Muñoz Ramírez’ spent with the Zapatistas in Southern Chiapas.

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Humiliation, Abu Ghraib and the Failed Peace in Iraq

20. September 2009

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Victoria Fontan offers a fascinating perspective on the Iraq War and War on Terror, arguing that humiliation plays a key role in both. She starts with the premise that humiliation was instrumental in the shift from liberation to counterinsurgency in Iraq and, more generally, serves as the central rallying cry for fundamentalist terrorism across the globe.

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The Guantanamo Files

29. August 2009

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The Guantanamo Files

Andy Worthington's hard-hitting new book shines a stark light into the black hole that is Guantanamo Bay prison, describing the process and consequences of a US intelligence project which is at the same time both ruthless and cackhanded; all the while failing to achieve its intentions.

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Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

12. August 2009

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Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights is a highly accessible introduction to animal rights alongside leading animal rights philosopher Tom Regan’s own story of transitioning to an animal friendly lifestyle.

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Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca

19. June 2009

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Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca

Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca reflects the spirit of the historical teachers' struggle in Oaxaca, Mexico in the spring of 2006, which is rooted in the principal of radical (direct) democracy and social justice. The narratives assembled in this book are the voices of political implications of theory drawn from the experimental frameworks within this community struggle for "living wage, infrastructure repair, free school books and social services for poor students" (p.25).

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Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte

13. April 2009

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Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte

Mao Tsetung was famously quoted as saying there was no such thing as art for art's sake, or art detached from politics. In Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte, Carlos Francisco Jackson probes such concepts, as well as their limits. Social justice-oriented creative expressions have proven a transformative force in many eras, from the Black Arts Movement to the explosion of Mexican-American humanities from the 1940s to 1970s.

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Open Wound: The Long View of Race in America

12. April 2009

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Open Wound: The Long View of Race in America

Since the election of U.S. President Barack Obama, mainstream commercial and noncommercial media have hailed a shift in America's disquisition around race. The leading conversation here, however historically stunted, is how Americans conceive of race has changed because whites voted for a man with a Black father and white mother.

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Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire: Toward a new Humanism

16. March 2009

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Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire: Toward a new Humanism

Peter McLaren and Nathalia Jaramillo's Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire (PPAE) best collects their founding theoretical work on the post-9/11, emergent international anti-capitalist/imperialist movement that reflects an active example of revolutionary critical pedagogy.

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Issues in Green Criminology: Confronting Harms Against Environments, Humanity and Other Animals

8. March 2009

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Issues in Green Criminology: Confronting Harms Against Environments, Humanity and Other Animals

This edited collection draws together works from scholars involved in ‘green criminology'. Green criminology studies how governments, corporations, military complexes and human consumption harm the environment and non-human animals. Damage to air and water quality, animal testing, uranium proliferation and slaughterhouses are examples of the kinds of issues green criminologists examine.

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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

7. February 2009

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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation hit The New York Times' "Bestsellers" list, and was praised by powerful publications such as The New Yorker, Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Washington Post. Fast Food Nation presents the history and horrors of this industry's journey from its sparse beginnings to become a symbol of American success, including purposefully advertising to children, union busting, and bribing government agencies.

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