Political Media Review

“There is an opportunity before us to reinvigorate journalism and, with that, democratic governance in the United States. But we need to correctly understand the source of the problem to prescribe the solutions…

As globalization penetrates the hearts and souls of many lives and as transnational capitalist interests work beyond the sovereignty of many states to weaken both socioeconomic and environmental regulations, accelerating people’s impoverishment along with ecological catastrophe as a result, the world needs revised thinking and action.

Michael Moore’s latest documentary is a critique of capitalism- in mainstream theaters- pretty big deal. “Capitalism: A Love Story” starts off comparing the US to the Roman Empire- a fairly easy task. In addition to other commentary, the documentary seems to be focused on the anti-capitalist stance of various Catholic priests, the consequences of the housing crisis, corporate bailouts and, finally, some alternatives in the form of worker-run workplaces.

Beyond Elections takes on a huge topic – the future of democracy in the Americas. The documentary by Sílvia Leindecker and Michael Fox ably traverses the complexities of this broad question, relying predominantly on the voices of the people to explore how we define democracy, its nature and limitations in the Americas and efforts to expand it.

This poetic book of history is about those who found themselves on the wrong side of the American Dream. Specifically, it examines the thoughts by and about the striving, and mostly failing, businessmen who exemplified the ‘entrepreneurial spirit.’

In this short book, author Jens Soering outlines several prison myths that he says obscure our ability to take a rational, informed, and effective approach to incarceration in the U.S. Using the introductory chapter to highlight recent trends in crime, incarceration, recidivism, and prison expenditures (data from 2001 were the most recently available during the time of this writing) Soering dedicates the remaining chapters to discuss six prison myths that he argues cloud our understanding, judgment, and ultimately practices of incarceration.