The Market As Purgatory
The New Capitalism has become a Weltanschauung. It is no longer content with the economy. It now seeks a corner on our life and thought. Capitalism has changed its face. The elation of 1989 seems far behind, when the collapse of the socialist camp was celebrated generally as the triumph of the market economy. Only the…
Read MoreA Man Without A Country, By Kurt Vonnegut
When Kurt Vonnegut finally finished Timequake one decade ago, the exasperated writer claimed that he would never write another book. Technically, he still hasn’t. In 1999’s Bagombo Snuff Box, Vonnegut merely collected several short stories he’d previously written and in 2001’s God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, he simply published a few short pieces he’d performed…
Read MoreWhere Did The Future Go?
Once upon a time, capital had a dream of the future. For those with the patience and fortitude to abide its travails, the new day would bring growth, progress and the promise of a better life. For those workers of the world who could secure a seat on the bus, the trip to tomorrow would take…
Read MorePredatory States: Operation Condor And Covert War In Latin America, By J. Patrice Mcsherry
It has taken almost thirty years for human rights activists, judges, historians, and social scientists to begin documenting the history of long-known abuses in Latin America, as well as to plumb the exact role played by the U.S. in these sordid events. It appears that a generation had to pass before key archives opened and…
Read MoreIraq Redux: How Things Looked Then And How They Look Now
It is now two years since President George W. Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and proclaimed victory in Iraq with the words: “Mission Accomplished!” The threat to the United States had passed, the weapons of mass destruction had not been launched, and an ally of al Qaeda had been destroyed. Statues of the dictator…
Read MoreThe Missing Peace: The Inside Story Of The Fight For Middle East Peace, By Dennis Ross
Dennis Ross served as a key architect of US policy in the Middle East in his capacities as the head of Policy Planning in the State Department under James Baker III in the administration of George H.W. Bush (1989 – January 1993) and then as chief negotiator for Arab-Israeli issues under Bill Clinton’s two Secretaries…
Read MoreThe Corporate University In American Society
Higher education in America is being transformed by the contradictions that have historically defined and determined its existence. Seen as an educationa institution, its importance lies in empowering individuals-both within the academy and outside-to become critical and knowledgeable citizens capable of self-governance in a democracy. Seen as a economic institution, its value lies in producing…
Read MoreWarfare State: Britain, 1920-1970 By David Edgerton
Rethinking and reexamining the history of the vital relations between science, technology and the state is an increasingly urgent task. Any serious endeavor to do so must bring back into the policy equation the military connection, spotlighting what Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus bluntly call the War Machine. Since Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address…
Read MoreLondon Bombs Come In All Sizes And Shapes
On the terrible morning of the London suicide bombings the Sky news cable channel in Britain, owned by Rupert Murdoch and anchored by manic Murdochian mannequins, summoned three terrorism experts plus an Amnesty International spokeswoman. The latter obviously was tossed in for a bit of balance, although duly outnumbered by what one guessed were truculent…
Read MoreTradition . . . Transgression! Singer In The Shtetl And On The Street
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Collected Stories. Boxed Set, 3 Volumes, illustrated Album, xxxi + 2844 pages. $105. Edited by Ilan Stavans. Album includes biographical commentary by James Gibbons. Stories translated from the Yiddish by the author and many others. New York: Library of America, 2004. “They were godly without God, and worldly without a world.” —Singer on his generation…
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