Tag: reviews

Social Ecology and the Right to the City: Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities Edited by Federico Venturini, Emet Değirmenci and Inés Morales Bernardos Black Rose Books, 2019 This collection, published last year by Black Rose Books, is based on the theme of a conference held in Greece in 2017—“The Right

Social Ecology and the Right to the City: Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities Edited by Federico Venturini, Emet Değirmenci and Inés Morales Bernardos Black Rose Books, 2019 This collection, published last year by Black Rose Books, is based on the theme of a conference held in Greece in 2017—“The Right

Planet of the Humans Jeff Gibbs Rumble Media, 2019 Planet of the Humans, directed by Jeff Gibbs and produced by Michael Moore, has hit a sensitive nerve with well-established environmental groups. The film, free to watch on YouTube, has exposed them for pushing free market environmental solutions as the only

Jesus and the Politics of Mammon Hollis Phelps Cascade Books, 2019 The title of this book made me suspect it would simply advocate an anti-capitalist theology and present a vision of Jesus as a socialist. God knows we need to challenge the diabolical hash Christian fundamentalism makes of its professed

McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality Ronald E. Purser Repeater Books, 2019 It is interesting to note just how many of the leaders of self-help culture present their credentials as businesspeople, CEOs, “wealth creators” and so on as if it could be taken for granted that success as

Beanpole Kantemir Balagov Non-Stop Production, 2019 Opening at the Film Forum in New York City Beanpole is a Russian film set in Leningrad just after the Second World War has ended. In addition to the shattered buildings left behind in the 900-day siege, there are also shattered human beings who

Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent Priyamvada Gopal Verso, 2019 In the waves of anticolonial rebellion throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, opposition from within the centres of colonial power was needed to spark strong movements of resistance and struggle. The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act throughout the British

The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth Linda McQuaig Dundurn, 2019 Author and investigative reporter, Linda McQuaig’s latest book offers a very readable and succinct review of the history of key Canadian public services and the threat that privatization poses to our country’s

American Dharma Errol Morris Utopia, 2019 Perhaps American Dharma, the new feature-length interview between filmmaker Errol Morris and right-wing propagandist Stephen Bannon, should never have been made. Across the world, no-platform campaigns have starved far-right celebrities to a minimum of influence, such that whenever Bannon, the self-proclaimed populist strategist credited

Wisdom Engaged: Traditional Knowledge for Northern Community Well-Being Edited by Leslie Main Johnson University of Alberta Press, 2019 An invaluable manual for decolonisation, Whose Land Is It Anyway?, includes a variety of perspectives from Indigenous academics and activists. The book, released in 2017, mentions “rights” and “land” 38 and 165

Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto Aaron Bastani Verso, 2019 Fully Automated Luxury Communism is Novara Media co-founder Aaron Bastani’s attempt to turn a popular meme into a political manifesto. Back in 2014, he uploaded a video positioning ‘luxury communism’ as a real left political persuasion, which he continued in

The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent Martin Lukacs Black Rose Books, 2019 Slick, brand-driven star power legitimizes the neoliberal status quo, obscuring growing inequalities as the alt-right and climate crisis loom on the horizon. This is the backdrop for Martin Lukacs’ first book, The Trudeau

Love & Courage: My Story of Family, Resilience, and Overcoming the Unexpected Jagmeet Singh Simon & Schuster, 2019 Jagmeet Singh has always been the underdog and he thrives on it. He will often point to chardi kala, a Punjabi term used in Sikhi for aspiring to a positive and joyful

Compassion: A Global History of Social Policy Alvin Finkel Red Globe Press, 2019 Compassion: A Global History of Social Policy is the latest and most ambitious work of Canadian historian Alvin Finkel. It is an impressive book filled with rich detail and grounded in solid research. It is comprehensive and

Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism Quinn Slobodian Harvard University Press, 2018 Quinn Slobodian’s masterful exegesis, an old term befitting his subject, tells of the ur group of thinkers, the globalists, who formulated the assumptions and prescriptions of global neoliberalism. This intellectual history tells of their

No Surrender: The Land Remains Indigenous Sheldon Krasowski University of Regina Press, 2019 Historian and Indigenous Studies scholar Sheldon Krasowski makes a sterling contribution to the dialogue about treaty negotiations in Canada. Such dialogue was once dominated by colonialist apologetics claiming that cultural misunderstandings between Euro-Canadian and Indigenous negotiators caused