Big G and Me
One of my fondest childhood memories is sitting between my parents on a warm summer night, on the front seat of the family car, watching a movie through the windshield,…
reviews
Insurgent diaspora against empire
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…
McQuaig: Privatization poses an existential threat to Canada’s public wealth
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…
American Dharma does the devil’s work too well
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,…
Wisdom Engaged ties decolonisation to shared health and well-being
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…
Aaron Bastani’s ‘luxury communism’ is a false future
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.…
With his first book, Martin Lukacs delivers a devastating analysis of Trudeau’s four years in power
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 underdog roots of Jagmeet Singh
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.…
Compassion as social policy
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…
“A world of people without a people”
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…
Dishonouring the “Treaty Bundle”
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…
Murder Bay: Investigations into the deaths of Indigenous youth
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City Tanya Talaga House of Anansi Press, 2017 Thunder Bay Ryan McMahon Canadaland, 2018 Investigative journalist and Toronto Star…
Midsommar Madness: the problematic portrayal of Bipolar Disorder in Film
Midsommar Ari Aster B-Reel Films, 2019 Midsommar has been turning heads since it debuted in theatres earlier this month, and the jury is still out on whether it is incredibly…
Seizing the means of (data) production
The People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski Verso, 2019 Unpredictability, economic unpredictability in particular, means that…
Lessons from Strikes Past
Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada Graphic History Collective Between the Lines, 2019 Direct Action Gets the Goods is the latest graphic novel…
1919: A Powerful Interpretation of Canada’s Most Famous Strike
1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike Graphic History Collective and David Lester Between The Lines, 2019 “History is an important resource for people who want to change…
He also writes thrillers … and good ones, too
The Man Who Fell From the Sky Bill Fletcher, Jr. Hardball Press, 2018 Caveat lector. I must confess from the outset that Bill Fletcher is a personal hero of mine.…
Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules
I really wanted to read this book objectively, separating it from the media hype and social media torrents of opinion and abuse that often accompany its author, Jordan Peterson. I…
Pushing back on Canada’s war on drug users
Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction Travis Lupick Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017 Every night that Overdose Prevention Ottawa ran its illegal…
Capitalism: A Crime Story
Capitalism: A Crime Story Harry Glasbeek Between The Lines, 2018 Harry Glasbeek is a real oddity — a lawyer and professor of corporate law who specializes in exposing the way…