New and worth noting…

BOOKS

Martin Marten by Brian Doyle (St. Martin’s). A beautifully written, upbeat, place-based novel follows characters in a human community on Mt. Hood, Oregon, as well as a family of martens that live in the same area.
The God of War by Marisa Silver (Simon & Schuster). A gripping and touching novel is told from the point of view of a 12-year-old boy with a mentally disabled younger brother, both of whom live with their mother in a poor trailer community near California’s Salton Sea.
Joelito’s Big Decision by Ann Berlak and Daniel Camacho (Hard Ball Press). In this 30-page book for kids, ten-year-old Joelito and his family are on their way into a fast food restaurant for burgers when he finds his best friend and the friend’s parents outside with other workers protesting low pay. Joelito learns about the low-wage workers’ movement in his community and across the country.
Understanding Mass Incarceration by James Kilgore (New Press). A highly readable and informative guide explains how and why politicians created mass incarceration in America, how it targets people of color, and what can be done about it now.
The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America edited by Jonathan Tasini (Chelsea Green). Most books to promote candidates consist of promises and platitudes, bearing little resemblance to the candidate’s actual record or likely performance in office. This one is an exception because it mainly uses Sanders’ speeches and position papers from before he was a candidate for president. This short paperback also stands out because on so many issues during his career Sanders advocated much more far-reaching reforms than candidates of either major party typically discuss.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). This satiric novel about race in America leaves no one unskewered.
Verita$ by Shin Eun-jung (PM Press). Like other prestigious universities, Harvard portrays itself as an independent center for academic teaching and research. But an examination of its history shows its role in maintaining the American power structure. Chapters examine Harvard’s relationship with the military, its role in U.S. foreign policy, its own labor policies, and much more.
Class War by Megan Erickson (Verso). An educator takes a wide-ranging look at schools in America today and how an elite “reform” agenda, combined with cutbacks for public schools in low-income neighborhoods, is exacerbating inequality.
Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk (University of Manitoba). A rare novel written by an Inuit author provides an intimate view of how her people lived before white people came and how they were impacted by that interaction.
Planning for Rural Resilience edited by Wayne J. Caldwell (University of Manitoba). Chapters look at how particular rural communities in Canada are making changes to confront climate change and the need to transition to cleaner sources of energy.
Playing As If The World Mattered by Gabriel Kuhn (PM). A radical athlete uses more than a hundred illustrations to tell brief stories of grassroots sports activism from the 19 century through the 1960s to today.
Workers' Guide to Health and Safety is a valuable, easy to use resource on issues that affect industrial workers around the world, from poverty wages and violence to chemicals and ergonomic injuries. It was produced by Hesperian, the publisher that developed the popular education guide, “Where There is No Doctor.”
From Foreclosure to Fair Lending edited by Chester Hartman and Gregory D. Squires (New Village Press). More than 5 million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure in the Great Recession, in part due to predatory lending policies that especially targeted communities of color. The Occupy movement put new focus on the need for affordable housing for all and on civil disobedience strategies that may be needed to achieve that goal.
The Other Blacklist by Mary Helen Washington (Columbia University Press). The blacklisting of Americans in the arts during the McCarthy era is often recounted with a focus on white writers, performers, and Hollywood figures. An historian focuses on five African Americans to explore how black writers and artists were targeted by the FBI for supporting racial justice and other causes.
Taken from the Paradise Isle edited by Heidi Kim (University Press of Colorado). The human impact of the U.S. concentration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II is brought home by one family’s diary entries, letters, drawings, and other intimate materials from that time.

FILMS

The Kill Team. One of the most powerful documentaries made about the U.S. war in Afghanistan, or about any war, is based on startlingly candid and heart-rending interviews with young infantry soldiers about what they did and witnessed on patrol. That includes being told to plant grenades or other weapons after the fact to justify the killing of innocent civilians. When one had a crisis of conscience over what happened, he and others were court martialed. The practice of planting weapons on victims was common, one soldier explains: “We’re just the ones that got caught.” No higher-ups were charged.
Welcome to Leith. A prominent white supremacist began buying up property in a town of 24 residents in rural North Dakota with the intention of moving other militant sympathizers there to take over local government and establish a base. Fearing for their safety, local families united to try to protect their community.
Divide in Concord. An 84-year-old grandmother is shown by her grandson what plastic waste is doing to the world’s oceans. She and other residents of Concord, MA, mount a successful three-year organizing campaign that convinces their town to ban the sale of single-serving plastic bottles of water. They have to overcome well-financed opposition from the bottling industry and its political allies, including threats to sue the town.
Tangerines. The futility and absurdity of war is highlighted in this quiet and visually impressive feature film about an Estonian immigrant farmer caught between Georgian loyalists and Abkhazian separatists in 1992 fighting. He rescues two wounded soldiers, one from each side, and takes them into his house to nurse them back to health.
I Am Femen. A group of young women in Ukraine began to protest against sexism and homophobia using street theater and direct action protests carried out while topless – both to gain more attention for their cause and to express control over their own identity. The Ukrainian and Russian governments responded with physical violence. The movement now has units in many other European countries.
Zero Motivation. Young Israeli female draftees serve at a remote desert base, fighting boredom and sexism in this comic feature film that often has overtones of the film Office Space.
Game Face. Transgender mixed martial arts fighter Fallon Fox and gay college basketball player Terrence Clemens, a former high school youth league teammate of NBA star James Harden, are the focus of this documentary about challenges LGBT athletes often face.
Wrenched. Edward Abbey was not only an author but an activist who helped inspire many others to take direct action to stop irreversible environmental damage by corporations and their allies in government. Movements he helped inspire were infiltrated and disrupted by the FBI. Today, direct action continues against fracking and other practices of the oil and gas industry.
Salt of the Earth. The 40-year career of famed photographer Sebastião Salgado is the subject of this documentary. Salgado began his career focusing on horrendous working conditions, poverty, refugees, and war. In his older years he is now taking pictures of the planet’s natural beauty.

MUSIC
Modern Blues by The Waterboys. Original story telling is the strength of this Irish rock band.
Love for Levon. 27 Levon Helm songs are performed live by others, including My Morning Jacket, Mavis Staples, Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, and Marc Cohn.

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