AltWeeklies Wire
Why Did the Liberals Cross the Road? Bill Bishop Crunches the Numbersnew
Although conventional wisdom affirms the accuracy of the analysis in The Big Sort and the social costs that flow from it -- a decrease in across-the-aisle contact, elevated levels of rhetorical excess, diminished civility -- it does not follow that our political life has reached new levels of intemperance, or that this has had any enduring impact on our capacity to govern.
The Texas Observer |
Char Miller |
07-23-2008 |
Nonfiction
Flipping Through Mass-market Titles for Summer Readsnew
Teen novels ... celebrity biographies ... murder mysteries sold by the pound ... what goes on inside those lurid covers? We were by turns bemused, appalled, and sometimes even touched, by what we found. Includes reviews of Elton: The Biography, Beautiful Boy, Bratfest at Tiffany's, The Dark Tide, and more.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Staff |
07-21-2008 |
Books
David Sirota is Leading a Populist Revolution ... Why Haven't You Heard About It?new
Sirota is for unions and against NAFTA -- so how did he get a nationally syndicated column?
Boulder Weekly |
Dylan Otto Krider |
07-19-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Winning Our Energy Independence' Takes on 'The Three Poisons'new
S. David Freeman lays out a plan to phase out Big Coal, Big Oil, and nuclear over 30 years while meeting the needs of our high-energy society by implementing renewable technologies that already exist: sun, wind, and renewably generated hydrogen, supplemented by small hydroelectric, geothermal, and certain biofuels.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Diana Scott |
07-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
Blogger Christian Lander on White Peoplenew
The Definitive Guide to Stuff White People Like: The Unique Taste of Millions is 150 blog posts -- uh, make that chapters -- with titles like "Michel Gondry," "Modern Furniture," and "Knowing What's Best for Poor People." Although the book does recycle some of the website's original content, it's still snarkily funny and well, true.
The Portland Mercury |
Kiala Kazebee |
07-03-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Is There a Middle Way in the Globalization Debate?new
As Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine, by Stan Cox, and Starved for Science: How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out Of Africa, by Robert Paarlberg collectively demonstrate, the globalization debate seems to demand either a stifling of common sense, or a radical reassessment of assumptions.
The Texas Observer |
James E. McWilliams |
07-02-2008 |
Nonfiction
Hipster Homicide: Rayo Casablanca Explains What's Killing Him About The Scenenew
Set in Williamsburg, Hipsters takes off at breakneck speed with a snarl of characters and lifestyles. "I can't tell you how many times people have told me that they really liked reading about hipsters getting whacked," Casablanca says.
Charleston City Paper |
Alli Marshall |
07-02-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Red, White and Blackwater: An Interview with Jeremy Scahillnew
As media coverage is slipping, Scahill, who has reported from Iraq in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, is releasing an update to his book. The new version includes a thorough account of that infamous day at Nisour Square, along with details on the Blackwater operative who shot and killed the Iraqi vice president’s bodyguard on Christmas Eve of 2006.
Weekly Alibi |
Christie Chisholm |
07-01-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Matt Taibbi and Jim Webb Come Out Fighting in New Booksnew
In A Time to Fight, Webb marshals his impressive grasp of history in the service of forceful positions on current challenges, while in The Great Derangement, Taibbi delves mostly into post-9/11 fringe groups on the right and left.
Style Weekly |
Brent Baldwin and Dan Dueholm |
06-25-2008 |
Books
David Sedaris Talks About Smoking, Blogging and His Personal Encounter with a Decapitated Headnew
One might expect the in-demand Sedaris to be a bit bored by the interview process, but instead he's just like his writing: affable, chatty, relaxed. He makes the not-unreasonable assumption that you know him already, weaving casual references to his life and family into the conversation.
New Haven Advocate |
Brianna Snyder |
06-24-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'The James Brown Reader' Shares a Warts-and-all View of the Godfather of Soulnew
Co-editors Nelson George and Alan Leeds both contribute fine overtures to the volume, but it's hard not to wish they'd included a note about their compiling methodology, though it doesn't take long to figure out the pair elected to leave in original typos, misspellings, falsities, and myths.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
06-24-2008 |
Nonfiction
The Many Lives of Actor, Redneck and Congressman Ben Jonesnew
Jones has been a Southern cavalier of sorts all his life, whether being the poor Southern boy marching for racial justice in Chapel Hill or demanding that The Dukes of Hazzard reflect the South as it existed instead of as created by Hollywood writers and producers.
INDY Week |
Grayson Currin |
06-19-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Lauri Lebo Tackles Intelligent Design, Evolution, and the Medianew
After reading this book and thinking of the millions of dollars and thousands of hours squandered, the hatred, the vitriol, and the disbelief that we're still fighting this age-old battle, I just feel tired and sad. This isn't the end of the story. We'll see it again, fight the battle once more, spend the money, fire up the troops, spar with the same theory in a different cloak, attract the international media, meet at a different courthouse, pass judgment on a different school district.
The Texas Observer |
Ruth Pennebaker |
06-18-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The Carbon-Free Home' Explains How to Really Go Greennew
The Hrens' 320-page book categorizes shows how, on a budget, they stopped contributing to global warming and resource depletion, and also saved money.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Bill O'Driscoll |
06-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
Taras Grescoe Gets to the Bottom of the Seafood Industry in His New Booknew
Grescoe searches for ethical, sustainable ways to eat the seafood he loves in Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood.
The Coast, Halifax's Weekly |
Chris Benjamin |
06-16-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
