Verso
High art lite; the rise and fall of young British art. (reprint, 1999)
A writer and art critic, Stallabrass lectures at London's Courtauld Institute of Art. Originally published in 1999, his text offers an assessment of "young British art" (YBA) — also referred to by the author as "high art lite" — of the 1990s, its legacy in the 21st century, and what it reveals about the fate of high art as a whole in contemporary society. The text explores the success of YBA and the obsession of young British artists with commerce, mass media, and the cult of personality. The revised edition includes some updating and correction of errors in the original text, and features a new final chapter analyzing the end of high art lite as the leading tendency in British contemporary art, and the settling of some of its elements into an accommodation with new cultural and political powers. Illustrated with color photographs. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Inequalities of the world.
If there is one unifying theme to this otherwise diverse collection of nine papers put together by Therborn (sociology, Uppsala U., Sweden), it is the need to recognize that people suffer from inequalities, not inequality. In other words, that it is important to be aware of multiple dimensions of inequality: inequalities of life and health, inequalities of freedom and respect, and inequalities of material and symbolic resources. Contributors explore varieties of inequality through examinations of health inequalities in Europe, cultural definitions of membership among French and American workers, economic change and social mobility, cross-national patterns of nonstandard employment relations and labor market inequality, and knowledge and inequality. Also included are case studies on class and inequality in Brazil, rural China, Russia, and France. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The lost world of British communism.
In addition to being a historian of British communism, the late Samuel (founding editor, History Workshop Journal) also grew up its milieu and was a member of the Communist Party at the height of its influence in British Politics. Writing for the New Left Review in the mid-1980s, some 30 years after he had left the party, Samuel published a series of essays that painted a nostalgic, if not uncritical, portrait of the communist party milieu. His treatment drew on party archives and his own memories to reflect on matters ranging from political and doctrinal disputes to the inner lives of party cadres. In many ways, the resulting collection of essays is as much a cultural anthropology of British communism and a memoir of a lost world as it is a political history. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Pirates of the Caribbean; axis of hope.
Veteran anti-imperialist writer and activist Ali (New Left Review) approvingly turns his eye on Latin America as it slips out from under the neoliberal yoke and the paternal tutelage of the United States. He focuses on the vilified figure of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, offering an account of his rise to political power, the failed coup of attempt of 1992, other Venezuelan elite and US efforts to oppose Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, and the policies carried out by Chávez and his political allies. He also discusses the influence of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on the political trajectory of Chávez and discusses the anti-neoliberal uprisings in Bolivia, which paved the way for the election of another leftist, Evo Morales, to the presidency in that country. Also included in the volume are interviews with some of the protagonists discussed and the texts of Hugo Chávez's address to the 2005 United Nations and 2003 Evo Morales' speech to the "In Defense of Humanity" forum in Mexico City. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The strength of the wolf; the secret history of America's war on drugs. (reprint, 2004)
Investigative journalist Valentine presents a history of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the federal drug law enforcement agency that existed from 1930 to 1968 and was a predecessor of today's Drug Enforcement Agency. His account, which focuses on the FBN's most significant cases and attendant political, bureaucratic, and national security issues, is dominated by two main themes: the overseas expansion of the FBN and its subversion by the Central Intelligence Agency and the fatal clash with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that led to the FBN's demise. He describes how CIA and FBI links to the French Connection smuggling ring, CIA-connected drug smugglers in Asia, and FBI connections to the Mafia corrupted and ultimately doomed the drug control mission of the FBN. This is a paperbound reprint of a 2004 book. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
