Books

Essential reading

Can the Working Class Change the World?
Spoiler alert: Michael Yates not only answers his question with a resounding “Yes,” but insists that the working class must change the world. Our very survival as a people and a planet depend on it. What makes this book invaluable, however, is not its grand conclusion but Yates’s clear-eyed, global analysis of capitalism (historically and in […]
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Shoshana Zuboff
By Shoshana Zuboff. 704 pages This huge tome is the book of the year. At a new frontier of power, there’s a fight for a human future. Shoshana Zuboff warns us about the dangers posed by Surveillance Capitalism and wonders “if this is our time now to emerge from this amorphous nonentity of ‘users,’ which is […]
Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said
Edward Said, David Barsamian
David Barsamian interviews Edward Said. Haymarket Books, 2019; 224 pages. Edward W. Said discusses the importance and centrality of popular resistance in the framework of culture, history, and struggle. He reveals his thoughts on the war on terrorism and the invasion of Afghanistan. On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he lays out a compelling vision for a secular, democratic […]
How to Read a Protest: The Art of Organizing and Resistance
L.A. Kauffman
By L.A. Kauffman 152 pages When millions of people took to the streets for the 2017 Women’s Marches, there was an unmistakable air of uprising, a sense that these marches were launching a powerful new movement to resist a dangerous presidency. But the work that protests do often can’t be seen in the moment. It […]
Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy
Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian
Global Discontents is a compelling new set of interviews with Noam Chomsky, who identifies the “dry kindling” of discontent around the world that could soon catch fire. In wide-ranging interviews with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider “the world we are leaving to our grandchildren”: one imperiled by the escalation […]
A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present
Howard Zinn
By Howard Zinn. pp 729. New 2016 Edition, Introduction by Anthony Arnove, $20. The masterwork by the legendary historian is a must have for your library and the perfect gift. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People’s History of the United States tells America’s story from the point […]
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz
This class-savvy peoples’ history explores the silences haunting our national narrative. Like her friend and colleague, historian Howard Zinn, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a great rememberer and researcher. pp 296, paperback $15 plus $4 shipping
Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics
Howard Zinn, David Barsamian
David Barsamian interviews Howard Zinn. Foreword by Arundhati Roy. Harper Perennial, 2006; 167 pages. A collection of conversations with David Barsamian touching on such diverse topics as the American war machine, civil disobedience, the importance of memory and remembering history and the role of artists – from Langston Hughes to Dalton Trumbo to Bob Dylan- […]
Breaking Through Power
Ralph Nader
This is classic Ralph Nader, a crystallization of the core political beliefs and commitments that have driven his lifetime of advocacy for greater democracy. In this succinct, Tom Paine-style wake-up call, the iconic consumer advocate highlights the success stories of fellow Americans who organize change and work together to derail the many ways in which […]
How the World Works
David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky
David Barsamian interviews Noam Chomsky Edited by Arthur Naiman Soft Skull Press, 2011; 336 pages. According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is “arguably the most important intellectual alive.” But he isn’t easy to read . . . or at least he wasn’t until these books came along. Made up of intensively edited speeches […]
Confronting Empire
Eqbal Ahmad, David Barsamian
Long out of print. Haymarket has published it now with a new forward by Pervez Hoodbhoy. Confronting Empire is probably Barsamian’s most influential interview book. “Eqbal Ahmad, perhaps the shrewdest and most original anti-imperialist analyst of Asia and Africa, [was] a man of enormous charisma and incorruptible ideals. He had an almost instinctive attraction to […]
The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile
Arundhati Roy, David Barsamian
David Barsamian interviews Arundhati Roy. South End Press, 2004; 180 pages. OUT OF PRINT. Limited number of copies left. A skillful interviewer can reveal aspects of a writer’s voice in simple yet telling ways. As a novelist, Arundhati Roy is known for her lush language and intricate structure. As a political essayist, her prose is […]

Books

Essential reading

Can the Working Class Change the World?

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Shoshana Zuboff

Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said

Edward Said, David Barsamian

How to Read a Protest: The Art of Organizing and Resistance

L.A. Kauffman

Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy

Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian

A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present

Howard Zinn

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz

Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics

Howard Zinn, David Barsamian

Breaking Through Power

Ralph Nader

How the World Works

David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky

Confronting Empire

Eqbal Ahmad, David Barsamian

The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile

Arundhati Roy, David Barsamian