Month: September 2010

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America’s “Ministry of Global Policing” — ANDREW BACEVICH critiques Obama’s wars – a continuation of the policy, for 60 years, under which the US military has been ready to intervene anywhere at any time.   Bacevich’s new book is Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. It’s on the best seller list this week.

Also: democracy and slavery: In the era of emancipation of Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s, the federal government promised former slaves equality and political rights, including the vote.  That history is told by ERIC FONER – he teaches history at Columbia University, and he’s the author of Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. (Originally broadcast 1-25-2006)

Plus: the conservative assault on the constitution: ERWIN CHEMERINSKY explains the Supreme Court’s dramatic shift to the right and how it has given presidents, police and corporations unprecedented power.  Erwin is founding dean of the law school at UC Irvine; his new book is The Conservative Assault on the Constitution.

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HARRY SHEARER‘s new documentary  “The Big Uneasy” tells the story of the flooding of New Orleans that resulted NOT from a “natural disaster” but rather from failures of the levees — the film opens in LA on Friday at the Sunset 5  for a one-week run. WATCH the trailer to “The Big Uneasy” HERE.

Plus: The epic story of black migration out of the South –Pulitzer-prize winning journalist ISABEL WILKERSON tells that story in The Warmth of Other Suns. She will be speaking at the LA Public Library ALOUD series, 5^th and  Flower streets downtown, Wed. nite at 7:00 pm — reservations free but recommended: HERE.

Also: The end of the American university? ELLEN SHRECKER talks about the assault on academic freedom and the take-over of higher education by corporate money and priorities.  Ellen is professor of history at Yeshiva University and has written extensively on the Cold War red scare; her new book is The Lost Soul of Higher Education. Joan Scott calls it “at once a grim forecast and a rally cry.”

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In the Delaware Senate primary yesterday, Tea Party Republicans “ditched a seemingly certain November winner for a likely loser”–and thereby lost whatever chance the GOP had to take over the Senate.  JOHN NICHOLS will explain – he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation, and he writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Plus: Fifties TV was not just sitcoms selling soap and toothpaste – powerful groups and corporations sought to use the new medium to influence the masses.  ANNA McCARTHY tells that story – she’s co-editor of the journal Social Text, she teaches in the department of Cinema Studies and NYU, and her new book is The Citizen Machine: Governing by Television in 1950s America.

Also: Women won the right to vote 90 years ago – it’s hard now to realize how strongly men fought to keep them out of the polling booth.  CHRISTINE STANSELL reminds us what happened, and what the consequences were – she is a Distinguished Professor of History at the U. of Chicago, she’s written for the New York Times op-ed page and The New Republic;  she’s written many books, most recently The Feminist Promise, 1792 to the Present.

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HAROLD MEYERSON says American workers face a “God-awful” future — “Millions have lost their jobs. Millions have had their lives put on hold or thrown into reverse.”   It’s time for a massive public works program — but is Obama’s big enough?  Harold is a columnist for the L.A. Times and the Washington Post and editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Plus: AMY WILENTZ reports on her return to Haiti last month — as the country prepares for an election, to be held ten months after the earthquake.   Amy wrote about her trip for The New Yorker: “Running in the Ruins.” Her book The Rainy Season: Haiti Then and Now, is out now in a new paperback edition.

Also: KATHA POLLITT has just returned from a year in Berlin; she says “IT’S BETTER OVER THERE.” Germany doesn’t have the kind of destitution we take for granted in the United States, especially for African-Americans. The strong German safety net keeps people from plunging into the abyss.  Katha is a poet, essayist and columnist for The Nation; she has been named the recipient of the American Book Award’s prestigious “Lifetime Achievement” prize for 2010.