Books

Chalmers Johnson on Our ‘Managed Democracy’

BLANK May 16, 2008 Sheldon Wolin's new book offers a controversial but ultimately convincing diagnosis of how America's democracy has succumbed to an unacknowledged totalitarian temptation. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Geoffrey Wheatcroft on ‘Muqtada’

BLANK May 9, 2008 In this first-ever biography of the religious leader many predict will take over Iraq after the Americans leave, Patrick Cockburn, one of the most respected correspondents in the Middle East, provides a dramatic look at a man Paul Bremer denounced as a "Bolshevik Islamist." Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Jeff Madrick on ‘High Wire,’ Peter Gosselin’s Look at the Economic Meltdown

BLANK May 2, 2008 A star reporter for the Los Angeles Times has written a clear, even elegant anatomy of an economy that is much worse than you probably think. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Troy Jollimore on Martin Amis’ ‘The Second Plane’

BLANK Apr 25, 2008 When the second plane hit the second skyscraper on 9/11, how many of us knew then just how radically our world would change? Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

John Lukacs on Nicholson Baker’s ‘Human Smoke’

BLANK Apr 18, 2008 Was World War II necessary? In an exercise in literary hygiene, a distinguished historian casts a skeptical eye at an acclaimed novelist's revisionist take on the "Good War." Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Steve Wasserman on Fidel Castro

BLANK Apr 11, 2008 What will history say about the implacable anti-imperialist and unrepentant revolutionary who has held power in Cuba for nearly 50 years? The publication of Fidel Castro's and Ignacio Ramonet's "My Life: A Spoken Autobiography" helps us understand the man and his myth. Dig deeper ( 24 Min. Read )

Bill Boyarsky on the Inimitable Willie Brown

Bill Boyarsky / Truthdig Apr 1, 2008 More than a quarter of a century before Barack Obama made his name with a speech at the Democratic National Convention, another African-American politician, Willie L. Brown Jr. of San Francisco, did the same -- but under much different circumstances. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Fred Branfman on Tom Brokaw’s ‘Boom!’

Fred Branfman / Truthdig Mar 28, 2008 What kind of look back to the '60s manages to almost entirely ignore or miss the point of the Vietnam War? Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Anthony Heilbut on MaryBeth Hamilton’s ‘In Search of the Blues’

Anthony Heilbut / Truthdig Mar 21, 2008 What accounts for the strange need of some white scholars -- from the plantation nostalgists of the late 1890s to the "Blues Mafia" of the 1960s -- to honor African-American culture by trying to save black people from themselves? Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Mark Dowie on Michael Shnayerson’s ‘Coal River’

Mark Dowie / Truthdig Mar 14, 2008 How a few brave Americans took on a powerful company and the federal government to save the land they love. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Warren Cohen on the Rise (and Fall) of the Neocons

Warren I. Cohen / Truthdig Mar 7, 2008 Just who are the "neocons," where did they come from and how was it they came to wield so profound an influence among the highest circles of America's policy elites? These are some of the questions asked by Jacob Heilbrunn in his new book, "They Knew They Were Right." Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Yxta Maya Murray on ‘Love and Consequences’ Hoax

Yxta Maya Murray / Truthdig Mar 5, 2008 The author who reviewed Margaret Seltzer's phony memoir for Truthdig responds to the hoax and answers the singular question raised by such a deception. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )