Although Amazon, the enormous on-line retailer, has said it will begin collecting sales taxes and returning them to the state of purchase, thereby moving off my absolutely-do-not shop here list, … [Keep reading >>]

A returning ex-pat, an espionage mission, a mysterious Islamist counter-intelligence figure locked away in Djibouti’s Devil’s Islands, a palimpsest of letters written to Walter Benjamin appearing through the notes a … [Keep reading >>]

KPFA Radio presents

GLENN GREENWALD
“With Liberty and Justice for Some”
Hosted by Mitch Jeserich
Thursday, November 3, 7:30 PM
The Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
$12 advance tickets: … [Keep reading >>]

Words Without Borders, a magazine and publisher and website has had two months of literature from the Arab Spring.  Worth a look, for new authors and startling new themes….

July 2001: … [Keep reading >>]

Brian Fagan’s The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations contributes another fine book to the growing library of the history of climate change and human … [Keep reading >>]

Joshua Landis, the go-to writer for events in Syria on his blog Syria Comment, has a list of recommended books to read about the Middle East. [Yes, I know and he knows, ... [Keep reading >>]

I’ve had the pleasure of reading (actually, listening to) Bay Area author Tamim Ansary’s Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, over the past few days.   … [Keep reading >>]

Ahadaf Soueif, is a Cairo born, Egypt and U.K educated, writer, predominantly of fiction. She got major attention with her novel, A Map of Love which was shortlisted for … [Keep reading >>]

“Keep it simple stupid or KISS has been shouted at nearly every Private in every army for decades, hell even maybe centuries and with War is a Lie David Swanson … [Keep reading >>]

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Here’s a book recommendation for this Egyptian moment. Get your hands on Jonathan SchThe Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People. You ... [Keep reading >>]

Once again, convulsions in distant places are teaching us geography.  It is also a good time to learn about the people themselves — beyond the scenes of tear-gas, tanks and … [Keep reading >>]

Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist at the Washington Post, has a new book out: Disintigration: The Splintering of Black America.  The argument, per the Raymond Arsenault review in … [Keep reading >>]