Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Gusterson and Besteman, eds., The Insecure American: How We Got Here and What We Should Do About It UC Press, 2010

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Death Without Weeping UC Press, 1992

Death has become something to be avoided at all costs. But what are the costs of having, and acting upon, that mindset? Nancy Scheper-Hughes comments on the culture of fear around death and dying in the US, and puts it into historical and cultural context. She also talks about body theft, the Terri Schiavo case, and her and her parents' experiences as the latter's health declined.

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Philippe Bourgois & Jeff Schonberg, Righteous Dopefiend UC Press, 2009

Philippe Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio Cambridge U. Press, 2002

For more than ten years, Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg became part of the daily lives of two dozen homeless heroin injectors in San Francisco. Their book is an account of those individuals' experiences and relationships; a photo-ethnography of drugs, poverty, race and social exclusion; and a revealing look at the larger structural forces that operate on vulnerable populations.

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Bloomsbury Press, 2009

The Equality Trust

Prevention Institute

Some nations' populations do better than others. They are, on average, healthier, and they live happier lives. Why is this? Is it because some countries are richer, or because their residents have higher living standards? In a new book, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett show that higher levels of health and social problems occur in societies with greater income inequality.

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Nano & Biocidal Silver, a Friends of the Earth report

Mark Schapiro, Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power Chelsea Green, 2009 (paper)

Nanotechnology involves the manufacture and manipulation of tiny particles. Products that contain nanoparticles are now ubiquitous. Ian Illuminato discusses what this means for human health and the environment. Also, Mark Schapiro contrasts the EU's regulation of toxic chemicals in everyday products with the US approach.

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Katrina Karkazis, Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience Duke U. Press, 2008

Newborns with atypical genitalia are more common than you might think. Should having an intersex condition be considered a medical problem? What role do social factors play in determining gender? In a new book Katrina Karkazis explores the many debates affecting how intersexuality is viewed, treated and experienced.

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Rick Wolff, "Economic Blues" MRZine

Richard Wolff & Stephen Resnick, New Departures in Marxian Theory Routledge, 2006

Home prices plummeting; stock markets reeling; fuel and food prices spiking. Radical economist Rick Wolff explains why busts have followed booms, and who or what is responsible. Also, Jeff Conant and Gopal Dayaneni discuss the new book A Community Guide to Environmental Health, and specifically its section on oil.