“From everything I’ve seen, it was the first … trial of the century.”
Book
BOOK REVIEW: “IN DEFENSE OF SKA”
An incredibly diverse genre with anti-racist roots, historically panned by snobby critic dicks
POET AND UMASS AMHERST PROF MARTÍN ESPADA: “THIS BOOK IS … MASSACHUSETTS. IT’S WHO I AM.”
“I think it was important, a way of restoring their humanity, to give them back their names.”
WALKING THE BOSTON COMMON IN PAUL ROBESON’S FOOTSTEPS
“Robeson put his shoulder to the wheel of many specific liberation movements. He himself felt and acknowledged the unique burden of racism against Blacks in the United States.”
THE HISTORY OF STAND-UP: FROM MARK TWAIN TO DAVE CHAPPELLE
From the podcast to the book, Wayne Federman chronicles the business of joke-telling.
ADAPTATION: A NEW ENGLAND “ROGUE SCHOLAR” SHAKES UP SHAKESPEARE
Michael Blanding’s new book goes beyond what “scholars have previously realized.” “At the very least it should be explored.”
DISASTER AND BUREAUCRACY: KIM STANLEY ROBINSON’S “THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE”
Robinson also passionately advocates direct democracy and popular participation in small scale, but he is oddly reserved about capitalism, which underlies climate change and prevents action to abate it.
ZEITGEIST PRESS RELEASING WORK BY LATE BOSTON POET MELINDA KWESKIN
Virtual event this weekend.
BOOK REVIEW: REAGANLAND
A seemingly endless recitation of events
AGE OF ILLUSIONS: BACEVICH LOOKS AT AMERICA’S LOST TIME
In general, though, the noted historian's depiction of the '90s and '00s as an age of fraudulent promises and wasted opportunities rings true.