Z Books
Recent Z Books
Wignesan: Poietics
Jul 03, 2012
The book deals with the science and/or the art or philosophy of creation. Here, for the first time in English, the author attempts to lay the foundation either for the formulation of a theory or, contrariwise, for the impossibility at arriving at any such formulaic circumscription on poietics.
Watson: Post-Darwinian Historicism
Oct 20, 2011
'Breakthrough' is the first volume of The 2010 Trilogy, PP415. Its topic is the concrete, self-conscious dialectics of universal history. Although it is written primarily for the lay reader, it is not a bed-time story.
Waugh: Charles Taylor and Liberia
Oct 01, 2011
Ambition and Atrocity in Africa's Lone Star State
Wolin: Democracy Incorporated
May 25, 2011
Democracy is struggling in America - by now this statement is almost cliche. But what if the country is no longer a democracy at all? In Democracy Incorporated, Sheldon Wolin considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into what the author terms 'inverted totalitarianism'? Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive - and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a 'managed democracy' where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today's America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies. Wolin examines the myths and mythmaking that justify today's politics, the quest for an ever-expanding economy, and the perverse attractions of an endless war on terror.He argues passionately that democracy's best hope lies in citizens themselves learning anew to exercise power at the local level. Democracy Incorporated is one of the most worrying diagnoses of America's political ills to emerge in decades. It is sure to be a lightning rod for political debate for years to come. In a new preface, Wolin describes how the Obama administration, despite promises of change, has left the underlying dynamics of managed democracy intact. [A] comprehensive diagnosis of our failings as a democratic polity by one of our most seasoned and respected political philosophers. . . . Democracy Incorporated is a devastating critique of the contemporary government of the United States--including what has happened to it in recent years and what must be done if it is not to disappear into history along with its classic totalitarian predecessors. -- Chalmers Johnson, Truthdig [Democracy Incorporated provides] a rare, chilling analysis of intellectual critics of democracy. If democracy means more than occasional elections and protection of those rights that are compatible with economic and political elites' interests, Wolin's analysis of our democratic predicament is shocking, solid, and fundamentally correct. -- C. P. Waligorski, Choice Sheldon Wolin has produced an ambitious and broad-ranging book that examines the current state of democracy in America. . . . Wolin argues that the unquestioned faith in the virtues of free market capitalism has dramatically narrowed the range of policy options that are on the table when debate turns to resolving the US's ills. . . .[T]his is a trenchant and powerful volume. -- Alex Waddan, International Affairs Of the many books I've read or skimmed in the past seven years that attempted to get inside the social and political debacles of the present, none has had the chilling clarity and historical discernment of Sheldon S. Wolin's Democracy Incorporated. Building on his fifty years as a political theorist and proponent of radical democracy, Wolin here extends his concern with the extinguishing of the political and its replacement by fraudulent simulations of democratic process. -- Jonathan Crary, Artforum [W]e need to understand the deep roots of our present troubles ourselves and Wolin's book is an excellent beginning. -- Toby Grace, Out in Jersey Democracy Incorporated acts as an antidote to unconstrained corporate power and an elitist obsession and should be widely read by all those who cherish democracy and civil liberty. -- Shih-Yu Chou, Political Studies Review
Warde: The Price of Fear
Sep 07, 2010
In The Price of Fear, Ibrahim Warde presents a devastating critique of a lesser known front in the "war on terror," the battle against terrorist financing. Warde demonstrates that the financial front has been anything but benign and has instead unleashed considerable "collateral damage" abroad and in the U.S.
Wolff: Marxian versus Neoclassical
Aug 20, 2010
Wolff and Resnick provide a unique, balanced explication of the differing assumptions, logical structures, and arguments of neoclassical and Marxian economics. They address broader aspects of evaluating or choosing between alternative theories, but their conclusions are nonpolemical. Throughout, math is used simply and sparingly.
Weis: Global Food Economy
Aug 11, 2010
The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat.
Wolff: Capitalism Hits the Fan
Jul 13, 2010
Economist Richard Wolff provides a diary like account of the development of the latest capitalist downturn.
Ward: Russian Girl
Feb 23, 2009
[Note: This is an experimental attempt at publishing a film script I wrote in HTML in the 'Body Content' field.] Climate change has run its course and Russia has become the wealthiest country in the world. It is one of the few places on earth crops can successfully be grown. Victoria, in her 60's, arrives in Novosibirsk; has a severe seizure that causes her to lose consciousness. St. Petersburg, in the near future. A new technology, the Neural Mapping Device (NMD), is in the final stages of development. Not only can this device capture images of the brain at nearly atomic resolution, it also has a positive function -- it can be used to resculpt neural geography enabling an effective brain transplant to be preformed (by printing an image of the patient brain in the grey matter of a donor). Because of the stigma attached to using human donors for this type of research the corporation responsible, Axagora Pharmaceuticals, have chosen, with the assistance of organized criminals (who have been led to believe they are involved in the "sex trade" not scientific research), to kidnap prostitutes in Russia's most European city. Saudi Arabia (sic), in the near future. The country has been invaded by Coalition Forces in order to reinstall a pro-America regime following the collapse of the monarchy. Royal Army Lt. Damien (Ntzu) Nbuta is severely wounded in an ambush by insurgents. Winstone, credited inventor of NMD, is frustrated with the lack in progress of finding a suitable donor; i.e., one free of any serous and incurable disease, such as TB. With the assistance of one of his mercenaries, “Vladâ€, he kidnaps a teenage girl outside her home. London, in the near future. A girl in her late teens is given the articles of her new life: a passport with the name Victoria Shields and keys to a flat. Simon, the Axagora executive in charge of the NMD Dark Project, tells her she is a miracle of modern science; instructs her to be grateful for the gift she's been given. “Victoria†refuses her new passport.
Wilmart: Le monde selon monsanto
Mar 24, 2008
a grim picture of the world's biggest and most invasive chemical and biotech multination that will leave you feeling angry
Wilmart: Le grand bon en arrière
Mar 24, 2008
Comment est-on passé à un nouveau capitalisme orienté par les seuls verdicts de la finance ?
Williams: A People`s History of the Civil War: Struggles for the ...
Oct 12, 2007
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Wise: Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Positions: Education, ...
Oct 12, 2007
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Wise: White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
Oct 12, 2007
Racial privilege shapes the lives of white Americans in every facet of life, from employment and education to housing and criminal justice. Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise shows that racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits those who are "white like him" — whether or not they’re actively racist. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a compelling narrative that assesses the magnitude of racial privilege and is at once readable and scholarly, analytical yet accessible.
Wilpert: Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The Policies of the Chavez ...
Oct 05, 2007
Since coming to power in 1998, the Chavez government has inspired both fierce internal debate and horror amongst Western governments accustomed to counting on an obeisant regime in the oil-rich state...
