Distributed Presses

Michael Chandler and Rohan Gunaratna's recently published Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence? received a glowing review in the January issue of CHOICE:

"A thorough analytical work with the potential to transform thinking about the present strategies on the war against terror, this book should be required reading for White House, Pentagon and State Department officials responsible for counterterrorist operations. Highly recommended."

Other recent praise for Countering Terrorism:
"Chandler and Gunaratna say Western liberals still woefully underestimate the scale of the threat. They are right. The seeds of our destruction are within ourselves."—The Mail on Sunday

"[Chandler and Gunaratna] have written one of the more sharp-eyed books on counter-terrorism. It's a pithy analysis of recent international politics and raises some tough questions."—Professional Security Magazine

"Essential reading for anyone with an interest in counter terrorism."—Military Books Review

Learn more about Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence?

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Posted to Politics and Current Events | Reaktion | Reviews

In this week's American Prospect, political analyst Mark Schmitt takes a hard look at the latest edition of Michael Barone's Almanac of American Politics. He ultimately tries to make a case for the irrelevancy of the Almanac today, arguing that most of the information in the Almanac is now widely available on the Internet, and the starkly partisan nature of today's politics renders individual Congress members' views less important than before. He also provocatively contends that Barone's publicly espoused ideological views hinder the book from adequately addressing recent upheavals in American politics and government, such as the 2006 election that catapulted the Democrats back into power and political scandals of Republicans such as Tom DeLay:

Continue reading "Book Review: Almanac of American Politics" »

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Posted to National Journal | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

Reid Wilson of Real Clear Politics recently interviewed Charles Mahtesian, an editor of the Almanac of American Politics, 2008. Mahtesian previews the 2008 political races and offers insight into the state of American politics.

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Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

The release of National Journal's Almanac of American Politics, 2008 has been creating a buzz lately.

This week's Washington Post and the Swamp, Chicago Tribune's political blog, feature trivia questions from the creators of the Almanac. (Quick: which member of Congress delivered his 2002 opponent's baby?)

Matthew Continetti from the Weekly Standard, meanwhile, quotes the recent Almanac to suggest that political polarization rather than economic data is behind the re-emergence of the debate over income inequality. Continetti says little about the relation between overall macroeconomic growth and the distribution of wealth, though.

Finally, Reid Wilson, writing in Real Clear Politics, uses the Almanac's figures to suggest some implications for future political campaigns.

Time to get out the Almanac!

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Posted to Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

Rohan Gunaratna and Michael Chandler's Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence? was recently reviewed in the journal Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. The reviewer notes,

The authors reserve their harshest criticism on the failure of the United Nations to provide the necessary leadership for the global War on Terror. They decry the failure to carry out the comprehensive and collaborative response after 11 September 2001 and the failure to fulfill the initial expectations of improved international cooperation. . . .

Their urgent warning of the failures thus far, and the need for urgent redress given that these very failures are contributing to an obvious worsening of the threat of global terrorism, are messages that governments and policymakers need to hear. In sum, this is therefore a timely and valuable book, and as Loretta Napoleoni has said on the back cover in her endorsement, 'required reading for Number 10 and the White House.'

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Posted to Politics and Current Events | Reaktion | Reviews

Writing in Louisville's Courier-Journal, Al Cross recently analyzed Kentucky's gubernatorial election, a competition that is often seen to have national implications.

In his discussion of potential competitors to incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell in next year's election, Cross concurs with the National Journal Group's Almanac of American Politics, 2008 that McConnell's position "seems secure, but his support for the Bush administration on Iraq and on immigration in 2007 makes it possible he might face competitive opposition in 2008."

Cross further argues that McConnell could face stiff competition from state auditor Crit Luallen.

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Posted to Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

Danny Postel will appear on Chicago's WYCC-TV20 television program "Front & Center with John Callaway" on Friday, November 9th at 4:00pm. He will discuss "Iran: the Next Military Frontier?" as a member of a pre-recorded panel discussion at the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago. An extended 90-minute version of the program can viewed on the Pritzker Military Library website.

The Pritzker Military Library presents Front and Center with John Callaway
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Posted to Books for the News | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Charles Mahtesian, editor of National Journal's Almanac of American Politics, recently wrote an article for the Washington Post on presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's chances of winning the 2008 election.

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Posted to Author Events | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

Staten Island has the lowest profile of the five New York boroughs, but from The Godfather to The Wu Tang Clan, it has cemented its place in New York character and history. New York Calling essayists will talk about the fascinating culture of the Island on Saturday, November 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the Everything Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay Street, in the Tompkinsville neighborhood on Staten Island.

Staten Island native essayist Steve Maluk, Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema, and photographer and New York Calling co-editor Brian Berger will lead a lively evening of words, photos, and discussion that's sure to interest everyone. The event has garnered local attention, including on Dan Icolari's Walking Is Transportation blog.

New York Calling event at Everything Goes Book Cafe
Check out more postings about Staten Island on Brian Berger's official New York Calling blog
Learn more about New York Calling

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Posted to Author Events | Literature | Politics and Current Events | Publicity | Reaktion

Danny Postel wrote a hard-hitting editorial this weekend on the blog of fellow Prickly Paradigm author Rick Perlstein: In "Terrorism Awareness Indeed," he discusses the barely acknowledged political partnership between American neoconservatives and the Mujahedeen-e Khalq or MEK, an extremist Iranian political party that has been designated a terrorist organization by the State Department. Postel incisively punctures a hole in American Right's denunciations of "Islamo-fascism", revealing that right-wing conservatives actually are supporting what they claim to fight against:

Here you have virtually everything the Right claims to oppose all rolled into one: Islamism, Marxism, terrorism, and Saddam. Naturally, then, neoconservatives would utterly deplore the MEK and everything it stands for, right? The MEK would in fact make an ideal target for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week and Terrorism Awareness efforts, no?

Well, no. At least one of the carnival's acts, it turns out, is rather fond of the Islamo-Stalinist-terrorist cult group, and has repeatedly argued for the removal of the MEK from the State Department's list of terrorist groups and indeed urged the U.S. government to embrace it. . . .

But the fact that several prominent American conservatives have cozied up to an Islamist-Stalinist cult that was on Saddam's payroll and the State Department considers a terrorist organization—this raises serious questions (to put it mildly) about the Right's bedfellows and the calculus that determines them.

Read Danny Postel's full article
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Posted to Books for the News | Commentary | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Michael Barone will be interviewed this Friday, October 19th at 1:00pm (EST) on National Journal's new radio show on XM Channel 130, the POTUS '08 station, a new 24 hour satellite radio station dedicated to the 2008 presidential election.

Linda Douglass, a contributing editor to National Journal, will talk with Barone about the 2008 race: Which states are likely to decide the outcome of the presidential election? Has the makeup of the political parties changed? Are voters as polarized as they have been in past elections?

The show will also be streaming live on National Journal's web site.

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Posted to Author Events | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

New York Calling essayists Tom Robbins, Margaret Morton, and Brian Berger will be reading this Friday, October 19th at 7:00pm at Bluestocking Books, 172 Allen Street in New York City.

Time Out New York recently praised the book saying, "With Rudy running for President and Hilly Kristal dead, the timing couldn't be better for New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg. This fascinating, enlightening and sometimes irritating collection of essays pokes through the rubble of the past three decades and asks: What is the Apple without its worms—without its grifters, goombahs, B-boys, bohos and bums?"

Read the Time Out New York review
Check out the New York Calling author blog
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Posted to Author Events | Literature | Politics and Current Events | Publicity | Reaktion

Danny Postel's Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran was recently reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Society and Culture:

In Persian there is a piece of proverbial wisdom that praises a statement, a report, an analysis, or even a book, for being brief—and thereby beneficial. To a person who is not getting to the point, Iranians politely plead to be "brief and beneficial." Danny Postel's book, Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran, does a good deal of justice to this Persian wisdom by succinctly broaching very important issues about the current political struggle in Iran and the attitude of western progressive forces to it. . . .

This is very timely book that addresses a crucial question in our time, namely, the solidarity and sympathy that the progressive forces in the west and the United States can extend to their counterparts in Iran. The progressive forces, the NGOs, and intellectuals can do much more that just opposing a war in Iran; they can and should actively get involved in supporting the reforms in Iran. Postel's plea in this direction is quite helpful and persuasive. We can fruitfully compare the current situation of Iran to that of the last years of Soviet time and the failure of the progressive forces in the west to support the movement of the people in the Soviet societies and the disastrous consequences thereof. Hence the importance of Postel's warning and plea.

Read the full Logos review
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Posted to Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm | Publicity | Reviews

Danny Postel recently wrote an opinion piece in the Guardian imploring readers to consider more nuanced views of Iran's President Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University and the U.N than have been discussed in the American media.

Rather than support vitriolic nationalism, Postel, following Foucault and Sartre, suggests that Americans should remember "our real Iranian friends"; that is, the various non-governmental leaders who have been struggling for democracy and rights.

Read Postel's Commentary

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Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Cultural Studies | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

UPDATE:

Listen to an mp3 of the Event

Danny Postel will discuss his book Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran on Thursday, May 31st from 1pm to 2pm in London, England. The event is located at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA), 8 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6EZ.

Postel will be joined by two panelists:

Ziba Mir-Hosseini, senior research associate, London Middle Eastern Institute, SOAS,
Mary Kaldo, director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, LSE.

The event will be chaired by Benjamin Ramm, editor of the Liberal.

Please email lectures@rsa.org.uk or visit www.theRSA.org/events for reservations.

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Today, President Bush announced that the U.S. will be imposing economic sanctions against Sudan.

For those interested in learning more about the situation in Darfur, Amsterdam University Press recently published Explaining Darfur: Lectures on the Ongoing Genocide.

Despite serious pressure from the United Nations, public statements of outrage from the United States, and now sanctions—the war in Darfur, Sudan, continues unabated. Many in the West still have only a very limited understanding of either the conflict or the forces driving it.

Explaining Darfur provides essential resources for understanding the conflict in Darfur, from the historical background to an analysis of the present situation. It also proposes several nonviolent ways of solving the crisis, from the democratization of the Sudan to reconciliation negotiations between tribes at all levels to dramatically expanding the operational capacity of the peacekeeping troops supplied by the African Union. Initiated by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, this will be the definitive study of the ongoing Darfur conflict and its possible solutions.

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Posted to Amsterdam University Press | Books for the News | Politics and Current Events | University of Scranton

Danny Postel recently wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian on the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Esfandiari travelled to Iran to visit her sick mother and had been barred from leaving the country since last December.

Postal argues, "Esfandiari's arrest is but the latest chapter in a crackdown on intellectuals and writers in Iran over the last year."

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Alan G. Jamieson, author of Faith and Sword: A Short History of Christian-Muslim Conflict, wrote an editorial for the Monday, May 14th edition of the Globe and Mail on the need for more U.S. troops. Jamieson explains that the U.S. does not have the number of soldiers that it needs "to continue its role as worldwide policeman."

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Reaktion

Hugh Gusterson recently reviewed Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense in the Bulletin Online, the online site of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. (It's presently 5 minutes to Doomsday.)

Gusterson compares the intersection of neuroscience and national defense with the development of atomic physics and nuclear weapons, "We've seen this story before," he says. "The Pentagon takes an interest in a rapidly changing area of scientific knowledge, and the world is forever changed. And not for the better."

Gusterson goes on to emphasize, "Moreno's book is important since there has been little discussion about the ethical implications of such research, and the science is at an early enough stage that it might yet be redirected in response to public discussion."

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Update!

The Utne Reader recently continued the conversation on some of issues related to Mind Wars. Bennett Gordon writes, "Many neuroscientists have concluded that competing tendencies inside the brain—not some transient being or God— are the true source of morality."

In Mind Wars, Moreno shows that the Department of Defense is already researching "neuroweapons." One possible class of weapons includes drugs that "repress psychological inhibitions against killing." This presents an ethical quandary with the use of neurotechnology. If neurotechnologies act directly on the human brain, the locus of human morality, then the application of such technologies will fundamentally alter our sense of morality. Gordon quotes William Saletan on the matter, "Once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology."

Read Gordon's article

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Posted to Biology | Dana Press | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

Bruce Elder briefly reviewed Kenneth J. Hagan and Ian J. Bickerton's Unintended Consequences: The United States at War in the Sydney Morning Herald on April 24th, 2007. Elder credits Hagan and Bickerton for demonstrating the many ways in which wars faught by the U.S. fail to achieve the planned goals: "The book persuasively demonstrates that there will always be unintended consequences flowing from war."

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Posted to History | Politics and Current Events | Reaktion | Reviews

Ian J. Bickerton and Kenneth J. Hagan, authors of Unintended Consequences: The United States at War, recently appeared at Cody's Books.

A video of their appearance is available at FORA.tv and is divided into the following chapters:

01: Origin of the Book
02: War is Not a
Continuation of Policy
by other Means
03: American Revolution
04: Spanish-American War
05: Korean War
06: Visionary Alternatives
07: Q & A
08: Q1 - Analyzing Iraq
War
09: Further Analyzation
10: Q2 - True Intentions of
War
11: Q3 - Hong Kong &
China
12: Opium Wars
13: Q4 - Analyzing First
Gulf War
14: Q5 - Positive
Consequences of War
15: Q6 - Post WWII
Europe
16: Q7 - Benefits of War

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Reaktion

Ian J. Bickerton and Kenneth J. Hagan, authors of Unintended Consequences: The United States at War, recently wrote an article in the San Francisco Chronicle outlining the ways in which wars result in unintended consequences for the United States. More specifically, "Iraq is only the latest example of an American war whose unintended consequences dwarf the original justification and expectations of the leaders who drew the nation into belligerency."

Bickerton and Hagan go on to argue that the United States should emphasize negotiation and restraint:

Rather than calling for an expanded use of military force . . . , the United States should look for ways to encourage democratic change through restraint and patience.

"Negotiation" rather than "war" should become the United States' byword in its relations with hostile regimes as well as with friendly ones. That way it can seek to avoid the nasty uninteded consequences that are sure to follow once the shooting begins. It's a lesson U.S. planners should heed as they consider how to deal with Iran.

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Posted to Author Events | History | Politics and Current Events | Reaktion

Danny Postel, Jan Schakowsky, Ahmad Sadri, and Colonel Douglas A. Macgregor are speaking at Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston Campus, Annenberg Hall, Room G21 on Friday, March 2nd at 7:00p.m. to discuss "Averting an Attack on Iran."

Danny Postel is senior editor of the London-based magazine openDemocracy and contributing editor to Dædalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of the Committee for Academic and Intellectual Freedom of the International Society for Iranian Studies.

Jan Schakowsky is serving her fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Illinois' 9th Congressional District. A founding member of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus, she serves in the House Democratic Leadership as Chief Deputy Whip and as a member of the Steering and Policy Committee, and was recently appointed to the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

Ahmad Sadri is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Lake Forest College and is a founding member of the Organization for the Advancement of Human Rights and Democracy, a recently-formed umbrella coalition of all of Iran's major reform-oriented groups. He is co-editor of Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush, the definitive source in English of the work of Iran's leading religious reformist thinker.

Douglas A. Macgregor is a retired Army Colonel and a decorated Gulf War combat veteran currently working as an independent defense and foreign policy consultant with the firm Glenside Analysis, Inc., based in Ashburn, Virginia. He is the author of Transformation under Fire: Revolutionizing How America Fights (2003) and Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Century (1997).

Northwestern University
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston Campus
Annenberg Hall
Room G21

For more information call (847) 673-0614 or e-mail kendy@kendis.com

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

The Neurophilosophy blog recently featured Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense.

Moheb Costandi discusses some of the historical background to the U.S. Military's interest in neuroscience and its desire to create more sophisticated "network-centric" force. Costandi goes on to emphasize the ethical issues at hand and the need for neuroscientists to think about the ethical implications of their work.

Although the review situates Moreno squarely within the military establishment, it credits him with even-handedness:

. . . he has served on numerous federal advisory committees, advised the Department of Homeland Defense on biodefence, and testified before both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, Mind Wars is even-handed and thought-provoking. It is very readable, and easily accessible to people without a background in neuroscience.

Read the Review

The Review is also available from the Institute of Ethics & Emerging Technologies

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Posted to Biology | Dana Press | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

John Belcham, editor of Liverpool 800, recently spoke on the celebration of Liverpool's 800th year on BBC's Thinking Allowed. Belcham discusses Liverpool architecture, cultural quarters, and the importance of sugar to the city's history.

In anticipation of Liverpool's eight-hundredth anniversary in 2007, Liverpool 800 is the definitive biography of this magnificent world city. The book uses the latest historical research to explore the life of Liverpool over eight centuries to the present day, and includes detailed sections on politics, economics, and culture. Written by experts on Liverpool history, such as Donald M. MacRaild and Colin G. Pooley and incorporating exquisite color illustrations, Liverpool 800 offers an insider's perspective on the city the European Union has named "European Capital of Culture" for 2008.

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Posted to Art and Architecture | Author Events | History | Liverpool University Press | Politics and Current Events

Scott McLemee recently reviewed Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran and interviewed author Danny Postel in Inside Higher Ed. McLemee and Postel emphasize the importance and urgency of the American Left supporting Iranian dissidents. Postel situates his remarks against the neo-conservatives' false-support for Iranian dissidents and their interest in an American attack on Iran: "It is we [the left-liberals and intellectuals] who stand in solidarity with Iranian human rights activists and student protesters and dissident intellectuals, not the Bush administration or the American Enterprise Institute."

Read the Full Review

Postel is also discussed at Soft Skull

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Posted to Books for the News | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm | Reviews

On Friday, February 2nd at 7:00 pm at the editorial offices of Stop Smiling, Danny Postel will discuss "The Necropolitical Imagination" or Michel Foucault's complex interaction with the Iranian Revolution. The discussion will be based on a section from Postel's Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran: Iran and the Future of Liberalism and will be followed by a conversation between Postel and Stop Smiling editor J. C. Gabel.

Stop Smiling is located at 1371 N. Milwaukee Ave, about halfway between the North/Damen and Ashland/Milwaukee Blue Line stops in Chicago. Don't miss it!

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Posted to Author Events | History | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Jeff Hecht of New Scientist reviewed Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense in the January 19th, 2007 issue: "Experiments designed to control the mind must meet proper ethical standards or else be condemned. But we should apply our judgments fairly. . . ."

Read the Review (Requires Log-in)

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Posted to Biology | Dana Press | History and Philosophy of Science | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

While writing on ethics and DARPA in his Frontal Cortex blog, Jonah Lehrer offers praise for Jonathan D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, "In his calm, comprehensive and fascinating new book Mind Wars, Jonathan Moreno documented the ethical quandaries that DARPA's research will confront in the future." Lehrer goes on to say, ". . . [I]f you're interested in the difficult questions, then I recommend Mind Wars."

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Posted to Biology | History and Philosophy of Science | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

Danny Postel's new pamphlet Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran from Prickly Paradigm Press continues to have an impact on those interested in Iranian politics, sensible foreign relations, and the opportunities for liberalism there. As Doug Ireland notes on his DIRELAND blog, ". . . if you're truly interested in Iran, you should read it . . . ."

Read the Review

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Posted to Books for the News | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm | Reviews

Jonathen D. Moreno's Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense continues to attract attention. Sharon Begley uses Moreno's book as the backbone for her article on DARPA's research into neuroscience, citing examples such as the drug CX717, "which enables sleep-deprived people to maintain memory and cognitive function," and the "dual use" concept, where military research has an impact on both military and civilian lives.

Begley implicitly praises Moreno for opening up discussion on the intersection of military research and neuroscience, "The time to speak up is before the genie is out of the bottle."

Read the "Science Journal" in the Wall Street Journal

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Posted to Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press | History and Philosophy of Science | Politics and Current Events

Joshua Glenn has written a plug for Danny Postel's Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran from Prickly Paradigm Press. With Iran in the news nearly every day, Postel's pamphlet is sure to engage, as Glenn describes, "I read the pamphlet every morning before work last week, on the subway; couldn't put it down! Great stocking stuffer. . . ."

The Iran depicted in the headlines is a rogue state ruled by ever-more-defiant Islamic fundamentalists. Yet inside the borders, an unheralded transformation of a wholly different political bent is occurring. A "liberal renaissance," as one Iranian thinker terms it, is emerging in Iran, and in this pamphlet, Danny Postel charts the contours of the intellectual upheaval.

Read Glenn's Braniac Blog from the Boston Globe

Visit The Postel Service, Danny Postel's Site

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Posted to Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm | Reviews

Jonathan D. Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, will be featured on News Radio FOX (http://www.newsradiofox.com/) on December 20th at 3:15 CST.

In his fascinating new book, Jonathan D. Moreno investigates the deeply intertwined worlds of cutting-edge brain science, U.S. defense agencies, and a volatile geopolitical landscape where a nation's weaponry must go far beyond bombs and men. The first-ever exploration of the connections between national security and brain research, Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense reveals how many questions crowd this gray intersection of science and government and urges us to begin to answer them.

News Radio FOX

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Posted to Author Events | Biology | Dana Press | History and Philosophy of Science | Politics and Current Events

Dany Postel, senior editor of OpenDemocracy, will discuss his new book Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran from Prickly Paradigm Press on Saturday, December 16th at 6:00pm. The discussion will take place at the New World Resource Center, 1300 N. Western Avenue at the corner of Western and Potomac in Chicago (one block north of Division).

Visit OpenDemocracy

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Posted to Author Events | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Jonathan D. Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, is featured on the New York Academy of Sciences web site. The site features an interview with Moreno, excerpts, and audio in podcast and mp3 formats.