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Blackwater
The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
By Jeremy Scahill

"Blackwater is the utterly gripping and explosive story of how the Bush administration has spent hundreds of millions of public dollars building a parallel corporate army, an army so loyal to far right causes it constitutes nothing less than a Republican Guard." —Naomi Klein, author of Shock Doctrine

This is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Its contacts run from deep inside the military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House. Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror," with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty thousand troops at the ready. Run by a multimillionaire Christian conservative who bankrolls President Bush and his allies, his forces are capable of overthrowing governments. The administration hails Blackwater as a revolution in military affairs.

Hardcover, notes, index, 438pgs

Cuba And Venezuela
An Insight Into Two Revolutions
By Germán Sánchez

By Germán Sánchez, Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela.

Venezuela is worth the journey to reach her. —Jose Martí

Is Venezuela the new Cuba? What are the similarities and divergences between these two revolutionary processes.

With Latin America becoming more volatile than it has been for decades, this book addresses the question everyone, both friend and foe of President Hugo Chávez, is asking: Is Venezuela taking the Cuban road?

This book is an abridged English translation of the Spanish-language book Cuba y Venezuela: Reflexiones y debates published by Ocean Sur.

Ocean, softcover, 177pp

Fidel Castro Reader
The Voice of One of History's Greatest Orators

Edited by David Deutschmann and Deborah Shnookal

Foreword by Felipe Pérez Roque

"Fidel Castro is a man of the masses... The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people." —Nelson Mandela

"Fidel has his own special way of fusing himself with the people... At the great public mass meetings one can observe something like the dialog of two tuning forks whose vibrations interact, producing new sounds. Fidel and the mass begin to vibrate together in a dialog of growing intensity until they reach a climax in an abrupt conclusion crowned by our cry of struggle and victory." —Che Guevara, 1965

At last, a comprehensive anthology of one of the 20th century's most influential political figures, the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

Fidel Castro has been an articulate and incisive political thinker and leader, who has outlasted 10 hostile U.S. presidents. With the wave of change now sweeping Latin America, this book sheds light on the continent's future as well as its past.

As the first selection of Fidel Castro's speeches to be published since the 1960s, this is an essential resource.

Ocean Press, softcover, b/w photos, chronology, index, 517pp

Swimming Up the Tigris
Real Life Encounters with Iraq
By Barbara Nimri Aziz

"Barbara Aziz has written a must-read book which puts a human face on an Iraqi people dehumanized by simplistic, misleading, and inaccurate media accounts before, during and after America's illegitimate invasion and occupation of their homeland. She also puts an inconvenient truth to the lies and misrepresentations often held as fact by many Americans concerning the reality of life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the awful impact of economic sanctions on the Iraqi people before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the sophistication and depth of a thousands-year-old culture that is in the process of being destroyed by the combined forces of greed, hubris, and ignorance." —Scott Ritter, chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998.

Barbara Nimri Aziz, a frequent visitor to Iraq, saw firsthand what life was like for Iraqis during the long years of the embargo. By revisiting this critical period, she sheds light on the illegal and questionable tactics used by the United States to destroy Iraq through the sanctions, well before the WMD ruse, and provides context to more fully understand the current failed occupation and worldwide anti-U.S. sentiments.

Univ. Press of Fla, hardcover, notes, illustration, index, 310pp

The Shame of the Nation
The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
By Jonathan Kozol

"Segregation is back, and only a writer of Jonathan Kozol's wisdom and passion can assess its terrible price, one child at a time. It isn't easy, but before we can craft a solution, we have to feel the shame." —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

"Shines a spotlight on poor, minority children, sabotaged and isolated by an educational system tilted to slight them ... His outrage ought to infect us." —Los Angeles Times

Since the federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, segregation of Black children has reverted to its highest level since 1968. In many inner-city schools, a stick-and-carrot method of behavioral control traditionally used in prisons is now used with students. Meanwhile, as high-stakes testing takes on pathological and punitive dimensions, liberal education has been increasingly replaced by culturally barren and robotic methods of instruction that would be rejected out of hand by schools that serve the mainstream of society.

Filled with the passionate voices of children, principals, and teachers, and some of the most revered leaders in the Black community, The Shame of the Nation directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems by the Bush administration. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some 50 years ago to all our youngest citizens.

The Omnivore's Dilemma
A Natural History of Four Meals
By Michael Pollan

"One of the 10 best books of the year" —The New York Times Book Review

>From the introduction: "Eating is an agricultural act," as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much as been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world—and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating in ignorance are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world; this book is probably not for them. There are things in it that will ruin their appetites. But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepened by knowing.

Softcover, 437pp, index

2008 Calendars Are In!!

(Here's Just Two of the Many)

Romare Bearden (1911-1988) lived and worked during a period of unprecedented growth and vitality in American society. His diverse oeuvre—including collages and photomontages; mosaic murals; designs for stage sets, record album covers, and books; and watercolors, oils, and monotypes—reflects the creative ferment of his time. Deeply impassioned about the people, issues, and ideas that shaped the world. Bearden imbued his work with a humanism that transcends time and place.

Among the twelve works reproduced here: Jazz Village, Old Couple, Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket, and The Long Fence.

Size: 13 x 12 in.; opens to 13 x 24 in.

Year after year, this is our most popular calendar, each year we order more, and each year we sell out. Get yours early it's a beautiful and meaningful gift.

This calendar celebrates the culture, architecture, and textiles of the Guatemalan Maya with twenty-four blazingly colorful images enriched by an evocative and enlightening text.

Size: 13 x 12 in.; opens to 13 x 24 in.

Go to "Calendars" on the side bar from the leftbooks home page to see them all!

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