TAP's Bookshop
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This page is edited by TAP's coordinator Nell Levin and webweaver
Eric Schechter, pictured at left.
Here are some books and films recommended by TAP. If you purchase any of these items from Powell's Bookstore by clicking the links below
—or purchase anything via the search box at right—
then TAP will get a commission.
And, of course, you don't have to buy a book in order to make a donation. TAP does not have any large foundation grants, and would not exist without the donations it receives from people who support our vision and our activities.
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Powell's has one of the largest catalogs of new, used and out-of-print books of any bookstore in the USA. By the way, among the bookstores that have a significant presence on the internet, Powell's is the only one that is unionized.
Some of the book reviews below are accompanied by links to free video or audio files that you can watch or listen to on your computer, either online or after downloading. Generally these files are presentations by the book's author or interviews with the book's author. Here are a few notes about these files: The videos on BookTV can only be watched while online, and they require RealPlayer (available free). Segments from Democracy Now can be listened to online or after downloading; use RealPlayer.
The videos on ForaTV can be watched online, but unless you have an internet connection with super high bandwidth you're going to get lots of unpleasant pauses. However, after you start viewing a program on ForaTV, you can click on one of the "download" buttons at the bottom of the viewing screen, and save the file onto your computer; then you can replay it without any unpleasant pauses. You don't need an I-pod to download the "I-pod file" -- you can watch that file on your computer using QuickTime Player (also available free). Or, for a smaller file, just download the audio track (mp3) instead of the video+audio; you can play it back using RealPlayer.
Books are in alphabetical order by author.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A quarter of our society is insane, and Altemeyer has described the nature of the insanity. An "authoritarian" is a person who trusts and obeys authorities and who refuses to consider any evidence incriminating those authorities. This is similar to The True Believer described by philosopher Eric Hoffer in his book of 1951, but Altemeyer is, in addition to a philosopher, also a scientist. Armed with experimental surveys and correlative statistics, he goes way beyond Hoffer in methods and conclusions. Don't let my mention of statistics deter you; Altemeyer's exposition is friendly, light, and humorous, despite the fact that he is describing a terrible threat to our freedoms. This book excites me more than any other I've read in quite a long time, because Altemeyer's diagnosis fits what I see happening around us. If we can understand the widespread insanity a little better, we may be better equipped to try to heal it. Here is a link to a 100 minute audio file of Altemeyer discussing his work. |
Markos and Jerome believe that politics is a battle of ideas, and they wield the keyboard like a sword. And this is what we want from our leaders: passion and positions that come from the heart, not from the pollsters. -- Joan Blades, coauthor of The Motherhood Manifesto and cofounder of MoveOn.org and MomsRising.org |
Most or all of the essays in this book are available online, in the left column of Joe Bageant's web page. But you may want a copy of the book anyway. |
Amazon's summary: In Capitalism 3.0, Peter Barnes redefines the debate about the costs and benefits of the operating system known as the free market. Despite clunky features, early versions of capitalism were somewhat successful. The current model, however, is packed with proprietary features that benefit a lucky few while threatening to crash the system for everyone else. Far from being "free," the market is accessible only to huge corporations that reap the benefits while passing the costs on to the consumer. Barnes maps out a better way. Drawn from his own career as a highly successful entrepreneur, the author's vision of capitalism includes alternatives to the current profit-driven corporate approach, new legal entities, and a more responsible use of markets and property rights. Capitalism 3.0 offers viable solutions to some of the country’s most pressing economic, environmental, and social concerns. |
from the publisher's web page: Speechless takes on the state of free expression in the American workplace, exploring its history, explaining how and why Americans have come to take freedom of speech for granted, and demonstrating how employers can legally punish employees for speaking their minds. ... Bruce Barry shows how constitutional law erects formidable barriers to free speech in workplaces, while employment law gives employers wide latitude to suppress speech with impunity--even speech that is unrelated to the job or the company. ... Barry proposes changes both to the law and to management practice that would expand employees' expressive rights without jeopardizing the legitimate interests of employers. ... In defense of freer speech in and around the workplace, Barry argues that a healthy democracy depends in part on the experience of liberty at work. |
In a recent posting on the Peace Coalition listserve, Bates said: When you have built your economic system like a house of cards -- mostly on faith -- it doesn't take a very big shock to knock it down. The third leg of the stool is petrodollars. Climate, Oil, Petrodollars. All of the legs are now wobbly. Any one could break first and knock the whole stool over. It is absurd that none of this is being discussed except in smoky back rooms by Neocons. |
A straightforward agenda by political activists Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner advocates a seriously thought-out, workable scheme for empowering mothers at home and in the workplace. The book is snappily structured in chapters that correspond to the letters making up the word mother: M is for "Maternity/Paternity Leave"; O for "Open Flexible Work"; T for "TV You Choose and Other After-School Programs"; H for "Healthcare for All Kids"; E for "Excellent Child Care"; and R for "Realistic and Fair Wages." In order to drive home these demands, the authors sound some alarming facts and statistics: although nearly three-quarters of American mother have jobs outside of the home, they tend to earn 27% less than men, while single moms earn 34%-44% less. The national scandal of skyrocketing health care costs bankrupts families and pushes moms into marginalized jobs, while working mothers leave children home to unsupervised TV watching and substandard child care. The authors propose family-friendly flexible work schedules and offer compelling employer success stories. -- from Publishers Weekly |
Peter Barnes
Albert K. Bates (from Tennessee's 
