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February 2007 (Volume 58, Number 9)

Notes from the Editors

Monthly Review Press is publishing an exceptionally strong collection of new books in 2007. However, like most small presses the modest budgets we can devote to the promotion of these books scarcely allow us to be heard above the din created by the massive promotional campaigns of the large corporate publishing firms, which are, of course, mere arms of much greater media conglomerates. We are therefore hoping successfully to promote these new books mainly by word of mouth with the help of MR readers and friends. In this space last month we referred to Michael D. Yates’s new book, Cheap Motels and a Hotplate, which is now available. Two other new releases are Jean Bricmont’s Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War (translated from the French by Diana Johnstone), and The Socialist Register, 2007: Coming to Terms with Nature, edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys. Bricmont’s book seeks to reintroduce the critique of imperialism to the global discussion on human rights, while the new Socialist Register addresses the emerging eco-socialist critique of capitalism.

Four additional books will be released this spring and summer. In April 2007 Monthly Review Press will be bringing out The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers by Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, two leading immigration activists. The Politics of Immigration is meant to serve political activists and educators alike. It confronts common questions about immigration with convincing arguments and hard facts, laid out in straightforward language and an accessible format. In May 2007 Monthly Review Press is scheduled to publish Inside Lebanon: Journey to a Shattered Land with Noam Chomsky, edited by Jennifer Loewenstein, and including essays by Chomsky, Irene L. Gendzier, Assaf Kfoury, Hanady Salman and others. This book documents Chomsky’s visit to Lebanon in May 2006—two months before Israel launched major military campaigns against Lebanon and Palestine. It situates Chomsky’s remarkable journey within the tragic context of Lebanon and Palestine. The collection documents the social and political conditions both before and after the 2006 war. In June 2007 Monthly Review Press is publishing Michael D. Yates, ed., More Unequal: Aspects of Class in the United States, based on last summer’s special issue of MR on class. It includes contributions by John Bellamy Foster, William K. Tabb, David Roediger, Stephanie Luce, Mark Brenner, and others—and provides a sobering look at today’s class dynamics. In July 2007 the press is scheduled to publish Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins, Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health. A landmark contribution to radical biology and ecology by two of this country’s most prominent scientists, Biology Under the Influence provides a devastating critique of genetic determinism within science while exploring a wide range of issues including the nature of science, biology, evolution, the environment, public health, and dialectics.

MR readers are encouraged to place advance orders for these books and to circulate information on them to their friends and associates. You can also help by encouraging local libraries to order the books and local bookstores to stock them. Reviews in local papers are needed. Each of these books deserves a wide audience and the future of Monthly Review Press depends on your purchases and your help.

One area in which MR has been very successful of late is in building its world readership as witnessed by the growing number of editions of the magazine in areas outside the United States. At the start of December 2006, the first number of a quarterly translating Monthly Review articles into the Bengali language appeared in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Bangla Monthly Review is the undertaking of a study group of subscribers to our English language Indian sister edition, Analytical Monthly Review. They decided that “a regular Bengali edition [of Monthly Review] is required, in view of the current socio-ideological churning apparent in West Bengal and its obvious connections with globalisation.” The authoritative Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com) in its 1999 survey found Bengali, as a first language, to be fourth in number of speakers in the world, behind Mandarin, Spanish, and English. Currently, affiliated publications regularly translate MR articles into Spanish, Greek, Turkish, and now Bengali. A warm welcome to Bangla Monthly Review!

Correction: A quotation on page 41 of Margot Pepper’s “No Corporation Left Behind” (MR, November 2006) taken from Project Censored’s Censored 2003 was mistakenly attributed to Linda Lutton rather than to Project Censored itself. Also, the reference to the Project Censored chapter erroneously cites Barbara Miner, Linda Lutton, Dennis Fox, and Forest Troy (whose research was drawn upon by Project Censored authors) as coauthors of the chapter in Censored 2003.

From time to time we receive bequests from readers who want to contribute to the continuance of Monthly Review, Monthly Review Press, or the Monthly Review Foundation. Those who wish to do the same may simply state in their wills that the bequest is to “The Monthly Review Foundation, 146 West 29th Street, #6W, New York, NY 10001.” For additional information contact Martin Paddio at (212) 691-2555 or use our contact page.

2007, Volume 58, Issue 09 (February)
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