Category: Monthly Review Press /

The Unlikely Secret Agent reviewed in the Washington Post

In The Unlikely Secret Agent, Ronnie Kasrils, who served as South Africa's minister for intelligence services, remembers his late wife and the remarkable life she lived. He paints his portrait with the honesty of a good biographer but always with the bittersweet memory of a great love lost. "It is a huge testament to her inner strength and will," he writes, "that she remained staunch and true to her principles and commitment through the decades." And it's a testament to his that he was able to sculpt his recollections into such a poignant and beautiful book.

An Interview with Esteban Morales, author of the forthcoming Race in Cuba

An Interview with Esteban Morales, author of the forthcoming Race in Cuba

(From the Havana Times) HT: What do you think of racism in Cuba? Does it exist? How can it be combated? Aren't the current socio-economic changes encouraging racist attitudes, which certainly don't contribute to greater equality between people? . . . EM: Certainly there are changes that don't contribute to greater equality, but there's no choice other than to implement them. We had an egalitarian system, but it threatened all of our equilibrium. It would be worse to repeat that kind of egalitarianism, it is not even possible to defend it. There will be people who within a yet unknown period of time will have to suffer so that in the end we're all saved. That is a price we have to pay for the mistakes that we acknowledge were committed. Within this, we need to seek policies so that the suffering is minimized – but we can't prevent it entirely.

Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti reviewed in CounterPunch

Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti reviewed in CounterPunch

Jeb Sprague's definitive Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti (Monthly Review Press, 2012) is the product of seven years of research and writing. Since the 2004 Bush Administration-backed overthrow of the democratically-elected Jean Bertrand Aristide government, journalist and scholar Sprague has been investigating key players behind that coup. His work is especially strong on interviews with figures in anti-Aristide political and paramilitary networks, and on unearthing cables from the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince and other relevant documents through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Sprague also combed through all the Haiti-related documents released through the activist project Wikileaks.

Ronnie Kasrils in NYC, Oct 22

Join Ronnie Kasrils, author of The Unlikely Secret Agent, anti-apartheid leader, and international solidarity activist, for a talk and book signing at The Riverside Church in NYC on Oct 22.

NEW! The Work of Sartre: Search for Freedom and the Challenge of History by István Mészáros

NEW! The Work of Sartre: Search for Freedom and the Challenge of History by István Mészáros

This landmark book, first published in 1979, met acclaim as a doubly important work of radical philosophy. Its subject, Jean-Paul Sartre, was among the twentieth century's most controversial and influential philosophers; its author, István Mészáros, was himself establishing a reputation for profound contributions to the Marxian tradition, which would continue into the next century. The Work of Sartre was thus considered essential for its insights on Sartre and as a piece of Mészáros's developing politico-philosophical project.

Read an excerpt from The Endless Crisis on Utne.com

Read an excerpt from The Endless Crisis on Utne.com

The increasing trend of monolithic companies taking over large shares of industry has created a "financialization-stagnation trap" that's negatively affecting economies across the world, particularly in the Global South. That's John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney's argument in The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the USA to China (Monthly Review Press, 2012). In this excerpt from the book's introduction, Foster and McChesney explain how understanding the rise of financialization stagnation is essential to understanding global class struggle.

The Socialist Alternative reviewed by Radical Notes

This book is part of Michael Lebowitz's larger project of demonstrating the ever-existing necessity of a socialist transformation as the revolutionary resolution of class struggle in capitalism. It builds a theoretical foundation for such revolutionary praxis in the specific objectivity of the 21st century. Lebowitz's previous book, Build it Now, captured and described the specificities of socialist praxis and possibilities in the Bolivarian experience of Venezuela. The Socialist Alternative can be seen as building a coherent model of an alternative by gathering and arranging the elements that are found scattered in that experience.

Video interview with Jeb Sprague

Video interview with Jeb Sprague

Watch Jeb Sprague, author of Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti, interviewed by David Zlutnick in San Francisco for Upheaval Productions. The conversation focuses on paramilitarism and its consequences in Haiti, but also touches on the roles of outside powers and their influence, Haiti's vibrant social movements, and the country's most recent developments.