Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender by Ralph Nader

The sorry political record of the last year, marked by one capitulation to corporate demands after another, reminds us of how pressing is our work to reinvigorate American democracy. I hope you'll find "Crashing the Party" an encapsulation of what we have in fact accomplished and an inspiration for us all to intensify our life's work carrying out the politics of joy and justice.

For Her Own Good : 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich, Deirdre English

“This is the vision that is implicit in a society that is organized around human needs; a society in which child raising is not dismissed as each woman's individual problem, but in which the nurturance and well being of all children is a transcendent public priority ... a society in which healing is not a commodity distributed according to the dictates of profit but is integral to the network of community life ... in which wisdom about daily life is not hoarded by 'experts' or doled out as a commodity but is drawn from the experience of all people and freely shared among them; a book that states “...the 'womanly' values of community and caring must rise to the center as the only HUMAN principles.” The authors document how men have twisted and turned women's bodies and lives to fit men's needs and obsessions. When are we going to stop teaching our daughters the foolishness of fairy princesses and instead strengthen their lives with truths?

Perfect Enemies by Chris Bull, John Gallagher

In "Perfect Enemies," Bull, Washington correspondent for the Advocate, and coauthor John Gallagher, reveal how surprisingly similar arch-nemeses can be in their strategies, rhetoric and grass-roots efforts. The comparisons were not, understandably, always embraced by the opponents. There are a lot of politically inconvenient truths that needed to be told about the way both movements were handling issues.

Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe by John Boswell

Research contends that there was great tolerance and even acceptance of the unions of same-sex couples in premodern Europe. Indeed, actual rituals uniting such couples with the Christian church's blessing exist in the documentary record. In this long-gestated companion to his controversial landmark study, professor Boswell produces those rituals in translation, argues for how he has translated them, summarizes the histories of both heterosexual matrimony and same-sex unions in the Greco-Roman world, presents the views of early Christianity on heterosexual and same-sex couplings, traces the development of nuptial offices in the church, compares heterosexual and same-sex ceremonies of union, and discusses the checkered history of tolerance for same-sex unions during the Middle Ages. Throughout his presentation, three qualities predominate: lucidity in the writing; scrupulous scholarly documentation of factual statements and propositions (on many pages, more space is taken up by footnotes than main text); and great caution in distinguishing the sexual expectations of two-person relationships in ancient times from those presumed today--preoccupation with sex is very much a modern phenomenon.

The Chalice and the Blade : Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler

One of those magnificent books that can transform us to initiate fundamental change in our world

Eternal Hostility : The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy by Frederick Clarkson

Provides a chilling road map to a growing movement whose roots go back to the founding days of the country. Clarkson asks the reader to consider what it would be like if having an abortion was punishable by death, if gays and lesbians were thrown into jail, or if our constitutional rights were replaced by biblical law.

Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg (Hardcover - October 2002)

Ellsberg's transformation from cold warrior and Defense Department analyst to impassioned antiwar crusader who released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in June 1971 makes a remarkable and riveting story that still shocks 30 years later. Avoiding, for the most part, self-justification and self-aggrandizement, he clearly relates the experiences that led him to reject as arrogant lies the premises six presidents presented to the public and Congress to secure support for the Vietnam War. He describes the disjunction between what he saw during visits to Vietnam in the early and mid-'60s, driving through dangerous Viet Cong-held territory, and what was told to the press and public. And he recalls his first reading of the classified documents later known as the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the motives, in his view unprincipled, behind American involvement in Vietnam. Ellsberg creates page-turning human drama and suspense in both his descriptions of his early experience accompanying U.S. combat missions in Vietnam and his days spent underground evading an FBI manhunt after the Times's publication of the Papers. Another strength of this memoir is Ellsberg's vivid recollections of meetings with prominent policymakers, from Henry Kissinger to Senator William Fulbright, that re-create the deep tensions of the Vietnam era. Ellsberg raises serious ethical questions about how citizens, politicians, the press and officials act when confronted with government actions they consider immoral and perhaps illegal. Ellsberg's own answer is history.

The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group by Dan Briody (Author) (Hardcover - April 2003)

Dwight D. Eisenhower, upon leaving the office of president in 1961, warned future generations against the dangers of a "military-industrial complex," and the "grave implications" of the "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry." The wisdom of these comments has clearly been lost in the forty years since Ike left office. And the first step towards turning things around is understanding how we got here. No single company can illustrate that progression better than the Carlyle Group, a business founded on a tax scheme in 1987 that has grown up to be what its own marketing literature once called "a vast interlocking global network." The company does business at the confluence of the war on terrorism and corporate responsibility. It is a world that few of us can even imagine, full of clandestine meetings, quid pro quo deals, bitter ironies, and petty jealousies. And the cast of characters includes some of the most famous and powerful men in the world. This is today’s America. This is the Carlyle Group.

The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights by Arlene Stein

"To conservative Christians, homosexuality was sinful, unnatural, against God and family... but to the vast majority, who believed that religion--and sex--should be kept private, these words sounded intolerant... even hateful," writes Stein in this astute social analysis of how a small community dealt with an early 1990s political referendum to prohibit "special rights" for homosexuals.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

A must read for those who value living a free and moral life

Winona's Web : A Novel of Discovery by Priscilla Cogan

A wonderful book for children of all ages by our very own Native American Suttons Bay author Priscilla Cogan

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