May Day Books Blog

Reflections on May Day I think I know the happiest May Day.  Today is the anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the liberation of ...

Local Rich Suburbanite Runs Over Thai Cook with Mercedes SUV She thought he was only a construction cone.  She had gotten lost and could...

“Griftopia – a Story of Bankers, Politicians and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History” by Matt Taibbi, 2011 Taibbi, a regul...

“All Art is Propaganda,” by George Orwell, Collected 2008 The title of this book should be refined in the way Orwell does in these essays, w...

Film: “The Hunger Games,” 2012 Roman Coliseum, Lord of the Flies, the Emerald City, a Nuremberg Rally, a reality show, a high-tech surveil...

“Consider the Lobster and Other Essays,” by David Foster Wallace, 2006 Wallace is the author of “ Infinite Jest ,” a book hailed as a modern...

“Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?” by Slavoj Zizek, 2001 Zizek has written another book that only indirectly relates to the title or conc...

The Failures of the Star-Tribune In the last month the failure of the Star-Tribune (“ST”) as a source of in-depth reportage has been egregi...

"Suttree," by Cormac McCarthy, 1979 Cormac McCarthy has filtered into popular culture twice now – first when the Cohen brothers ad...

Who Allowed this to Happen? Since slavery, the southern United States has been home to the most reactionary forces in the U.S. - forces now ...

'Milla' Demonstration for Democratic Rights Today a mass demonstration has been called in Budapest to demand freedom of speech and t...

‘Soviet Women – Walking the Tightrope’ – Francine Du Plessix Gray, 1989   Francine Gray didn’t know it, but her visits to the U.S.S.R. provi...

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain Although given the rubric of the ‘ugly American’ that developed...

“Vultures’ Picnic – In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates and High-Finance Carnivores,” by Greg Palast, 2011 It’s a good time to be an...