Reviews

Issue 39 - May-July 2012

Reviewed By Doug Lorimer

The Party, The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988, volume I: The Sixties, A Political Memoir, by Barry Sheppard, Sydney: Resistance Books, 2005, 354 pages including index, with a rich collection of photographs.

Issue 34 - August 2011

By Jon Lamb

Zack Furness is the author of One Less Car: Bicycling and the politics of automobility (Temple University Press, 2010). He was interviewed via email by Jon Lamb.

Issue 33 - June-July 2011

Reviewed by Jon Lamb

Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effects on Our lives
By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez
Palgrave Macmillan, 272 pages

Issue 28 - November-December 2010

Reviewed by Jon Lamb

The People’s Train
By Tom Keneally
Vintage 2009

Reviewed by Melanie Mayze

My Name is Rachel Corrie
Performed by Hannah Norris
Produced and directed by Daniel Clarke
Designed by Cassandra Backler
FortyFive Downstairs, Melbourne, November 8-14

Issue 26 - September 2010

Reviewed by Chris Atkinson

The 30 Year War: Memoirs of War
The Gioi Publishers, Hanoi, 2009. 709pp.
Available from all Direct Action offices for $20.

By Jon Lamb

Sixty years ago, on September 1, 1950, Frank Hardy published Power Without Glory, one of the most influential and provocative pieces of working-class literature ever written in Australia. It met with wide acclaim and respect from workers through to intellectuals, while being ridiculed and condemned by conservativesand reactionaries of the day.

Issue 25 - August 2010

Reviewed by Barry Sheppard

North Star – A Memoir
By Peter Camejo
Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2010

Issue 22 - May 2010

Reviewed by Dani Barley

Food, Inc.
Directed by Robert Kenner
Written by Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
Runtime: 94 minutes
DVD available for order online

Reviewed by Allen Myers

The Good Soldiers
By David Finkel
Scribe Publications (2009),
287 pages (pb), $35.00

Issue 21 - April 2010

Reviewed by Dani Barley

Green Zone
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Written by Brian Helgeland
(based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran)
Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, and Brendan Gleeson
Runtime: 115 minutes

Issue 20 - March 2010

Reviewed by Dani Barley

Going Rouge: An American Nightmare
Edited by Richard Kim & Betsy Reed
OR Books (2009)
335 pages (pb)
$26.95rrp

Reviewed by Nick Everett

Inside the revolution: a journey into the heart of Venezuela
Directed by Pablo Navarrete
65 minutes
Alborado Films 2009
Available at http://alborada.net/

By John Pilger

Why are so many films so bad? This year’s Oscar nominations are a parade of propaganda, stereotypes and downright dishonesty. The dominant theme is as old as Hollywood: America’s divine right to invade other societies, steal their history and occupy our memory. When will directors and writers behave like artists and not pimps for a world view devoted to control and destruction?

Issue 19 - February 2010

Reviewed by Max Lane and Dani Barley

Avatar
Written & directed by James Cameron
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana & Stephen Lang
Runtime: 162 minutes
In cinemas now

Reviewed by Dani Barley

Invictus
Written by Anthony Peckman
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 133 minutes
In cinemas now

Issue 18 - December 2009

Reviewed by Chris Atkinson

The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century
By Iain Bruce
Pluto Books (2008), 240 pages (pb), $52

Reviewed by Dani Barley

Capitalism: A Love Story
Written & directed by Michael Moore
Runtime: 127 minutes
In cinemas now

Reviewed by Max Lane

Refugees and Rebels: Indonesian Exiles in Wartime Australia
By Jan Lingard
Australian Scholarly Publishing (2008), 312 pages, $39.95 (pb)

Issue 17 - November 2009

Reviewed by Chris Atkinson

Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class War
By Joe Bageant
Scribe Publications (2009), 288 pages (pb), $24.95

Issue 16 - October 2009

Reviewed by Dani Barley

District 9by Neill BlomkampWritten by Neill Blomkamp and Terri TatchellStarring Shralto Copley, Jason Cope and Robert Hobbs111 minutes; in cinemas nationally

Issue 15 - September 2009

Reviewed by Chris Atkinson

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
By Eduardo GalleanoScribe Publications (2009), 336 pp

Reviewed by Jon Lamb

BaliboDirected by Robert ConnollyScreenplay by David WilliamsonStarring Anthony LaPaglia & Oscar Isaac111 minutes

BaliboBy Jill JolliffeScribe Publications, 396pp

Issue 14 - August 2009

Reviewed by Kim Bullimore

Kill Khalid: Mossad’s failed hit ... and the rise of Hamas
By Paul McGeough
Allen and Unwin (2009) 440 pp $35

Issue 13 - July 2009

Reviewed by Allen Myers

Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution
By Helen Yaffe
Palgrave Macmillan, 354 pp. $59.95