Some of our favorite progressive books of 2009

Here are a couple of the book reviews of some favorite progressive reads for 2009.

"Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party" written by Max Blumenthal reads like a who's who of conservative right wing Republicans involved in concurring religious mania and sexual peccadilloes. Blumenthal ties together psychologist Erich Fromm's study of authoritarian pathos with the conservative movement as he leads the reader to an understanding of why the ultra conservative wing of the Republican party has failed the GOP on a large scale.

Blumenthal gives the reader a look behind the scenes at who is and has been pulling the strings of the conservative right over the last few decades and explains why the religious conservative movement has cost the Republican party in both members and credibility. A good read for progressives and liberals and anyone interested in understanding today's Republican party.

Review by Karen Harper, Progressive Politics Examiner


"The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader" edited by Amelia Jones

As a student of art history, I’m fascinated by representations of women in art and the media. This text is the guide to everything I could possibly want to know about representations of women in our culture. It contains excerpts from a variety of well known and controversial texts, including John Berger’s "Ways of Seeing," Laura Mulvey’s "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," and Bell Hooks’ “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators.”

However, I’m most interested in the final section of the text, which discusses women and technology. This section gives a great overview of the various benefits and problems with the internet and other technology with regard to feminism. It discusses the ways in which the internet changes the process of viewing information, and the ways in which it just cements old beliefs. This is a great read for a post 2000 look at gender, and the text as a whole is a great reference to have.

Review by Karen Johnson, Bard College