Portside

The organizers of Time’s Up have called upon NBC to state that people are allowed to talk about their experiences freely, regardless of any past NDAs.

With the great frustration of politics in our times, the poet Pauletta Hansel concedes that the worst thoughts inevitably, spontaneously, come to mind.

A bio of Israel's first prime minister by a leading Israeli journalist views Ben Gurion as not only a committed Zionist but an early advocate of "Greater Israel" and, like those succeeding him, a steadfast enemy of rapprochement with Palestinians.

Here is a book that talks about the link between climate change and armed conflict. As reviewer Horgan points out: "The global cooperation we need to solve global warming can also help us solve war."

There is no more important time for creative people in Hollywood to say NO and join the wider cultural boycott. California is one of 26 states to pass measures penalizing certain BDS activities, including blacklisiting contractors who boycott Israel.

HBO's Watchmen's writing presents through-lines from slavery to Reconstruction to the so-called “alt-right”; from, as Rage Against The Machine once put it, those who work forces to those who burn crosses.

Mississippi poet Philip C. Kolin traces the evolution of his childhood neighborhood in Chicago that went from Czech to Hispanic.

Next year, says the reviewer, the Nobel Committee for Literature should look beyond Europe. Despite the differences between awardees Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke, they both reflect a divided Europe as viewed only from within its borders.

"This brief but effective book, only about 100 pages in main text," writes reviewer Meulbroek, claims "that decollectivization laid the basis for China’s capitalist restoration."

Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman continues Hollywood’s obsession with the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. We’re more concerned with what happened to Teamster working conditions under his son, James P. Hoffa.