Portside

In the official teaser for the show, Cage dons a hoodie just as Batman would put on a cowl or Thor would don a cape. But in a post-Trayvon Martin world, that image—of Cage pulling the hood tight around his face—is a loaded one. And all of this imagery comes in a series that centers on Luke Cage’s wrongful imprisonment.

An antidote to anti-immigrant sentiment, Seattle poet Jed Myers generously welcomes newcomers to this nation of immigrants, offering empathy and greeting from our ancestors: "what we’ve secured/only a few breaths before..."

As the Olympic Games go, the reviewer says, it's time to ask the big question: which were the worst Olympics ever? David Goldblatt's The Games is a history of the tarnished Olympics, from Avery Brundage to, yes, London 2012. The evidence shows indisputably that it was Hitler's Berlin games of 1936, which set the stage for spectacle and nationalist-racialist sentiment.

Although this book is two years old, and this review is over a year old, the relevance of A. J. Muste still resonates in this political season, where the always essential questions of war and peace should take center stage. Muste helped shape the modern peace movement in a host of ways. This book, and this review, offers a window into the life and times of this important movement figure.

The food industry has been recently delving into "medical foods," and foods that are formulated to meet the specific needs of patients.The opportunities in the medical foods segment are growing; the market is estimated to be worth $15 billion, according to The Wall Street In a statement, the FDA emphasized medical foods are for patients that cannot properly ingest, digest, absorb, or metabolize regular food or nutrients.

The children’s series inspired its young audience to appreciate the mysteries and power of language.

The theme of Indiana poet Brian Brodeur's poem is the loss caused by the slave trade: lost history, lost identity, and the disbelief that follows its discovery.

Democracy briskly and transparently recasts traditional world histories and world populations frequently left out of the narrative into a consideration of how different political alliances, including those of repressed and typically underrepresented groups, demand democracy through use of language and direct action. Democracy connects the local and the global, as well as the past and present, in understanding the complex and shifting notions of democracy.

“Equity” is bracing, witty and suspenseful, a feminist thriller sharply attuned to the nuances of its chosen milieu. In setting and mood, it bears some resemblance to J. C. Chandor’s “Margin Call,” which similarly infused sleek and sterile corporate spaces with danger and dread. But unlike that film or Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” Ms. Menon’s movie is not about the system in crisis. It’s about business as usual. Which is to say about corruption, deceit and treachery.

This new survey of a 50-year arc of Latin America's recent history comes from the pen of one of our most esteemed Marxist historians. Reviewer Tony Wood offers this informative review.