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Understanding Socialism

Gregory N. Heires Portside
Here is a new book that offers a concise but rounded introduction to socialism for our times.

HR Explains Your Severance Package

Carrie Shipers Poet Lore
On this Labor Day weekend of grievous unemployment, poet Carrie Shipers shines a touch of irony on business-as-usual.

Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture

David A Bell The Guardian
A gripping biography of the leader of the slave revolt that led to Haiti’s independence, described as ‘the first black superhero of the modern age, the work under review promises to be the definitive study of the epocal revolutionary figure.

True Crimes

Ron Elving NPR
Reviewer Elving describes this book as "a condensation of the best evidence against the presidency and character of Donald Trump, a summation offered up much as a prosecutor would do in seeking to sway a jury."

Chadwick Boseman Brought Black Superheroes to Life and Died Like One

Elizabeth Wellington The Philadelphia Inquirer
Boseman was a superhero on screen, but his work defending the dignity of Black people’s image on screen was his best. In 2003, after he questioned a soap opera’s stereotypical depiction of a Black teen, he was fired.

The life-changing magic of cookbooks

Gemma Croffie Vittles
Recently, the boundaries of what a cookbook is or should be are changing, including cookbooks as a form of resistance.

Generous Ellen Grants Bare Standard of Living to Her Serfs

William Hughes AV Club
You know you’re not doing great when you make a public show of giving some new privileges and benefits to your employees in the wake of a scandal, and the general reaction is “Wait, you weren’t letting people take paid time off to go to the doctor?"