Portside

“The Civil War truly was a time when women, for the lack of a better word, came into the workplace,” says PBS chief programming executive Beth Hoppe. “It was also a time when medicine was undergoing huge changes.” Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays a nurse, said that part of what she appreciated about “Mercy Street” was getting a part in a project where women find each other in conflict over power and intellectual traditions, rather than simply for the sake of drama.

Nothing more clearly shows the absurdity and evil of the Vietnam War and yet the subsequent successful invasion of capitalism in a country ostensibly an enemy state than John Daniel's new poem.

"The proletariat of each country must, of course, first settle matters with its own bourgeoisie," Marx wrote, but the corporate class formatively battles internationally, including locating fake corporate headquarters to low-tax nations, in effect bleeding their home sovereign nations of tax dollars, starving state services and aiding in turning both governing and opposition parties into austerity regimes. This book and film chart the practice and ways to combat it.

"David Bowie Is," an exhibition that started its international tour in London in 2013, garnered a lot of attention for its surprising diversity and depth. One of the exhibition's most interesting features was a selection from the musician and pop star's library. As a tribute to him, we present that book list as first published by Open Books Toronto when the exhibition reached that city.

Past Moore movies have proven that huge audiences can be found for political documentaries. Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine was the highest-grossing documentary until Fahrenheit 9/11 snagged that record, and Sicko is in the top 10 for the genre. But all those films aimed their fire squarely at the United States, while Where to Invade Next aims a meandering Hi-Liter at a smattering of countries. And we all know that outrage is an easier sell than optimism.

Recent research at Harvard is just part of an emerging picture of coffee as a potentially powerful elixir against a range of ailments, from cancer to cavities

During a presentation at the Television Critics Assn. press tour, executive producer Michael J. McDonald said he and Ridley wanted to explore tough issues that they did not get to examine last year, such as class and the education system.

New York poet Howie Good, winner of the Prize Americana for poetry in 2015, opens a window to a natural world--"Some Sort of Shining"-- that's always there, but seldom seen.

Never before the period 1918-60 had so many young people, from so many sections of society, danced so much. In Britain, as in the United States, dancing morphed from a craze to part of daily life. Before that, dancing as frequent social activity was reserved for the privileged. This changed followed the opening of specially built dance halls after World War I, influenced by US styles and catering to a lower-middle and working-class public with rising wages.

Patricia Highsmith published "The Price of Salt" in 1952 under the name "Claire Morgan," a pseudonym. Since then, the book has become a classic of lesbian literature. Filmmaker Todd Haynes has recently released "Carol," his film adaptation of the novel, to wide acclaim. John Copenhaver reconsiders the original novel, guiding us through this suspenseful tale.