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Homage to E.P. Thompson

Joseph White New Politics, Summer 2016
Labor historian E.P. Thompson is perhaps best known for his monumental and path-breaking work, The Making of the English Working Class. The collected essays reviewed here, many either out-of-print or difficult to obtain, were written between 1955 and 1963. They show Thompson as also a dedicated educator of workers, a sharp polemicist, a skilled political theorist and a tireless agitator for peace, against nuclear weapons and for a rebirth of the socialist project.

‘White Trash’ — The Original Underclass

Alec MacGillis Pro Publica
Much of the political debate this election season concerns who will win the support of working class white voters. At the same time, as Alec MacGillis notes in this review of two new books on the history and present conditions of this sector of the population, much of this discourse strains under the influence of condescension, sentimentalism, and a host of explicitly or implicitly stated biases.

Free-From Foods Have Become a Movement

Lauren R. Hartman Food Processing
More ingredients are designed to accommodate free-from foods, a hot trend for 2016 as Americans continue to be affected by food allergens and intolerances.

Comic-Con Proves That Luke Cage Might Be the Most Important Thing Marvel Has Done

Joanna Robinson Vanity Fair
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.

Asylum

Jed Myers Cultural Weekly
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..."

1936: The Worst Olympic Games Ever (So far)

Simon Barnes New Statesman
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.

American Gandhi

Staughton Lynd and Andy Piascik Vietnam Full Disclosure
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.

Are "medical" medical foods the next big trend?

Rachel Duran Food Dive
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.

TALK OF THE NATION

Brian Brodeur American Poetry Review
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.