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You can search our online inventory for books currently in stock, or read some of our reviews of the books we carry below. If you have questions or suggestions, please email books@redemmas.org. If you need to order books for a reading group, let us know - we like to support people getting together to read books by offering discounts on special orders.
Reviews
Audio: "The People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan"
by Eric Laursen
On Friday, May 11th, 2012, Eric Laursen spoke about his groundbreaking historical account and analysis of the three decade struggle over Social Security, entitled: People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan. Social Security is arguably the most successful anti-poverty social program that the US has ever institutionalized and upkept, Laursen details how Social Security is the "glue" that binds Americans together as a community; as well as unveils in-depth research on revelations from: the Clinton Administration's plan to radically restructure Social Security, the retirement crisis, the personalities that have driven the three-decade long struggle to restructure/eliminate/defend Social Security, and the newest challenges we face in this recent financial crisis. In the aftermath of the debt reduction deal between Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, the 2012 election promises to be a kind of referendum on the size and role of government—including economic support programs like Social Security.In one of the most important books of the year, questions asked include: Why is the most popular and successful social program in American history, responsible for lifting generations out of poverty, now under continual assault by elements of the U.S. political elite? And, what has changed in American politics, society, and economics to make this possible? In the end, Laursen suggests that the only solution is taking Social Security out of the government's hands altogether. Here is the audio from this important discussion.
more >>Asia's Unknown Uprisings Volume 1: South Korean Social Movements in the 20th Century
by George Katsiaficas
One of the things that surprised me about the wave of radical theory that accompanied the arc of popular struggle running from Tunis through Cairo and on to Madison and NYC was that no one seemed to be mentioning George Katsiaficas, and his concept of the Eros Effect: for years, he has consistently and creatively excavated the history of revolutions from below, naming by Eros---in a nod to his mentor Herbert Marcuse---that contagious logic of popular power that overturns decades of repression in hours, spontaneously builds new socieities founded in love and mutual aid, and jumps like a wildfire across the global and historical imagination.
For the past decade or so, Katsiaficas has been at work on what's likely to be his most important work: a recovery, for the English speaking world, of the tremendous social movements that have been sweeping East Asia: this is a necessary corrective, since few people have even heard of the most famous moments of this recent history: there's so much talk about North Korean dictatorship---but our abysmally complicit media frames rarely acknowledge the long and sordid history of authoritarian rule in South Korea propped up by the United States.
The resistance in South Korea deserves to be legendary (and making it so is the task of Katsiaficas' first volume): do you know about Gwangju for instance? A commune in 1980 South Korea's sixth largest society, taken over by its citizens---who when faced with state repression built from scratch in a few days a popular army, and who were brutally supressed with hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of casualties when the state retook the city at gunpoint?
We've been waiting for this book for years---not to mention the still forthcoming the second volume, which expands the focus from the Korean pennisula to study popular revolts across the region, promises even more gamechanging revolutionary history.
more >>
A Review: "Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS"
by Deborah Gould
more >>
Our annual holiday window display ...
by Red Emma's
Photos of our beautiful red & black holiday window display, featuring some of our favorite picks for this year's non-denominational anarchist gift-giving season!
more >>
Audio: Carl Davidson on Mondragon and the Solidarity Economy
by Carl Davidson
The presentation explored the genesis and trajectory of the Mondragon experiment, with an eye towards understanding how this model might be deployed to build a green economy in the US.
more >>Audio: Race in 21st Century America Panel
by ...
A panel discussion with:
Questions and Answer
Cosponsored by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and moderated by Lawrence Grandpre. Donations from the door went to fund the struggle against the Youth Jail.
more >>Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by David Graeber
I don't have time for a full review of this massive, sprawling text; like the author himself, anarchist anthropologist David Graeber, I've been a little more occupied than usual recently, as I'm sure many of you have been as well.
Nevertheless, despite being in the midst of a really exciting new wave of anticapitalist agitation, with lots of very practical things to be accomplished and very important meetings to be attended, I'm still going to recommend taking some time to devote to a reading of Graeber's text.
more >>Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther
by Marshall "Eddie" Conway and Dominque Stevenson
Last month, Marshall "Eddie" Conway's autobiography: Marshall Law - The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panter, was fittingly released in Baltimore, up the road at The 2640 Space.
As new drives are set for Conway's parole/pardon/release, much beloved and missed out-of-town Red Emma's collective member, Lane Zajac, takes a look at the new autobiography and remembers when they visited the reknowned activist.
"When I finally met Eddie I was woozy and hot from waiting. I was nervous and worried that I didn't know enough history. He was calm and thoughtful and funny. He knew so much I was amazed. How can someone survive over 40 years of false imprisonment?"
The 20th Anniversary of The Baltimore Book
by Linda Shopes
Every month The Village Learning Place and The Baltimore Historical Society holds memorable evenings discussing the moments and tides that carved the city's course(s). On Thursday, May 19th, these forces came together for a very special edition of The Baltimore History Evenings - a roundtable discussion for the 20th Anniversary of The Baltimore Book - one of the first 'People's History' accounts of the city's labor, class, gender, race, and grassroots relations/struggles. Here is the audio from that night, as the community discussed what this important book gave to the city and how we begin to look forward.
more >>Audio: Learning from the Tea Party with Arun Gupta
by Arun Gupta
Arun Gupta, well-respected journalist and a founding editor of NYC's The Indypendent, joined us to discuss his contribution to this collection and how we, as activists and concerned citizens, should learn from this ultra-right wing force to be reckoned with. Arun states, The Tea Party is scary in many ways, but they have an actual philosophy, which is almost completely nonexistent on the left. Leftists need to take the Tea Party seriously as a genuine force. And understanding them and what motivates their base, can help the Left understand possible paths out of its morass.
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