Lawrence Freedman’s “The Future of War: A History” is only about the more martial of the two human endeavors, but there’s a lot to love in it.
Author Archives: David A Johnson
Cary Moon reacts to disappointing early results in Seattle, hopes for surprises to come
Cary Moon is trailing badly in the initial results for Mayor of Seattle, but her campaign isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Book Review: Bernie Sanders’ “Guide to Political Revolution” aims to be teen resource
Democrats still get into arguments about the merits (or lack thereof) of Hillary Clinton’s and Bernie Sanders’ candidacies for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. It’s why many of us on the left continue, inexorably, viewing contemporary events as a chance to re-litigate that contest and who was right. To say that Bernie Sanders: Guide to […]
Book Review: Read Zoë Quinn’s “Crash Override” to understand the Trump error
Read Crash Override to understand what can be done now as we live with forms of intimidation and harassment that never could have existed prior to the advent of an always on, Internet-connected culture — and what we still need to do as a society to confront and stamp out these toxic behaviors.
Book Review: Laura Spinney’s Pale Rider re-examines the biggest tragedy of the 1900s
It’s become a standard bit of twentieth century trivia that as terrible as the First World War was, the 1918 flu pandemic coinciding with the armistice killed more than the conflict itself. Now, an especially pedantic person might want to argue that WWI really was the beginning of the ‘Second Thirty Years War’. They might treat as […]
Book Review: Sasha Abramsky’s Jumping At Shadows explores America’s culture of fear
Abramsky makes a convincing case that we’re clearly not worried enough about what’s actually commonly dangerous and preventable compared with things that are rare, unavoidable, or outright false.
LIVE from Atlanta: Netroots Nation hears from Ben Jealous and Elizabeth Warren
Good morning, and welcome back to our continuing live coverage of Netroots Nation 2017, taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. Attendees are once again coming together in the Centennial Ballroom for a morning plenary session with Elizabeth Warren and many other distinguished speakers. The Rev. angel Kyodo williams, author of Radical Dharma, returned to open the […]
Book Review: Lynda V. Mapes’ Witness Tree makes for pleasant summertime reading
If humanity doesn’t immediately reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other climate-warming air pollutants, global temperatures could rise by as much as 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most pessimistic forecasts. For some reason, this knowledge isn’t as frightening to us as […]