Book Excerpts

How Bad Things Are

By Paul Krugman May 14, 2012 In March 2009 Ben Bernanke, normally neither the most cheerful nor the most poetic of men, waxed optimistic about the economic prospect. After the fall of Lehman Brothers six months earlier, America had entered a terrifying economic nosedive. But appearing on the TV show "60 Minutes," the Fed chairman declared that spring was at hand.In March 2009 Ben Bernanke waxed optimistic about the economic prospect. Appearing on the TV show "60 Minutes," the Fed chairman declared that spring was at hand. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Zombie Politics: Dangerous Authoritarianism or Shrinking Democracy – Part II

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout May 4, 2012 It is difficult to imagine how a society in which a financial elite and megacorporations control almost every aspect of politics could possibly be mistaken for a democracy. Dig deeper ( 18 Min. Read )

Zombie Politics, Democracy, and the Threat of Authoritarianism – Part I

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Apr 30, 2012 The zombie phenomenon on display nightly on television alongside endless examples of destruction unfolding in real-time signals a shift away from the hope that accompanies the living to a politics of cynicism and despair. Dig deeper ( 30 Min. Read )

How the Stimulus Revived the Electric Car

By Michael Grabell, ProPublica Feb 1, 2012 Until the economic stimulus package was passed in 2009, the manufacture of electric cars and their batteries in the United States was nearly nonexistent. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Can I Help You?

BLANK Jan 4, 2012 In this excerpt from Lauren B. Davis' new novel, “Our Daily Bread,” an elderly woman encounters two troubled boys and the question of whether we ever do enough to help others. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

God of the Oppressed

Staff / Truthdig Dec 21, 2011 In this excerpt from “The Cross and the Lynching Tree,” James H. Cone writes that the gospel is found wherever the wronged struggle for justice. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

What Does Your Feminism Look Like?

Staff / Truthdig Dec 7, 2011 In this excerpt from “F ’em! Goo Goo, Gaga, and Some Thoughts on Balls,” author Jennifer Baumgardner lays out a history of feminism in "waves": from the rights of citizenship and equality to transgenderism, male feminists and sex work. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Baltimore: The City That Bleeds

Staff / Truthdig Nov 23, 2011 David Kennedy, author of "Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America," spent more than 10 years in the worst corners of the worst cities in the country before going to Baltimore. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

The Myth of the ’60s

Staff / Truthdig Nov 17, 2011 Edward P. Morgan, in this excerpt from “What Really Happened to the 1960s: How Mass Media Culture Failed American Democracy,” maintains that “the mass media’s ‘’60s’ discourse is chiefly one of ghosts, accusations, and smoke and mirrors that has long played on audience emotions and diverted public attention to what is essentially a symbolic form of spectator politics.” Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

The Confidence Crumbles

Staff / Truthdig Nov 10, 2011 An excerpt from Ron Suskind's “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President” looks into the perilous political labyrinth navigated by our nation's leader. Dig deeper ( 16 Min. Read )

Campus Intrigue

Staff / Truthdig Nov 2, 2011 An excerpt from Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Eugenides' third novel, "The Marriage Plot," which centers on a romantic triangle at Brown University in 1982. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Los Angeles Noir

Staff / Truthdig Oct 5, 2011 An excerpt from musician Ry Cooder's first published collection of stories, set in L.A. after World War II, "a sunny place for shady people." Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )