Callisto - Torsten Krol

If Torsten Krol's debut novel went no further than the setup, a floundering young high school dropout getting in over his head in the go-nowhere titular town, it would be a great read. Krol has a fantastic gift for fleshed-out character creation and a command of quirk to rival that found in the best movies of the Coen brothers. However, like the Coens, Krol's story wades into the shallow end of strange and then something takes hold of its feet and drags it down into epic depths of weird and wonderful.

Odell Deefus is a loser by most objective standards. He's a drifter with no prospects who hits upon the terrible idea of joining the U.S. Army circa 2007 to fight "the mad dog Islamites" and gain recognition as a person who matters. His plan takes him in the direction of an Army recruitment center in Callisto, Kansas. Deefus's car, however, falls short of the goal by dying at a farm on the outskirts of town. You could call it fate, but only if you believe in a terrible God who enjoys laughing at the tribulations of the less fortunate.

This unscheduled detour assures that all of his plans, ill-thought as they were, have now gone off the rails, depositing Odell in a perfect storm of cross purposes and competing agendas. How does one man escape the entaglements of murder, lawn mowing, drug dealing, terrorism, local news, televangelism, small-town grudges, national politics and military "justice" armed only with a love of rum and Condoleeza Rice? Can not quite sharp enough instincts and a cracked spine copy of The Yearling guide Odell out of the troubles he's both fallen into and created for himself?

Callisto is a book equal parts George Singleton and George Saunders; exploring small town eccentricity and nation-sized paranoia; both a story of personal inventory and a chronicle of national dread. Far from another safe, 'there he goes again', funny, sad sack story, it's also a hilariously brutal indictment of a society too ready for story and not able to question what they're given. Odell Deefus is the post-9/11 Middle American Everyman, not stupid but unthinking; affable but less wise than the times demand. His journey may be highly improbable, but his part in the story rings true, God help us.

Let's Get Critical! Critical! Together

Tom Frank, best known for What's the Matter with Kansas?, will be speaking at our shop on Monday the 29th. While it is a ticketed event - you buy a book from us, you and a guest get to sit down and listen to Frank and maybe as a question - the shop will also be open to the public, per usual, during the ticketed event. (We like to think that this "ticketing" might actually allow us to pay some employees and rent by bringing the community interesting and pertinent opportunities for discourse with nationally-known authors.)

I haven't read much Frank, but am familiar with the work's ideas. I have read Mike Davis' very excellent refutation of some of Frank's thesis from Kansas. In "What's the Matter with America?" (found in Haymarket's In Praise of Barbarians: Essays Against Empire), Davis smartly questions if the proletariat is voting against its own self-interest by voting for Bush in 2000 and 2004 by pointing out that many of their jobs, for instance, were exported as a result of NAFTA - which just happened to be a Clinton thing.

Unfortunately, this essay isn't available online. Another fine piece by Mike Davis is, though: "The Democrats After November", from the New Left Review. Read it. This essay appears directly after "What's the Matter with America?" in In Praise of Barbarians.

Some more Mike Davis love: a trailer for a documentary based on his book, Planet of Slums.


My raising of Mike Davis' excellent criticism isn't a specific knock on Frank. In fact, it's an attempt at fostering some (post-partisan?) critical thinking. There's a lot of "Rah-Rah" political rhetoric available, but pragmatism is worth more in my book. Davis, as a "socialist", offers a critical approach outside of the Red-Blue spectrum. It's easier for him, perhaps, to see the complicity of Corporatist policies, whether pushed by the GOP or the DLC.

That said, Frank's Wrecking Crew - the book he's touring - deals with a particular problem: that of crony capitalism (h/t Al Giordano, per usual). This is a very real issue, especially with the new implementation (admission?) of socialism for the rich through the public subsidizing of traders', managers' and investors' fleecing them out of their own money. I'm not sure if there's anything about telecom deregulation in the book.

So, c'mon over to the shop next Monday and ask Tom Frank what we can do to fix the problem of crony capitalism.

taKing On the System

Taking on the System
by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
Celebra, August 2008
pp 288
Buy Me!

Convergence is a frequent topic in regards to technology: in practice, we have cell-phones with internet and music-playing ability; in economics, we have telecoms offering a broad spectrum of services; in theory, Vinge and Kurzweil write of the "singularity", a convergence of technology and biology.

Likewise, books on the technologies of social networking, blogs, collaboration and the like seem to be contained in their own version of convergence. As a data set, my most recent reads on this subject contain many of the same anecdotes: Trent Lott, the Orange Revolution, Howard Dean's Presidential campaign, MoveOn.org and Jim Webb. While this overlap can be excused as a result of the relative infancy of the medium, another, more unfortunate exclusion in these books is the bordering-on-Utopian regard for the internet as the epitome of democratic, equal access for everyone.

In this respect, Moulitsas is as guilty as, say Clay Shirky, David Weinberger, Lawrence Lessig and Yochai Benkler.

We are living in a time when technology is breaking down barriers, empowering the isolated, arming the powerless, and educating the ignorant. The tools and tactics to enact social change have evolved dramatically in even the last short decade. We're entering an era of dramatic democratization. (8)

Most of this is likely accurate - for those who have access to technology. There are still many who do not, though, usually breaking down upon socioeconomic lines. So, while the internet does offer an expansion of democratization for many, it never hurts to acknowledge that the benefits are not universal and that many of the intrinsic faults and layers of privilege found in the structure of American society (race, gender, religion, wealth and opportunity) are both mimicked and perpetuated in networked technology.

For Moulitsas' book, though, this is much less of an issue. He does not pretend to write a treatise on the vast potential of the internet and how it can change the world; rather, he has written a concise, practical and nuanced guide on how to change the world by means of the internet.

Some of the time is spent recounting and analyzing past successes and failures, from Jim Webb to Cindy Sheehan. Each of these forrays into deconstruction and theory is accompanied by advice - or "rules", in keeping with Moulitsas' channeling of Saul Alinsky - for the digital citizen/activist. And, through the more accessible medium of internet publishing, citizen/activist is an appropriate hybrid term; breaking the binary of creator/consumer or writer/reader is the ultimate goal of his brand of activism. It is this embrasure of post-Enlightenment, post-rational antiprofessionalism that truly inspired this reader. Moulitsas provides a convincing argument and useful methodology for taking back the ground that has long been ceded to "journalists", the lone guardians of reporting the "truth" to the "public". (At times, I am reminded of Hannah Arendt's great essay "Truth and Politics" and the difference between rhetorical and factual truth.)

Taking on the System succeeds in other manners, besides the useful advice for crafting a narrative from inception to deployment to manitainence, which I will not elicit here (buy the book! and read Al Giordano's fine review - and check out his work at NarcoNews for writing without the "middleman" - and check out his great POTUS 08 blog, The Field, which is essential reading, in my opinion). The book is a joy to read, especially for a fan of lefty blogs, or anyone who doesn't think "liberal" is a dirty word, or who believes that the American political institution is broken.

Moreover, this book offers a small, affective glimpse into the personal world of "the founder of America's most influential political blog" (from cover copy) through its voice. In admitting his unease over the impending fallout from one famously controversial post on the death of Blackwater mercenaries in Fallujah, you see the human through the text - which is arguably what make the DailyKos such a popular destination. Moulitsas' personality is a surprising and effective tool for driving home the most important and cogent aspect of Taking on the System: the powerful and clear step-by-step tutorial on how to tear down the walls of the establishment, corporate media and their conventional wisdom.

Of course, the total picture isn't without flaws: Taking on the System is published by an imprint of Penguin (and it seems most websites exclusively link to Amazon, which is the biggest single reason your local independent community bookseller is going/has gone out of business - perhaps, you might by the book from us). And it is hard to rectify the recommended incrementalism in activist approach with Kos' own hand-wringing and pledge to withhold funds from the Democratic nominee over a FISA vote, itself a clear exercise in legislative incrementalism. Conversely, the inclusion of many of the early battles of the 2008 primary election cycle makes for a very interesting current within the overarching narrative.

Despite these small hiccups, Taking on the System remains a nuanced and practical primer for internet activism that I recommend to anyone interested in changing the world from the pseudo-privacy of home.

Cross-posted at DailyKos *** Join the conversation *** Buy the book

Presenting Punk: Year-Round Gifts For The Punk At Heart - By Denise Dee

There's so much emphasis in the book industry about selling the 'latest' books. I might be a bit of an aberration in that I am much more excited about selling older books. I am passionate about books I consider 'classics'; and don't worry - I'm not talking about ones that were crammed down your throat in school or by some well-meaning friend. These books are must-haves for your punk library.

From the Velvets to the Voidoids by Clinton Heylin.
Sometimes it is necessary to go backwards to go forwards and Heylin gives us an excellent history of the music leading up to punk. How can you understand Richard Hell without first taking a look at John Cale and Johnny Thunders? Glam gets trashed and later thrashes in this book which moves from New York to London to Cleveland with a few stops in other cities. Cleveland gets long-deserved credit for contributing many seminal members to the punk rock scene. I read this on a Greyhound bus trip and pictured people leaving their hometowns to go find a place where they could 'fit in'. Heylin nails the simultaneous excitement of rebellion and belonging.

Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution by Stephen Colegrave.
A must-have if for no other reasons than the price and pictures. This stunning book is only $25 and will have you 'You Tubing' videos of bands that you may have forgotten about (or never heard of in the first place). Of course, it would be impossible to have a 'definitive' book that you could actually lift - but this book does a nice job of mixing bands that stayed around for a while with one or two-hit wonders. This makes a great gift.

Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

Legs McNeil founded Punk magazine along with John Holstrom. Truly one of the first 'zines in the U.S. A nineteen year-old co-worker who was in no way, shape, or form into punk actually bought this book after hearing me rave on about it to a customer for the thousandth time. He started recommending it. He said the energy of that time was contagious. Often people think of punk as nihilists who sat around complaining. Punk was a whirlwind of energy with many people in more than one band. McNeil and McCain put the 'oral history' format to great use and mix it up so different people give you perspectives on how the New York punk scene came to be and mutated. Buy a copy for anyone who loves the spirit of D.I.Y.

Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds.
My heart belongs to punk. But I think it's important to see where punk went and some reasons why. Reynolds covers no wave, new wave and other postpunk movements. Essential reading if for no other reason than the chapter on the No Wave bands. Their influence spread way beyond the sparse number of groups and audience members involved in the scene. If you can find it purchase No New York and listen to it while reading this chapter. Reynolds visits some of the West Coast punk bands and you start to get a sense of how punk changed in California and then again as it spread across the country.

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs. Edited by Greil Marcus.
Detroit is another city that had enormous influence on not only the punk scene but on music in general. Could much of American music exist without Detroit musicians? I don't think so. Lester Bangs was an early rock critic who found a home in Detroit writing for Creem magazine. He knew the Stooges, the MC5, Patti Smith, Destroy All Monsters, as well as jazz, soul, and blues musicians. His writing style is very much no punches pulled. It shows how raw energy that used to be worked out in fist-fights could be turned into a song or an article. Be ready to laugh and to call up friends and read them passages from this book.

I could add at least another ten books to this list. Any one of these books is a great place to start.

Deer Hunting with Jesus

This book has gotten two great reads from our booksellers:

"There is a war going on that is wreaking havoc on the lives of nearly one-third of all Americans. The victims of this war are the 35 million working poor. They work the hardest, get paid the least, and cannot get ahead no matter how much personal responsibility they take in their lives. They drink canned beer, praise the Lord on Sundays, and hail the fast cars speeding around an oval track—all the while being manipulated by conservatives and mocked by liberals. Deer Hunting with Jesus takes us into the lives of these folks with humor and respect, leaving you raging and passionate to fix the deepening canyon divide between the rich and poor."

-Stacie

"I can hardly describe how much I enjoyed Deer Hunting with Jesus, but it’s so good that I’m willing to try. Bageant’s writing style is lively an entertaining, sort of a mix between Molly Ivins and Southern story writer George Singleton. The book didn't preach to the choir like a lot of liberal examinations of society's ills, mainly because Bageant didn't just dismiss the mostly white lower class subjects in his book as ignorant fools, but really made an effort to understand why people barely getting by would vote into power politicians interested in giving tax cuts to the super rich. Again, great book!"

-John

With praise from our booksellers, and authors ranging from Studs Terkel to Sherman Alexie and Howard Zinn, this book warrants at least a thumb through at your local (independent) bookstore.

Check out this review; it's entertaining and insightful.

There are also some audio archive interviews at Joe Bageant's website.