New Book Details Police Resistance to a Changing San Francisco, 1950-1972
San Francisco changed dramatically from 1950-1972, a transition to a more racially and sexually diverse city that its police force fought to suppress. Police harassment of the Tenderloin’s gay youth,...
View ArticleThe Good Old Days for SF Public Housing—and How They Can Return
Writing a book promoting public housing is a challenging task. This is particularly true for San Francisco, whose Housing Authority was long on HUD’s “most troubled” list and which had to taken over by...
View ArticleSend In A Sub: Life In The Blackboard Jungle
“We substitute teachers like to think of ourselves as the marines of the public education system. Whenever a breach opens in our nation’s educational front lines, off we go: The few, the brave, the...
View ArticleIs the Internet Good for Us?
New books examining the broader social impacts of the Internet fall into two camps. Some view the Internet, new media and social media as forces of liberation; others, as reinforcing oppression. My...
View ArticleDazzling New Book on SF’s 1915 World’s Fair
In 1906, San Francisco lay in ruins. A great city suffered a devastating earthquake and fire that left its future in doubt.. Less than a decade later, San Francisco expressed its rebirth to the world...
View Article‘Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal’
On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive actions on immigration. Up to 5 million of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States will be protected...
View ArticleConey Island Exposed America’s Spirit
There may be no five-mile area in the United States that better captures the nation’s democratic spirit than New York City’s Coney Island. Coney Island came to symbolize America’s working-class dreams,...
View ArticlePeter Coyote: Sixties’ Survivor With Memories Worth Sharing
Review of Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle (Counterpoint Press, Third Paperback Edition, 2015) and The Rainman’s Third Cure: An Irregular Education (Counterpoint Press, 2015) Millions of Americas who...
View ArticleSan Francisco: The High Life of the Lowlifes
The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco, by Randy Shaw. San Francisco: Urban Reality Press, 2015. (Ed. Note: Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. Original...
View ArticleDisabled Activist Recalls Movement History
Corbett Joan OToole is a disabled activist out to change hearts and minds with her powerful new book, Fading Scars / my queer disability history. OToole’s unrelenting challenge to the status quo begins...
View ArticleLittle Richard and the Inside Story of a Legendary Drummer
Little Richard was an electrifying international sensation in the mid-1950s. As young men, the Beatles and Rolling Stones were in awe of Richard Penniman. Little Richard’s sound was premised on...
View ArticleBillie Holiday’s Surprising Connection to Today’s War on Drugs
Johann Hari, British journalist and storyteller extraordinaire, asks the penetrating question, “What if everything we know about drugs and addiction is wrong?” Seizing the reader’s attention from the...
View ArticleRonnie Gilbert and America’s Radical Cultural Past
The term “legend” is too often thrown around these days, but in folksinger and activist Ronnie Gilbert’s case the label fits fits. Gilbert died at 88 this past June but she had already completed her...
View ArticleWho Was Rosa Luxenburg?
Nearly a century after her death, Rosa Luxenburg remains a legendary figure on the political left. Luxenburg sought to “affect people like a clap of thunder” in a political landscape where revolution...
View ArticleDo Mass Protests Bring Progressive Change?
While young people are supporting Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, many do not see electoral politics as the surest route to progressive change. This is understandable. Popular movements around...
View ArticleNew Fred Ross Book a Must-Read for Organizers
Fred Ross Sr. was arguably the 20th century’s greatest community organizer. Ross trained Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, created the template for current Latino voter registration and election turnout...
View ArticleThe Roots of Jane Jacobs’ Urban Vision
The 100th anniversary of Jane Jacobs’ birth has brought renewed accolades for the acclaimed author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Jacobs’ alternative vision for urban America became...
View ArticleCitizen Activism, Before & After the Sanders Campaign
As the 2016 primary season ends and Bernie Sanders backers look beyond next month’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia, many who’ve “felt the Bern” have their eye on local politics. Hundreds, if not...
View ArticleLessons from Breast Cancer Activist Barbara Brenner
Barbara Brenner’s friends and family have given a gift to activists in all fields with the publication of So Much To Be Done: The Writings of Breast Cancer Activist Barbara Brenner. Brenner, who died...
View ArticleRemembering Ralph Gleason, Legendary SF Jazz Writer
Music in the Air: The Selected Writings of Ralph J. GleasonConversations in Jazz: The Ralph J. Gleason Interviews, Edited by Toby Gleason I didn’t know anything about the Ralph J. Gleason cult until I...
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