Activism in The Books Store

"In the rain forests of the western Amazon," writes author Andrew Revkin, "the threat of violent death hangs in the air like mist after a tropical rain. It is simply a part of the ecosystem, just like the scorpions and snakes cached in the leafy canopy that floats over the forest floor like a seamless green circus tent."

Violent death came to Chico Mendes in the Amazon rain forest on December 22, 1988. A labor and environmental activist, Mendes was gunned down by powerful ranchers for organizing resistance to the wholesale burning of the forest. He was a target because he had convinced the government to take back land ranchers had stolen at gunpoint or through graft and then to transform it into "extractive reserves," set aside for the sustainable production of rubber, nuts, and other goods harvested from the living forest.

This was not just a local land battle on a remote frontier. Mendes had invented a kind of reverse globalization, creating alliances between his grassroots campaign and the global environmental movement. Some 500 similar killings had gone unprosecuted, but this case would be different. Under international pressure, for the first time Brazilian officials were forced to seek, capture, and try not only an Amazon gunman but the person who ordered the killing.

In this reissue of the environmental classic The Burning Season, with a new introduction by the author, Andrew Revkin artfully interweaves the moving story of Mendes's struggle with the broader natural and human history of the world's largest tropical rain forest. "It became clear," writes Revkin, acclaimed science reporter for The New York Times, "that the murder was a microcosm of the larger crime: the unbridled destruction of the last great reservoir of biological diversity on Earth." In his life and untimely death, Mendes forever altered the course of development in the Amazon, and he has since become a model for environmental campaigners everywhere.

"Before his 1969 assassination, Chairman Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party in Chicago famously remarked that, 'When one of us falls, 1000 will take his place.' This book proves Fred's point. No matter the degree of repression visited upon it, the spirit of revolution cannot be quelled."-Ward Churchill, author of On the Justice of Roosting Chickens

As the destruction of nature reaches new extremes, resistance becomes ever more militant. Radical environmental groups are front page news. From laboratory bombings to the destruction of ski resorts, this emerging new militancy has been steadily upping the political ante. Authorities have responded in kind, handing down unprecedented heavy prison sentences for acts of property destruction. Congressional committees have been convened, the FBI has put revolutionary environmentalists at the top of their domestic terrorism list, and the "terrorists" themselves promise bigger and more spectacular assaults in the future. This anthology features a range of voices-from academics to armed revolutionaries-that explore this new form of political struggle. The first book of it's kind on this increasingly important topic!

Steven Best, PhD, is chair of the department of philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso. He has published numerous books and articles on philosophy, cultural criticism, social theory and animal rights, and is frequently interviewed by national print and radio media.

Anthony J. Nocella II is a peace activist who teaches workshops on mediating and negotiating in revolutionary environments.

"This extraordinarily important book cuts to the heart of one of the central reasons movements to bring about social and environmental justice always fail. The fundamental question here is: is violence ever an acceptable tool to help bring about social change? This is probably the most important question of our time, yet so often discussions around it fall into clichés and magical thinking: that somehow if we are merely good and nice enough people, the state will stop using its violence to exploit us all. Would that this were true."-Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame, from the introduction.

Pacifism, the ideology of nonviolent political resistance, has been the norm among mainstream North American progressive groups for decades. But to what end? Ward Churchill challenges the pacifist movement's heralded victories-Gandhi in India, 1960s antiwar activists, even Martin Luther King's civil rights movement-suggesting that their success was in spite of, rather than because of, their nonviolent tactics. Pacifism as Pathology was written as a response not only to Churchill's frustration with his own activist experience, but also to a debate raging in the activist and academic communities. He argues that pacifism is in many ways counterrevolutionary; that it defends the status quo, and doesn't lead to social change. In these times of upheaval and global protest, this is a vital and extremely relevant book.

Ward Churchill is a prolific writer and lecturer, having authored, co-authored, or edited over twenty books. He is a member of the leadership council of Colorado AIM (American Indian Movement).

From the ancient Greek symposia to Gertrude Stein's famous Paris gatherings, salons have always been the incubators of provocative-at times even dangerous-ideas: the frontiers of cultural change. People who might elsewhere have been socially ostracized were included in salons, welcomed for their wit, intelligence, charm, and insight. And passionate conversation often led to passionate action.

In 1991 Utne Reader launched a salon renaissance all over North America when it featured a cover story on salons. The response to the article was staggering, leading Utne to organize a National Salon Association that quickly drew over 20,000 members. Conceived and written by the folks at Utne, Salons is the quintessential authority on the subject, demonstrating that joining or starting your own salon is just a living room away.

Salons offers a fascinating history of the salon and supplies all the tools readers need to join or start a group of their own. Variations on the salon theme are explored, from studious book clubs and book circles to creativity salons, and finally online saloning. A closing chapter looks at salons as bedrocks for activism and institutions for keeping social consciousness alive for the long-haul.

Marketing:

Utne Reader will heavily promote Salons in their magazine and website
National print advertising
National publicity
Author events in Minnesota
Co-op available

Jaida n'ha Sandra is a long-time salon-keeper and on staff for two years with Utne Reader. She now teaches Anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jon Spayde is a Contributing Editor at Utne Reader and a freelance writer. He developed art-based salons in San Francisco and Minneapolis. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

[box]

Also available from Utne Reader

Visionaries

TP $17.95 0-86571-445-2 USA