Books of note.

I just finished reading Spain in our Hearts by Adam Hochschild.

For those unfamiliar with the Spanish Civil War and the Americans (among them was my father) who joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, this is a good place to start.

Hochschild tells the story of those later persecuted for being premature anti-fascists.

There seems to be a lot of renewed interest in the Spanish Civil War and I’m glad about that.

.

I recently was asked to join Kevin Powell and others on New York’s WBAI’s Morning Show to discuss the anti-Trump street protests in Chicago.

That led me to The Education of Kevin Powell, A Boy’s Journey into Manhood.

Kevin is known for his writing, speaking and activism on issues of race and class.

This is a memoir that reads like a novel.

.

I don’t normally read young adult fiction. But the author of Brain Slaves, Richie Chevat sent me a copy to download.

He asked me to check it out and I did.

It’s good.

It all takes place in the future, of course. It involves social collapse, computers and technology, good versus bad, rich against the poor and if you think Richie Chevat is out to make some points about education now and in the future, you’re right. He has two sequels coming out.

.

I was asked to write a blurb for my friend Bill Ayers new book, Teaching with Conscience in an Imperfect World.

I did.

“The great Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer talked about being sick and tired of being sick and tired. This book is for every classroom teacher who is challenged by what they fear is a dark time for public schools in America. This book is for every classroom teacher who is sick and tired of being sick and tired of prescriptive solutions to problems we don’t recognize and answers to questions we never asked. Bill Ayers reminds us again that teaching can be an act of art, subversion, and imagining what is possible.”