Media Picks

July/August 1995 Issue

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A sampling of what's new and noteworthy, chosen with a little help from our friends:

"This is the eloquent testimony of an extremely gifted writer. Those who have investigated his case are convinced that he is innocent. He is the true victim of political venom."

So says author and avid reader Jessica Mitford of Live from Death Row (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1995), a collection of prison writings from the pen of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and black activist found guilty of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1982. Abu-Jamal could be put to death within the year. Check out the World Wide Web for more information:

http://www.igc.apc.org/prisons/mumia.html

Remember the old "money river" theory from Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater? Turns out, it's true and meticulously documented by Thomas Ferguson in The Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). Ferguson offers staggering evidence that big money interests have played, and continue to play, a determining role in U.S. politics.

Emergency Contraception: The Nation's Best-Kept Secret (Atlanta: Bridging the Gap, 1995) details readily available methods of preventing pregnancy within 72 hours after intercourse. To order, call: 1 (800) 847-3988, or log onto the World Wide Web for related news and updates at

http://opr.princeton.edu/ec/ec.html

Passage to Vietnam is the latest interactive coffee-table CD/book from Rick Smolan (Alice to Ocean, the Day in the Life series), who is joined by 70 photographers in a look at the "new" Vietnam. The project is published by Against All Odds and Interval Research.

 

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