Uncle Sam is “the single largest generator of hazardous wastes in the U.S.” It’s an undeclared war on the Big Blue Marble. We’re talking major, major, major pollution: radar “smog,” fuel dumps, unexploded explosives, discarded chemicals, radiation waste, nerve gas, etc., all heading to a groundwater site near you. “Drawing on first-hand experience and more than 100 carefully researched sources, “ the author “describes the stunning extent of the pollution that the world’s armed forces create each day—even during peace time—through their testing, maneuvers, accidents, toxic dumping, emergencies and uranium mining and processing.” Also documents “the growing citizen’s movement—often led by women—for military cleanup and conversion.” A good place to start is “the most contaminated square mile on Earth,” located 16 miles outside of Denver. It’s the result of a “toxic face-off” between neighboring Rocky Mountain Arsenal and McClellan Air Force Base. GR

Publisher: New Society
Paperback: 227 pages

“The schemes and numbers did not shock Mary Warner. Few horror stories shocked her anymore. The ever-growing list of casualties tacked on her wall was a tragic reminder that nothing had really changed: over 10,000 dogs missing in Rochester, New York, within six months in 1983; 700 dogs missing in 11 months in Orlando, Florida, in 1985; 985 dogs and cats missing within 11 months in 1987 in Concord, North Carolina; over 1,000 dogs and cats reported missing in Indianapolis in one month in 1989. In 1990, in Columbus, Georgia, 2,500 dogs and cats had been reported missing: 5,000 in two consecutive years.” GR

Publisher: Pharos
Hardback: 258 pages

Presents the history, mechanics, law and clinical data on the art of “whispering” to the subconscious. Discusses whether you can be brainwashed by subliminals or not, whether they are as dangerous as some professionals claim, and whether they really work at all. Plus instructions on how to create your own subliminal program. GR

Publisher: Just Another Reality
Paperback: 131 pages

“Examines Western perceptions of war in and beyond the 19th century, surveying the writings of novelists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, poets, natural scientists and journalists to trace the origins of modern philosophies about the nature of war and conflict.” Einstein to Freud, 1933: “Why war?” Freud to Einstein: “Paradoxical as it may sound, it must be admitted that war might be a far-from-inappropriate means of establishing the eagerly desired reign of ‘everlasting’ peace, since it is in a position to create the larger units within which a powerful central government makes further wars impossible.” GR

Publisher: Yale University
Paperback: 292 pages

Seriously researched and documented exposé on the emerging global system of big business. The march of the multinational monoliths has become a threat to long-term human interests, the author demonstrates. It’s one of the underlying causes of the world’s social, economic, environmental and political crises. “The corporation is a true Frankenstein’s monster—an artificial person run amok, responsible only to its own selfless soul.” The world’s 500 largest corporations, which employ only 0.05 of 1 percent of the world’s population, control 25 percent of the world’s economic output, and gobble up more each day. They’re already fatter than most whole countries. It’s the corporation as rogue shark; the people and the planet—chum. GR

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler
Hardback: 374 pages

ATTENTION! THIS IS THE NEW WORLD ORDER: “The rich men of the rich societies are to rule the world, competing among themselves for a greater share of wealth and power and mercilessly suppressing those who stand in their way, assisted by the rich men of the hungry nations who do their bidding. The others serve, and suffer.”
In other words, a world dotted with gleaming islands of First World capitalism, floating over and shadowing Third World graveyards of the living. “The Left’s leading critic of government policy, power and language takes on the international scene since 1945, devoting particular attention to events following the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Clinton’s “empty promises to the poor,” and various Middle Eastern/Central American/Eastern European hotspots. The author, professor of modern languages and linguistics at MIT, “focuses his no-hold-barred attention once more on the powerless, the power-hungry and the powermongers in our increasingly global community.” And what of the New World Order that the militias speak of? With the black helicopters and the taking of guns? It’s the same one, really—only theirs is a mythological panic reaction. It represents their gut feeling toward world events, which is fear. GR

Publisher: Columbia University
Hardback: 311 pages

Coffee-table tribute to the colorful, toe-tapping tribes of Africa. “From 1945 to 1985, from Senegal to the Congo Basin, from the Sahara to the Gulf of Benin, Michel Huet photographed African life, especially the age-old rituals and ceremonies enacted to the beat of drums, the chant of voices and the urgent movement of bodies. His unique images, accompanied by ethnographer Claude Savary’s sensitive texts, are a stunning testimonial to these rapidly vanishing cultural traditions as well as a lasting document of the essence of African dance.” Includes the Dogan, who tell the mythical story of mankind in their 3-meter-high painted plank masks; the Samo, in their cowry-shell-and-feather rain-making costumes; and the Bwa people of Boni, in their bushy garb of leaves and branches, cleansing the world of man’s impurities. GR

Publisher: Abrams
Hardback: 172 pages
Illustrated

Explains “what is known about this enigmatic island in the South Pacific—and what isn’t.” Also reveals “some tantalizing theories” about the brooding statues. “One of the great problems that dominate Easter Island archeologically is the question of how the statues were moved to the ahu, some of which are miles from the quarry… Some writers have suggested that a layer of sweet potatoes and yams was put under the statues… Others have said that wooden rollers were used… The most surprising thing is the unhesitating reply of all the natives—the statues were moved by mana… It is a mistake to smile at this kind of talk… What if certain men at a certain period were able to make use of electromagnetic or anti-gravitational forces? It is an extraordinary concept, but no more so than that of squashed yams.” GR

Publisher: Abrams
Paperback: 144 pages
Illustrated

Shoes, canvases, wife problems, money and self-doubt. “Ill-luck has pursued me my whole life, without rest. The further I go, the lower I descend. Perhaps I have no talent, but—all vanity aside—I do not believe that anyone makes an artistic attempt, no matter how small, without having a little—or there are many fools. In short, after the effort I have made, I can make no more unless it bears fruit.” GR

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 110 pages

Girls! Girls! Girls! Gauguin fled “filthy Europe” for a romantic painter’s life in paradise: “Another week passed, and Tehura returned. Then a life filled to the full with happiness began. Happiness and work rose up together with the sun, radiant like it. The gold of Tehura’s face flooded the interior of our hut and the landscape round about with joy and light. She no longer studied me, and I no longer studied her. She no longer concealed her love from me, and I no longer spoke to her of my love. We lived, both of us, in perfect simplicity.” A fairy tale. GR

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 65 pages
Illustrated