“This new edition documents the continuing decline in the number of firms dominating production of newspapers, magazines, books, television and movies in the United States… discusses the emerging corporate control of alternative media outlets such as cable television, syndicated programming and videocassettes… shows how the recession, corporate takeovers, and lax antitrust policies affected the news reporting in the 1980s, and describes the promise and perils of new media technologies. A classic critique of corporate media control.”

Publisher: Beacon
Paperback: 336 pages

“This badly needed analysis exposes the destructive alliance between the bank and national governments that, in the name of progress, has plundered natural resources and impoverished millions.”

Publisher: Beacon
Paperback: 384 pages

Brought up on the streets of the South Bronx, where learning to fight was simply a matter of survival, Geoffrey Canada knows about street violence firsthand. When crack and handguns flooded the inner cities in the ‘80s, violence spiraled out of control, becoming a deadly epidemic. Determined to provide some hope for the future, Canada has returned to the ghetto as a Harvard-educated adult to teach children’s strategies for survival: Hit the ground—sound advice when someone is pointing a gun in your direction but you are not the primary target. Not a bad test question for use in our urban schools:When someone points a gun in your direction but doesn’t want to shoot you in particular, you should
a) run into the nearest building.
b) yell and scream and run away.
c) stand still.
d) hit the ground
Each week, another innocent child is shot while amateur gunmen blast away at targets real and imagined. It’s a sad state of affairs in this country when as they enter kindergarten our children need to be taught not only the ABCs but more importantly what to do when they hear shots or see people pointing guns. NN

Publisher: Beacon
Hardback: 224 pages

Jonas studied Gnosticism and concluded that it was a revolt against the rule of a Creator and in favor of mankind. Besides historical background about the development, ideological struggles and the suppression of this ancient religious system, the author shows how the ascendance of Gnosticism might have affected today’s society in terms of art, theology and everyday life. MET

Publisher: Beacon
Paperback: 358 pages

The original gay liberation struggle and story in the words of Harry Hay, founder of the Mattachine Society, the first organization to openly discuss and champion queer issues at a time (late 1940s) when you could be imprisoned, institutionalized or worse for “coming out.” Hay discusses such seemingly disparate topics as Indian Berdache traditions, trade unionism, Marxism, even New Age spirituality, reconciling these and many more subjects into a cohesive whole, all the while living a remarkable life observed through queer-tinted glasses. MW

Publisher: Beacon
Hardback: 352 pages

“For hundreds of years, the history of the conquest of Mexico and the defeat of the Aztecs has been told through the words of Spanish victors… In this new and updated edition of his classic The Broken Spears, Leon-Portilla has included accounts from native Aztec descendants across the centuries. These texts bear witness to the extraordinary vitality of an oral tradition that preserves the viewpoints of the vanquished instead of the victors.”

Publisher: Beacon
Paperback: 256 pages
Illustrated