Books: Lessons for the Arts In a New Book About Unions

With the new administration, there's a lot we're hoping will change. The state of labor sits near the

Jan 25, 2021 • View in browser

With the new administration, there’s a lot we’re hoping will change. The state of labor sits near the top of that list for many. Sam Lefebvre writes about Unions Renewed, a new book about organized labor under capitalism, which offers some meaningful takeaways for the arts — especially amid the recent rise of art worker unions across the US.Also worth checking out: a review of Ishmael Reed’s recent play (and Hamilton takedown); a colorful dive into Pixar’s archives; and a sumptuous excerpt of a new queer photography book. Plus, we’ve got plenty of poetry, courtesy of our Weekend team.Happy reading.– Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

Organized Labor Under Financial Capitalism

"Unions Renewed: Building Power in an Age of Finance" by Alice Martin and Annie Quick (published by Polity Books)

What’s the role of organized labor when employers need workers less and less in order to create profit? That’s the question at the heart of Unions Renewed: Building Power in an Age of Finance.Authors Alice Martin and Annie Quick describe the pervasive influence of financial actors across Western economies, turning firms of all kinds into unproductive rent seekers and speculators, and the consequences for workers and communities.

A Sneak Peek

M. Sharkey’s Luminous Photos of Queer Kids in the US The light in Sharkey’s images doesn’t so much cover his subjects but illuminates them from within. Alexander Chee

Latest Reviews

Ishmael Reed Picks Hamilton Apart, Bit by Revisionist Bit The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda deconstructs the Broadway play’s abolitionist portrayal of the founding father with incisive, impeccably-researched satire. Erica Cardwell

25 Years of Pixar’s Vibrant, Emotional Color Palettes Revised and expanded, The Art of Pixar gathers color scripts from the studio’s short and feature films, mapping out the emotional beats of each story in lush hues. Ayoola Solarin

Our Poetry Picks

Poems in the Language of Death Paul Celan’s truest homeland, paradoxically, was the German language — the language of the Nazis who imprisoned him in a forced labor camp and murdered his parents. Mark Scroggins

Writing from Another World Eric Baus’s sentences follow the rules of grammar, but something inexplicable happens by the time you reach the end. John Yau

Missives From the War to End All Wars Elizabeth Gray’s poems seek to discover where we are in the midst of a battle we can never fully see. Joseph Donahue

Did You Know That Robert Hershon Is a Major Poet? “I cannot think of another contemporary poet who is willing to expose his vulnerability, worry, and pettiness through the lens of humor.” John Yau

From the Store

Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly We’re beyond excited to have gotten our paws on the very first book to catalog the entire career of our favorite intersectional feminist-activist group of artists! More than just a monograph, The Art of Behaving Badly is a call to arms.Check out our Guerrilla Girls collection!

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