Bookmarked: Climate Predictions, Rebuilding After Katrina, and Islamophobia

By Suzanne Lindgren
Published on August 24, 2012
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Every day, new books arrive in the offices of Utne Reader.
It would be impossible to review all of them, but a shame to leave many
hidden on the shelves. In “Bookmarked,” we link to excerpts from some of
our favorites, hoping they’ll inspire a trip to your local library or bookstore. Enjoy!

The Blueprint (Corinno
Press, 2012), by Daniel Rirdan, is a call to arms and an argument for
his 15-year, worldwide plan that calls for major changes in the way we
impact the planet. In his blueprint, Rirdan offers employable designs
that lay down new paths for our economy, technology, industry and
politics. Read an excerpt on understanding climate change taken
from Chapter 1, “Climate Change: What’s In Store.”
 

The neighborhood of Lakeview, New Orleans was a gem nestled in a
poor and crime-ridden city. Geographically isolated from the rest of New
Orleans, this neighborhood filled with educated professionals and
generations of families was able to flourish. Despite Lakeview’s large
size — 17,000 residents and 7,000 homes — the neighborhood formed a
cohesive and strong community with the help of the Lakeview Civic
Improvement Assocation. Residents even created their own special tax
district in order to support a private neighborhood police force. Tom
Wooten’s We Shall Not Be Moved
provides a portrait of Lakeview, New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina
and tells the story of how the citizens of five New Orleans
neighborhoods rebuilt the city they loved. Read
Chapter 1, “Very Much at Home.”

Though the events of 9/11 are almost a decade in the past,
anti-Islamic sentiment burns strong in the United States and Europe. The
summer of 2010 became the Summer of Hate as threats to burn the Qur’an,
mosque protests and proposed anti-Islamic legislation blazed throughout
the West. What could explain this spike in Islamophobia? In Crusade 2.0, author John Feffer examines the resurgence of anti-Islamic sentiment in the West and its global implications. Read the book’s introduction, “Target: Islam,”
which defines Islamophobia, discusses the potential sources of its
reappearance and outlines the three wars that continue to shape Western
attitudes toward Islam: The Crusades, the Cold War and the Global War on
Terrorism. 

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