Beacon Press Authors on the Issues:

The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Michael Collinge

“Romney Ryan On Student Loans - Crony Capitalism?” Forbes interview with Alan Collinge

"The true, conservative move for higher education would be to return standard bankruptcy to all student loans, thereby forcing the government to freeze, or even lower the federal lending ceilings for these loans. This would quickly, and surely compel a significant decrease in the price that the colleges could charge for their product. It would also decrease government spending. It would also show average Americans how the “invisible hand” can actually work for them, instead of against them." Forbes

Billionaires' Ball: Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks

"Mitt Romney Blurts out the Truth About Neoconservatism." Linda McQuaig in The Star

"Once upon a time, 'conservative' could be used to describe people — Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark — who had a vision of society in which a privileged elite dominated but also had a responsibility to less fortunate citizens and to the broader 'public good.'

"But about 30 years ago, a new breed of 'conservative' slithered onto the political scene. Stealing the moniker of conservatism, this new breed embraced the inequality of traditional conservatism (driving it skyward) while unburdening itself of the responsibility for others and the public good.

"This new breed has proved itself to be self-centred, greedy and indifferent to the public good." The Star

The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of Its Most Curious Provisions and Holy Hullabaloos: A Roadtrip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars by Jay Wexler

Contribution to "We Represent the 47 Percent" blog.

"I now pay a shitload of taxes. Hell, I even got slammed with the alternative minimum tax last year, which I think is something that was actually designed for guys like you. But whatever. The point is that I didn’t always pay so much. Like twenty zillion or so other people who had to take out student loans to get through college and/or graduate school, I spent much of my early adult life in debt. I did the things that most of us have to do before getting into the 53%--scouring liquor stores for the absolute cheapest possible beer (Blatz Light? Lucky Beer?), paying rent with a Discover Card, living in apartments teeming with rats (rats, mind you, not mice), selling used CDs for a bit of pocket change, living in an apartment in China which only sometimes had running water (okay, that’s a bit idiosyncratic, perhaps, but you get the idea). Indeed, it wasn’t all that long ago that my wife and I lived in a slummy apartment where the sink fell off the wall when I leaned on it and where the bathroom was so small and close to the kitchen that I could flip pancakes while taking a shower."

Notable Mentions:

Fanpire: The Twilight Saga and the Women Who Love it by Tanya Erzen

An excerpt is running in the print and online editions of The Chronicle Review (subscription required)

The Springs of Namje: A Ten-Year Journey from the Villages of Nepal to the Halls of Congress by Rajeev Goyal

National Geographic Traveler’s “Trip Lit” section: an “engaging account of his failures and successes in both countries is an edifying and inspiring triumph.”

Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up Kaitlin Bell Barnett

Interview in Ladies Home Journal for the article “The Scary Truth About Sharing Pills.”

Interview on website, Bliss Tree.

Watch and Listen:

Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus by Elinor Lipman

Elinor Lipman was on Word of Mouth/NHPR Sept 25

Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal by J. Jack Halberstam

Three video interviews on YouTube:
J. Jack Halberstam Goes Gaga
Gaga Families
Is Feminism Going Gaga?

Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade by Thomas Norman DeWolf and Sharon Leslie Morgan

New book trailer; http://youtu.be/_IDNNMXddHY

Coming Soon:

Into Great Silence by Eva Saulitis, Jan. 15 2013

Kirkus Reviews in print October 15 and online Sept 23: “A vivid, moving depiction of a way of life tragically becoming increasingly endangered.”

“There's great tenderness in this book, and great pathos—sometimes one wonders if it's worth the pain to pay attention amidst the gathering storm, but this powerful account shows us that it's precisely by keeping track of the world around us that we stay human.”—Bill McKibben, author Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Divided we Fail: The Story of an African American Community that Ended the Era of School Desegregation by Sarah Garland, January 29, 2013

Kirkus Reviews October 15 print and online beginning September 23: “A useful journalistic examination of a troubling societal phenomenon.”

"With all the noise about failing schools, standardized tests, teacher accountability, and America’s educational decline, only the courageous are willing to acknowledge the persistence of racism—let alone, address the problem in a serious, clear-eyed way. Sarah Garland has written a courageous book, documenting the struggles of courageous community activists, educators, parents, and children who continued to fight for equity and racial justice long after our nation declared victory over segregation. In telling this gripping, often tragic, often inspirational story, Garland reveals that integrating a classroom is not the same as dismantling racism. Divided We Fail is one of those rare books that will move even the most cynical to act. And act we must." —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaping Our World by David Burstein

“David Burstein’s generation—a diverse, connected, and entrepreneurial lot that came of age around the Millennium—has already changed the face of politics from Washington to Cairo and beyond. Millennials are distinct and powerful, though scholarship about them has been slapdash and haphazard. Enter David Burstein. With Fast Future, Burstein cements his reputation as the millennial generation’s most thoughtful and insightful public intellectual.”—David King, Harvard University

“In Fast Future, David Burstein provides a personal and compelling picture of his generation. Millennials are pragmatic idealists and the first digitals, able to handle the fast pace of today’s world while they remake our economic and democratic political systems. Read this book not only to understand the future but also how the millennials are poised to shape it.” —Michael D. Hais and Morley Winograd, authors of Millennial Momentum

Now in Paperback:

Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words: Travels with Mom in the Land of Dementia by Kate Whouley

Upcoming author events:

Coffee with the Authors – Buttonwood Books and Toys (Cohasset, MA); Oct 09
National Reading Group Month Panel – Boston; Oct 18
Reading and Talk – Uxbridge Public Library (MA); Oct 20
Reading and Talk – Hanson Public Library (MA); Oct 25
Writers Day at Baypath College – Longmeadow, MA; Oct 27

The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution through Ten of Its Most Curious Provisions by Jay Wexler

Read Chapter 6: "The Twenty-First Amendment" at Scribd.

Also check out Wexler's new collection of short fiction: The Adventures of Ed Tuttle, Associate Justice and Other Stories, available from Quid Pro Books.