ed.

Features

Whitewashed: America’s Invisible Middle Eastern Identity

By Shyam K. Sriram

As the Middle Eastern American community has been perceived to be less Christian and more Muslim since 9/11, so too is the assumption that they are unable to assimilate because of religious differences. [2 April 2009]

Columns

Is Obama the Last in a Long Line of Firsts?

By Mark Reynolds

It doesn’t even matter if your achievement isn’t something a lot of people might want to emulate; you’ll go to your grave eulogized as the “first black (fill-in-the-blank)”, and every Black History Month someone will remember your name. [12 April 2007]

(more Negritude 2.0)

Reviews

The Guardian Book of Rock & Roll by Michael Hann (ed.)

By Kieran Curran

A little editorial intervention should perhaps have been included to challenge the legitimacy of having a member of the Kooks deride the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. [4 February 2009]

The Best Australian Stories 2008, ed.  Delia Falconer

By David Pullar

This is less a Nick Hornby mixtape, with each selection ordered just so, and more akin to an mp3 playlist, inviting the reader to dip in and out at leisure. [29 January 2009]

The Best American Science Writing, 2004 by Dava Sobel and Jesse Cohen

By Celia McClinton

To fiddle confidently in the field of general relativity or to wander among the molecules busily making protein and then to write about it for mass consumption takes talent and courage. [8 February 2005]

We Owe You Nothing: Punk Planet, The Collected Interviews by Daniel Sinker, ed.

By Erik Gamlem

It was the 'rules and regulations' of punk aesthetic, sound, and lifestyle that limited its potential and undermined its intention to be a culture more enlightened then the powdered and corporate-sponsored products. [1 January 1995]

In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself by Marlow Peerse Weaver, ed.

By John G. Nettles

...calls upon writers all over the world born between the years 1960 and 1982 to express the thoughts, hopes, fears, and concerns of 'Generation X', now that they're old enough to qualify for nostalgia.

The IV Lounge Reader by Paul Vermeersch, ed.

By Steve Mueske

This book, like a jewel made more interesting by flaws, is unique because we see authors genuinely struggling with the material to make it work. It is vital and alive.