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FILM
 | Workingman's Death
"I wanted to make a movie where you sit in the cinema and actually feel the weight on your back," says filmmaker Michael Glawogger. In this magnificent and harsh documentary about manual labor around the world, he succeeds. He shows us Ukrainian miners digging for coal in mine shafts only 16 inches wide; Nigerian slaughterhouse workers surrounded by animal blood and stench; and Pakistanis who dismantle an abandoned oil tanker for scrap metal with little more than their bare hands. Available from . |
BOOKS
 | Long-Range Public Investment: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal
Robert Leighninger tells the incredible story of public investment during the New Deal, when the federal government built schools, housing, bridges, power plants, zoos, farmers' markets, and stadiums and changed the face of America. Although the original goal was to combat the Depression, these infrastructure investments turned out to be some of the most successful anywhere in the world. Eighty years later, many still stand—from Hoover Dam to the San Antonio River Walk and even the 18th Precinct police station in New York City. Leighninger also provides a fine brief history of government-funded infrastructure going back to Washington and Hamilton. Available from .™ |
 | Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups that Can Solve Problems and Change the World
There are plenty of reasons for building a community organization: your neighborhood school is going downhill, the local drug problem is getting out of hand, or your county officials won't do their jobs. Whatever the problem, this nuts-and-bolts workbook "is for people who want to change the world and know that they cannot do it alone," the veteran community organizer and book's author Michael Jacoby Brown writes. Some of the most fascinating passages are Brown's real-world stories, many of them from the union movement. He illustrates the importance of building personal relationships through examples such as that of the Harvard Union of Technical and Clerical Workers that ran Friday afternoon chat sessions for workers who wanted to meet and talk and the Electrical Workers organizer in the West who keeps his members connected to the union by taking them bowling every month. A how-to guide to a subtle and very human project. Available from .™ |
CD
 | The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields
If you live near Pittsburgh, chances are you already know the music of Tom Breiding, a local legend. If you're a member of the Steelworkers there, you remember his benefit for the "Stand Up for Steel" campaign. If you live in another part of the country, this CD is a wonderful introduction to a singer, songwriter and guitarist who performs some of the most compelling roots-rock ballads anywhere. "The Unbroken Circle" is primarily a collection of Breiding's songs about the history of coalfields in West Virginia, his native state. They include "The Obituary of Joe Fry," written after he discovered the death notice of a miner killed in a 1937 mine explosion and "The Longest Darkest Day," which tells of the 1972 Buffalo Creek flood after the collapse of a mine's dam. This is the work of a musician who never has forgotten his roots. Available from .™ |
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