City Lights Publishers Spring/summer 2010 Catalog

CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS Spring/Summer 2010

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THE BLACK HISTORY OF THE WHITE HOUSE

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CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS • SPRING / SUMMER 2010

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THE BLACK HISTORY OF THE WHITE HOUSE

NEW TITLE

THE BLACK HISTORY OF THE WHITE HOUSE BY CLARENCE LUSANE

The Black History of the White House presTHE UNTOLD HISTORY ents the untold history and shifting signifiAND POLITICS OF THE cance of the White House as experienced by WHITE HOUSE FROM African Americans, from the generations of THE PERSPECTIVE OF enslaved people who helped to build it or AFRICAN AMERICANS were forced to work there to its first black First Family, the Obamas. Juxtaposing significant events in White House history with the ongoing struggle for equal rights, Lusane offers a unique and compelling view of one of America’s most symbolic structures. And from the first slave-owning presidents to more contemporary examples, he shows how U.S. presidents have used their authority to advance racial justice only when under great pressure to do so. Here is the story of the furious backlash unleashed against President Roosevelt for inviting Booker T. Washington to dinner in 1901, which resulted in a virtual ban on such invitations for the next 30 years. Here too are the voices of those who insisted on justice and representation, such as Marcus Garvey, who issued a call in 1920 for a Black House and a black president. The Black History of the White House is a timely reminder that the White House has always been a prism through which to view the progress and struggles of black Americans.

“CLARENCE LUSANE IS ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST THOUGHTFUL AND CRITICAL THINKERS ON ISSUES OF RACE, CLASS AND POWER.”—MANNING MARABLE

Dr. Lusane has been published in the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, the Oakland Tribune, Black Scholar, and more. He often appears on PBS, BET, C-SPAN, and other national media. Author of several books and former editor of Black Political Agenda, he teaches at Howard University. ISBN: 978-0-87286-532-7 • $16.95, $17.95/CAN • 200PP JUNE 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • HISTORY / SOCIAL SCIENCE / CURRENT EVENTS

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NEW TITLE

NEW WORLD OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE NEW WORLD OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE BY NOAM CHOMSKY AND VOICES FROM NORTH , SOUTH AND CENTRAL CITY LIGHTS OPEN MEDIA

Noam Chomsky is the critically acclaimed author of several bestselling books. Some of his recent titles include Hegemony or Survival, Imperial Ambitions, 9-11, Media Control, and Interventions.

Indigenous societies today face difficult INTERVIEWS choices: can they develop, modernize, WITH CHOMSKY and advance without endangering their ACCOMPANIED BY sacred traditions and communal identity? COMMENTARIES Specifically, can their communities benefit from national education while resisting the BY INDIGENOUS tendency of state-imposed programs to ORGANIZERS ON undermine their cultural sovereignty, lanGLOBALIZATION AND guage, and traditions? According to Lois RESISTANCE IN THE Meyer and Benjamín Maldonado, these are AMERICAS among the core questions being faced by indigenous societies whose comunalidad— or communal way of life—is at odds with the dictates of big business and the social programs of the state. To explore these issues in depth, Meyer and Maldonado conducted a series of dialogues with Noam Chomsky, and invited numerous organizers and intellectuals from indigenous communities of resistance to comment. In three in-depth conversations, Chomsky offers poignant lessons from his vast knowledge of world history, linguistics, economics, anti-authoritarian philosophy and personal experience, and traces numerous parallels with other peoples who have resisted state power while attempting to modernize, develop, survive, and sustain their unique community identity and tradition. Following the interviews are commentaries from more than a dozen activists and intellectuals from the Americas, who speak from their on-the-ground experiences and work with indigenous communities in Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, and Canada. This is Chomsky at his best—lucid, accessible and deeply informative.

ISBN: 978-0-87286-533-4 • $18.95, $19.95/CAN • 300PP APRIL 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES / POLITICAL SCIENCE

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AMERICA

EDITED BY LOIS MEYER AND BENJAMÍ N MALDONADO

CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS • SPRING / SUMMER 2010

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COLORBLIND Barack Obama, Post-Racial Liberalism and the Retreat From Racial Equity BY TIM WISE CITY LIGHTS OPEN MEDIA

Ever since the New Deal, voices on the liberal left HOW have advocated a retreat from color-conscious “ C O L O R BLINDNESS” public policies such as affirmative action, and I N P O LICY AND even from open discussion of racism as a key PERSONAL PRACTICE factor in the perpetuation of racial inequity in the United States. They have argued that the PERPETUATE RACIAL barriers faced by black and brown Americans INEQUITY IN THE are largely divorced from racism, and that these UNITED STATES TODAY stem, instead, from economic factors such as deindustrialization, capital flight from the cities, spiraling healthcare costs and inadequate funding for education, jobs programs, and other programs of social uplift. From this starting point, they contend that “universal” programs intended to help the poor and working class are the best means for narrowing the racial inequalities with which the nation is still plagued. In the first book to discuss the pitfalls of “colorblindness” in the Obama era, Tim Wise argues against colorblindness and for deeper color-consciousness in both public and private practice. We can only begin to move toward authentic social and economic equity through what he calls illuminated individualism—acknowledging the diverse identities that have shaped our perceptions and the role that race continues to play in the maintenance of disparities between whites and people of color in the United States today.

Tim Wise is author of several books, including White Like Me and the runaway hit, Between Barack and a Hard Place.

ISBN: 978-0-87286-508-2 • $13.95, $14.95/CAN • 160PP MAY 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • SOCIAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / CURRENT EVENTS

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NEW TITLE

IN DANGER IN DANGER A Pasolini Anthology BY PIER PAOLO PASOLINI EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JACK HIRSCHMAN

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) was a major cultural figure in post-WW2 Italy, well-known as a poet, novelist, communist intellectual, and filmmaker.

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) was a major IN DANGER REVEALS cultural figure in post-WW2 Italy, well THE LITERARY LIFE known as a poet, novelist, communist intelO F INTERNATIONALLY lectual, and filmmaker. In Danger is the first RENOWNED anthology in English devoted to his political and literary essays, and includes a generFILMMAKER PIER ous selection of his poetry. Against the PAOLO PASOLINI backdrop of post-war Italy, and continuing through the mid-’70s, Pasolini’s writings provide a fascinating portrait of a Europe in which fascists and communists violently clashed for power and journalists ran great risks. The controversial and openly gay Pasolini was murdered at fifty-three; In Danger includes his final interview, conducted hours before his death, as well as the cryptic litany “What Is This Coup? I Know,” which many suspect motivated his murder. Here also are Pasolini’s essays on cultural topics like hippies and Zen buddhism, literary discussions of writers like Italo Calvino, Marianne Moore, and Costantine Cavafy, and even a 1967 interview between Pasolini and Ezra Pound concerning Pound’s relationship to the contemporary Italian avant-garde. The poetry ranges from early works written in the Friulan dialect through his later lyric blasts against fascism. In Danger is edited and introduced by internationally renowned poet Jack Hirschman, who also edited the enduring City Lights classic Artaud Anthology. Translated by several hands, including Hirschman and well-known rocker Jonathan Richman, In Danger is essential reading for anyone interested in Pasolini’s brave lyricism and critical insight.

ISBN: 978-0-87286-507-5 • $16.95, $17.95/CAN • 250PP AUGUST 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • POETRY / POLITICAL SCIENCE / LITERARY CRITICISM

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CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS • SPRING / SUMMER 2010

ABSENCE OF THE HERO

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ABSENCE OF THE HERO Uncollected Stories and Essays, Vol. 2: 1946-1992 BY CHARLES BUKOWSKI EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DAVID CALONNE

Everyone’s favorite Dirty Old Man returns with EVERYONE’S FAVORITE a new volume of uncollected work. Charles DIRTY OLD MAN Bukowski (1920-1994), one of the most outrageous R E T URNS WITH MORE figures of 20th-century American literature, was BOOZY TALES OF so prolific that many significant pieces never found their way into his books. Absence of the EXTRAORDINARY Hero contains much of his earliest fiction, unseen MADNESS in decades, as well as a number of previously unpublished stories and essays. The classic Bukowskian obsessions are here: sex, booze, and gambling, along with trenchant analysis of what he calls “Playing and Being the Poet.” Among the book’s highlights are tales of his infamous public readings (“The Big Dope Reading,” “I Just Write Poetry So I Can Go to Bed with Girls”); a review of his own first book; hilarious installments of his newspaper column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, including meditations on neo-Nazis and driving in Los Angeles; and an uncharacteristic tale of getting lost in the Utah woods (“Bukowski Takes a Trip”). Yet the book also showcases the other Bukowski—an astute if offbeat literary critic. From his own “Manifesto” to his account of poetry in Los Angeles (“A Foreword to These Poets”) to idiosyncratic evaluations of Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, and Louis Zukofsky, Absence of the Hero reveals the intellectual hidden beneath the gruff exterior. Our second volume of his uncollected prose, Absence of the Hero is a major addition to the Bukowski canon, essential for fans yet suitable for new readers as an introduction to the wide range of his work.

Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany in 1920 and brought to Los Angeles at age three. Using the city as a backdrop for his work, Bukowski wrote prolifically, publishing over fifty volumes of poetry and prose. He died in San Pedro, California on March 9, 1994. His books are widely translated and posthumous volumes continue to appear. ISBN: 978-0-87286-531-0 • $16.95, $17.95/CAN • 300PP APRIL 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • FICTION ISBN: 978-0-87286-534-1 • $26.00, $27.00/CAN • 300PP APRIL 2010 • TRADE CLOTH • FICTION

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NEW TITLE

ISLANDERS ISLANDERS BY AMMIEL ALCALAY

Enigmatic and multi-layered, Islanders is about SEEN THROUGH finding one’s own hard-won truth. A young THE PRISM OF man’s indelible memories of the struggle to P E R SONAL HISTORY, find intimacy—formative experiences like the AN EVOCATIVE, ebb and flow of friendships, love, and ordinary workaday life—are viewed through a lens of UNSETTLING VIEW OF nostalgic longing and hard-eyed realism as he A WORLD FALLING attempts to come to terms with the past. Set APART during the cataclysm of the last years of the war in Vietnam, in a landscape that shifts between the bleak fishing towns of the Atlantic coast to the ruined cities of the Northeast, Islanders explores the classic theme of identity’s intricate relationship to place.

Ammiel Alcalay is a poet, translator, critic, and scholar who teaches at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of, among other books, After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture, the cairo noteboooks, and Memories of Our Future. He was one of the initiators of the Poetry Is News Coalition, and helped to organize the OlsonNow project. He has recently launched Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Archival Initiative, a publishing venture whose mission is to retrieve and make available key texts falling widely under the rubric of the New American Poetry. ISBN: 978-0-87286-506-8 • $11.95, $12.95/CAN • 96PP APRIL 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • FICTION

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Excerpt from Islanders The young man thought to make a story of it, the woman, the son she had, some years they lived, the things that happened around them, but he also thought of the table, kept thinking about where it was and couldn’t remember, the size of the room, what wall it leaned against and the things themselves that lay on it. His day had been long, the streets hot, filled with other sweating bodies, his feet ached and names repeated themselves in his head. Two stories he had read years ago stuck to him, and as he looked at the bottle and the woman he thought about the men that wrote them, saw the men themselves, cold, in long overcoats with cigarettes, hunched over coffee in some diner, their rooms filled with smoke, crumpled papers, completely removed from what they were writing about, the people they wrote of never imagining they were being written about, the idea that someone was recording the facts of their lives, the circumstances they lived in.

CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS • SPRING / SUMMER 2010

THE BOMB

NEW TITLE

THE BOMB BY HOWARD ZINN

As an active WWII bombardier returning from the HOWARD ZINN’S end of the war in Europe and preparing for combat PERSONAL, in Japan, Howard Zinn read the headline “Atomic H I S TORICAL, AND Bomb Dropped on Japan” and was glad—the war POLITICAL VIEWS ON would be over. “Like other Americans,” writes Zinn, “I had no idea what was going on at the higher THE SIGNIFICANCE OF levels, and had no idea what that ‘atomic bomb’ THE U.S. BOMBINGS had done to men, women, children in Hiroshima, OF ROYAN AND any more than I ever really understood what the HIROSHIMA bombs I dropped on European cities were doing to human flesh and blood.” During the war, Zinn had taken part in the aerial bombing of Royan, France, and in 1966, he went to Hiroshima, where he was invited to a “house of rest” where survivors of the bombing gathered. In this short and powerful book, the backstory of the making and use of the bomb, Zinn offers his deep personal reflections and political analysis of these events, and the profound influence they had in transforming him from an order-taking combat soldier to one of the greatest living anti-authoritarian, anti-war historians writing today. Zinn’s committed lifetime of teaching and writing is based in the belief that only by embracing the truth of history can ordinary people, rethinking their roles, find the possibility for redemption and change. Publication in August commemorates the 65th anniversary of the USA’s two atomic bombings of Japan. Howard Zinn is the author of many books, including A People’s History of the United States and A Power Governments Cannot Suppress.

“ZINN IS ONE OF THE MOST RESPONSIBLE, LIVELY, AND BRAVE COMMENTATORS ON U.S. HISTORY NOW LIVING.”—VIGGO MORTENSEN, O MAGAZINE ISBN: 978-0-87286-509-9 • $8.95, $9.95/CAN • 100PP AUGUST 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • HISTORY / POLITICAL SCIENCE

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NEW TITLE

PRISON/CULTURE PRISON/CULTURE EDITED BY SHARON E. BLISS,

Over two million individuals are behind bars NEARLY FIFTY in U.S. prisons, living in isolation from their A R T ISTS, POETS, AND families and their communities. Prison/Culture A C T IVISTS EXAMINE investigates the culture of incarceration as THE CONTEMPORARY an integral part of the American experience through a compilation of stunning and often PRISON SYSTEM heartrending art by inmates, as well as artists THROUGH on the outside, such as Sandow Birk and Keith HEARTRENDING ART Antar Mason, who address incarceration, crimiAND WRITING nal profiling, wrongful conviction, prison labor, and the death penalty. The book also includes essays on prisons and prison art by Angela Davis and Mike Davis, and poetry by Amiri Baraka, Ericka Huggins, Luis Rodriguez, Sesshu Foster, and more.

Art from Prison/Culture

ISBN: 978-1-931404-11-2 • $19.95, $21.95/CAN • 96PP • 80 COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS • APRIL 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK ART / POLITICAL SCIENCE

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KEVIN B. CHEN, AND STEVE DICKISON

CITY LIGHTS PUBLISHERS • SPRING / SUMMER 2010

TRANCE ARCHIVE

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TRANCE ARCHIVE New and Selected Poems BY ANDREW JORON CITY LIGHTS SPOTLIGHT SERIES NO.

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Since his post-9/11 essay on poetry and politics, LIKE A CHANCE “The Emergency,” Andrew Joron has been regardE N C OUNTER BETWEEN ed as one of American poetry’s most profound EINSTEIN AND practitioners. Trance Archive, Volume 3 in our City BRETON, TRANCE Lights Spotlight series, draws on over 20 years of Joron’s work, tracing his trajectory from his early ARCHIVE EMBRACES days as a science fiction poet to his later fusion PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, of surrealist romanticism and language poetry AND SURREALISM materialism into what he calls “speculative lyric.” Infused with radical politics, Joron’s poetry takes inspiration from chaos and complexity theory, and reflects personal associations ranging from anarchist philosopher Paul Feyerabend to surrealist mystic Philip Lamantia. Featuring long out-of-print work as well as new poems, Trance Archive affirms Joron’s place among major contemporary poets.

“ANDREW JORON IS A MODERN-DAY ALCHEMIST. HE’S NOT INTERESTED IN SOLIPSISTIC SELF-ENRICHMENT; RATHER, HE PRACTICES THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION. THOUGH ALIGNED WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY IMPULSE BEHIND SURREALISM—THE CONJURING OF PARADOX TO EXPAND THE POSSIBLE—HE APPRECIATES THE MOVEMENT’S AESTHETIC LIMITATIONS AND HAS SOMEHOW, MIRACULOUSLY, MANAGED TO CREATE POETRY ATTUNED TO MATERIALIST CRITIQUES OF LANGUAGE WITHOUT ABANDONING ANY OF THE ART’S MYSTERY AND METAPHYSICAL INQUIRY.”—NOAH ELI GORDON, BOOKFORUM

A graduate of UC Berkeley, where he majored in Philosophy of Science, Andrew Joron is the author of five previous collections of poetry—Force Fields (1987), Science Fiction (1992), The Removes (1999), Fathom (2003), and The Sound Mirror (2008)—and The Cry at Zero: Selected Prose (2007). His translations from the German include Literary Essays of Ernst Bloch (1998) and Richard Anders’ The Footsteps of One Who Has Not Stepped Forth (1999). In 2004 he published Neo-Surrealism; or, the Sun at Night: Transformations of Surrealism in American Poetry 1966-1999. He plays theremin in the improvisational trio Free Rein. ISBN: 978-0-87286-530-3 • $14.95, $15.95/CAN • 120PP APRIL 2010 • TRADE PAPERBACK • POETRY

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