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Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class (American Encounters/Global Interactions)
$23.95
NECLAS 2009 Annual Meeting, Union College, Schenectady, NY, October 3.

Best Book Prize 2009, awarded to Aviva Chomsky, Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class. Durham and London: Duke University Press (2008).

That labor is typically devalued and that workers tend to not organize, when their choices are low-wages or no job, are not revelations. Why these continue to be persistent features in Latin America, the United States, and the rest of world do demand our scholarly and critical attention, especially in these times of out-of-control CEO salaries and bonuses and diminishing wages and benefits for workers. This year's NECLAS 2009 Best Book Prize winning entry, Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class by Aviva Chomsky is an historical study that eloquently and forcefully explains why, as she puts it, "a race to the bottom" (12, 294) for workers' wages and rights is taking place.

This book--about globalization's impact on labor and a critique of globalization from perspective of labor history--is unreservedly deserving of the NECLAS Best Book prize. The volume is clearly written and very well narrated--Chomsky knows how to tell a story. Besides being fully researched, Chomsky's interdisciplinary approach brings into its purview an analysis of Colombian and U.S. histories that helps us learn, "What are the circumstances that have allowed workers to improve their conditions, and how can we as a society work to increase those spaces, and the chances, for workers to have a meaningful voice in their workplaces and communities" (301). This humanistic and social justice perspective only makes the book more urgent and compelling.

Linked Labor Histories is an impressive, path-breaking study of labor history that demonstrates how globalization has been a long-standing process throughout the 20th century and inextricably linked to the beginnings of industrialization. She interweaves history with parallel contemporary cases while retaining a wonderfully comparative outlook replete with incisive analysis. By focusing on the New England textile industry, immigrant labor, and the role of multinational corporations in Colombia such as UFCO (bananas), Drummond and Exxon (coal), the AFL-CIO, and the IMF, Chomsky meticulously shows how labor costs are kept low and workers' efforts to successfully organize are often thwarted. But even such failures, she argues, are the very seeds of success and improvements to workers' lives.

The individual testimonies that she places at the end of each chapter add a beautifully humane touch to the march of impersonal historical forces. Moreover, the book has urgency; its issues are very much with us today. And it is the farthest thing possible from a purely academic or scholastic piece of work. This is truly excellent, historiography at its best, and in the venerable traditions of general-interest history writing.

Walter E. Little
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
University at Albany, SUNY

Linked In Spirit - Limited Edition by Larry Poncho Brown 15"x20" Art Print Poster
$200.00
Linked In Spirit - Limited Edition by Larry Poncho Brown Image Size 15"x20" Fine Art Reproduction on High Quality Art Paper. Retails for $200.00 or more.

The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
$19.99
This is a well-written resource that I think should be a part of every collection. I find that everyone in the family (including myself) opens it to look up one thing and then ends up reading page after page for enjoyment. (Yes, we are kinda geeky like that!)

The book is well-organized and indexed. It include color coding to indicate the region of the world where the events took place and timelines on almost every page. The book also includes bits of science and a lot of culture which helps to make it both well-rounded and intriguing. Although it is intended as a reference book, it contains enough interesting information and gorgeous pictures to make it enjoyable reading.

My son who reads on a 2nd grade level is able to read much of the book and is not intimidated by it -which is partly due to a nice (comfortable) font size and the illustrations on every page.

I am THRILLED with our purchase of this book!

Fine-particle Mn and other metals linked to the introduction of MMT into gasoline in Sydney, Australia: Results of a natural experiment [An article from: Atmospheric Environment]
$8.95
This digital document is a journal article from Atmospheric Environment, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Using a combination of accelerator-based ion beam methods we have analysed PM"2"."5 particulates for a suite of 21 species (H, C, Na, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Pb) to evaluate the contribution to Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) air associated with the introduction of MMT as a replacement for lead. MMT was discontinued in 2004. Teflon filters representing continuous sampling for a 7 year period from 1998 to 2004 were analysed from two sites: one from Mascot, a suburb close to the Central Business District [CBD (n=718)] and a high trafficked area, and the other, a relatively rural (background) setting at Richmond, ~20km west of the CBD (n=730). Manganese concentrations in air at the background site increased from a mean of 1.5-1.6ngm^-^3 to less than 2ngm^-^3 at the time of greatest MMT use whereas those at Mascot increased from about 2 to 5ngm^-^3. From the maximum values, the Mn showed a steady decrease at both sites concomitant with the decreasing use of MMT. Lead concentrations in air at both sites decreased from 1998 onwards, concomitant with the phase out of leaded gasoline, attained in 2002. Employing previously determined elemental signatures it was possible to adjust effects from season along with auto emissions and soil. A high correlation was obtained for the relationship between Mn in air and lead replacement gasoline use (R^2 0.83) and an improved correlation for Mn/ Al+Si+K and lead replacement gasoline use (R^2 0.93). In addition, using Mn concentrations normalized to background values of Al+Si+K or Ti to account for the lithogenically derived Mn, the proportion of anthropogenic Mn was approximately 70%. The changes for Mn and Pb detected in the particulates are attributed to the before-during-after use of MMT and decreasing use of lead in gasoline. The values measured in Sydney air are well below the reference concentration of 50ng Mnm^-^3. The incremental increases in air, however, are larger than expected given the limited use of MMT only in lead replacement gasoline and high quality monitoring should be undertaken in countries where MMT is used in all gasoline.