By Gregory Elich
For nearly a century, baseball players were chained to their teams through contracts with a reserve clause. Under this clause, a player could not sell his services to another team after his contract expired. Only two options were open: a player could either sign another contract with the same team or retire. The effect of this arrangement was to hold player salaries down.
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By Gregory Elich
Bruce Cumings, The Korean War: A History. New York: Modern Library, 2010. Cloth, $24.00, pp 288.
Any time that a book appears by Bruce Cumings, one of our foremost scholars on Korea, it merits attention. His latest book, The Korean War, is particularly welcome given the recent sharp increase in tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The past informs the present, and perhaps nowhere is that more so than in the case of the two Koreas. While South Korea has changed dramatically since the advent of democracy, it is still the case that relations between the two Koreas continue to be influenced by the war.
By Gregory Elich
Michael Parenti has written a compelling work, whose themes are so relevant for our time: the essentiality of rational thought, the struggle to maintain a secular and tolerant society, and the abuse of religion for reactionary political and obscurant objectives. As Parenti points out, “That ‘old-time religion’ is still very much with us and having a considerable impact on U.S. political life.” And that impact has only grown in recent years.
By Gregory Elich
The Cold War and the New Imperialism: A Global History, 1945-2005, by Henry Heller. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2006. $65.00; paper, $22.95. Pp. 366
“History clearly has not ended,” writes Henry Heller in the preface to his book. “Indeed, the future has never been of greater concern to humanity, and yet it appears more confusing, less certain, and more pregnant with change than ever.” To shed light on the current world disorder, the author set himself the ambitious goal of describing and analyzing the primary political and economic events and trends of the entire post-WW II era. The purpose of this book, the author states, “is to order and explain the kaleidoscope of recent events.” While there may not be all that much that is new for the seasoned activist who has lived through most of the period described, the book is aimed more at a younger audience, thirsting for a deeper understanding of the current world situation. As such, this synthesis scores over most of its rivals through its broader scope and deeper understanding.
