The Progressive Magazine 2009
SELECT A YEAR: 2009 2008 2007 2006
January 2009 Volume 73, Number 1
Comment The Great Recession
Dave Zirin finds precedent for protesting the Mormon Church.
Adolph Reed Jr. shreds Obama’s centrist credentials.
How to Push Obama John Nichols
The way to influence him is to speak to America.
Finding Our Collective Voice Ruth Conniff
Is it too early to be in protest mode?
Poking the Racist Beehive Chip Berlet
Obama’s election is already provoking a backlash.
Growing Food and Justice Barbara Miner
Meet Will Allen, urban farmer extraordinaire.
Bill McKibben Diane Silver
“In the United States, cheap fossil fuel has eroded communities,” says the environmentalist. “We’re the first people with no real practical need for each other.”
Poem Stephen Ajay
Kate Clinton confirms that the recession is making us all let go.
Sonia Shah reviews More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, by Robert Engelman.
2008 Index Ina Lukas
Jim Hightower marvels at the multiple handouts to Wall Street.
February 2009 Volume 73, Number 2
Comment Restraining Israel
Dave Zirin throws an elbow at Obama’s Education Secretary.
What Is NorthCom Up To? Matthew Rothschild
The U.S. Northern Command now has a dedicated fighting unit—fresh from Baghdad—for dispatching here at home. Is that even legal?
Being Kind to the Land Wendell Berry
True farmers respect a home place that is healthful and fertile.
Latin America Breaks Free Benjamin Dangl
Washington no longer calls the shots.
Careful with Your Old TV Set Julia Scott
By forcing Americans to upgrade their televisions, the government is creating “the biggest e-waste tsunami in history.”
To Kill or Not to Kill Tyler E. Boudreau
A former Marine who served in Iraq reveals the cold-heartedness of today’s corps.
Naomi Klein Matthew Rothschild
“We don’t have a right to be disappointed” by Obama, says the author of The Shock Doctrine.
Will Durst is grateful for the new guy with strange beliefs—like diplomacy and science.
Poem Rafael Campo
Interrogation Room of One’s Own Matt Pascarella
The performance artist Coco Fusco presents women who torture.
Jason Mark reviews American Earth, edited by Bill McKibben, and The Green Collar Economy, by Van Jones.
Jim Hightower can’t resist some parting shots at Bush.
March 2009 Volume 73, Number 3
Comment Nationalize the Banks
Eduardo Galeano denounces Israel’s destruction of Gaza.
Dave Zirin watches Gaza bleed into sports arenas.
Ruth Conniff monitors the implosion of conservatism.
Luis J. Rodríguez makes a case for the special role of the arts.
Barbara Ehrenreich traces the rise of the Nouveau Poor.
Toxic Prison Labor Anne-Marie Cusac
Computer recycling facilities behind bars are causing serious health problems.
Feature
Fighting Foreclosures Colin Asher
Activists and homeowners are joining hands in Boston.
Interview
Arundhati Roy David Barsamian
“It might be easier to be an American when there isn’t an American empire,” says the author and activist.
Culture
Kate Clinton sees good omens in Obama’s actions.
Poem Martín Espada
Books Eleanor J. Bader reviews All You Can Eat: How Hungry Is America? by Joel Berg.
Jim Hightower exposes Timothy Geithner’s flaws.
April 2009 Volume 73, Number 4
This collector's item takes year by year through The Progressive, starting in 1909.
The editors have culled the best and pithiest items from each volume every published.
You'll be amazed at the names: James Addams and Helen Keller to Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis; from Upton Sinclair to George Orwell and Norman Thomas; from Huey Long to Adlai Stevenson, JFK, Hubert Humphrey, Gaylord Nelson and Paul Wellstone; from James Weldon Johnson to A. Philip Randolph and James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr; from Belle Case La Follette to Helen Gahagan Douglas to Gloria Steinem, June Jordan, and Molly Ivins; from Noam Chomsky to Edward Said to Howard Zinn, and many more!
Special 100th anniversary issue of the The Progressive (132 pages).
May 2009 Volume 73, Number 5
Editor’s Note
Letters
Comment One Step Backward
No Comment
Columns
Ruth Conniff watches Tim Geithner get bewildered.
Dave Zirin hits it around with Pete Rose.
On the Line
Cover
Changing Obama’s Mindset Howard Zinn
Obama has to be pulled in the right direction.
Features
Paid Sick Leave Pays Off Barbara Miner
With a victory in a Milwaukee referendum, the movement is now national.
Window Dressing in Iraq David Enders and Alaa Majeed
The U.S. military is doing the bare minimum—and sometimes less—when it comes to abiding by the Status of Forces Agreement.
The Myth of the Efficient Car Alec Dubro
The problem with the car is the car.
A One-Woman AIDS Campaign Violet Law
Meet Dr. Gao Yaojie, who spreads the word about HIV in China at great personal risk.
Interview
Rajendra Pachauri Amitabh Pal
“The U.S. has lost a lot of time—the world has lost a lot of time—in moving from fossil fuels to alternatives,” says the Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist.
Culture
Will Durst says steroids, schmeroids—let’s play ball.
Poem Timothy Liu
Books Matthew Rothschild reviews Plunder and Blunder, by Dean Baker; The Great Financial Crisis, by John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff; and The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, by Paul Krugman.
Jim Hightower decries the surge in private contractors in Afghanistan.
June 2009 Volume 73, Number 6
June 2009 Volume 73, Number 6
Editor’s Note
Letters
Comment No Impunity
No Comment
Columns
Ruth Conniff examines Obama’s mixed record.
Dave Zirin bemoans the price of a baseball game.
Luis J. Rodríguez finds poverty—and beauty—on the border.
On the Line
Cover
Afghan War Stories
A Friend Falls in Afghanistan by Amy Yee
When someone you care about gets killed in war, it transcends politics.
Uprooting an Afghan Village by Anand Gopal
U.S. and NATO attacks send people packing.
Features
GM Ghost Town by Roger Bybee
The car company’s shortsightedness and Obama’s hardline attitude bring anxiety.
Shepard Fairey, Citizen Artist by Antonino D’Ambrosio
The maker of the iconic “Hope” poster has turned frustration and anger into inspiration.
Interview
Robert Redford by Matthew Rothschild
“Art is the language of the soul,” says the Hollywood icon and activist. “That’s why it’s important to subsidize it.”
Culture
Kate Clinton debates her partner on whether to get married.
Poem Ellen Bass
Books Ben Adler reviews 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, by James Carville, with Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza.
Jim Hightower watches the Democrats boil off all the populism.
July 2009 Volume 73, Number 7
Editor’s Note
Letters
Comment A Bankrupt Move
Columns
Eduardo Galeano wonders why justice is blind in one eye.
Dave Zirin tackles the great Jim Brown.
Matthew Rothschild tracks the FBI infiltration of an Iowa City protest group.
On the Line
Cover
A Just Cause ≠ A Just War Howard Zinn
Features
Off on Vacation Elizabeth DiNovella
Gandhi’s Grandson Amitabh Pal
The scion of the global icon carries on the family tradition.
A Literary Bust in Jerusalem Matthew Rothschild
Israeli security forces disrupt a Palestinian book festival.
Don’t Ask Permission Representative Keith Ellison
Our Progressive Vision Representative Dennis Kucinich
We’ve Got the Power Dolores Huerta
Interview
Representative Marcy Kaptur Ruth Conniff
“The people who helped elect President Obama have to help him even more now,” says the senior-most woman in Congress. “Because he’s in with a lot of barracudas.”
Culture
Poem Frederick Foote
Will Durst says Dick Cheney and torture are redundant.
Books Richard Greenwald reviews The Woman Behind the New Deal, by Kirstin Downey.
Jim Hightower traces the roots of genuine populism.
Tags:
Receive a full year of the print and digital versions of The Progressive magazine for only $14.97.
