United States – Page 3 – Mike Marqusee

Jun 18, 2006

Fateful triangle: India, Israel and the US

Palestine News, July 2006 Presumably because I’m Jewish and write about India, I received an invitation to a ‘Jewish-Indian Reception’ held earlier this year at Columbia University in New York. “Did you know that Jews have lived in India for over 2000 years without any signs of Anti-Semitism?” the invitation began. “Did you know that… Read more

Jan 4, 2006

Heart and soul

The Guardian, December 31 Review: Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown) If Sam Cooke had created nothing but the posthumously released “A Change Is Gonna Come”, the first masterpiece of socially conscious soul and one of the shining artistic legacies of the civil rights movement, he would still be… Read more

Nov 27, 2005

Revisiting recent history

WHEN Bill Clinton told a group of students in Dubai recently that the Iraq war had been a “big mistake”, champions of the current White House occupant were quick to accuse him of hypocrisy. For once, they had a strong point. To be clear, Clinton’s criticism was confined to the conduct of the war, not… Read more

Sep 18, 2005

Victimised by Katrina

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 18 September “Well, it thundered and lightenin’d and the wind began to blow There’s thousands of people ain’t got no place to go Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go Cause my house fell down and I can’t live there no more … ” BESSIE SMITH,… Read more

Jul 10, 2005

India: Embracing America

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 10 July THE love affair between the Indian and U.S. establishments continues to blossom. Recently, Defence ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Donald Rumsfeld signed a new 10-year deal on military cooperation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will shortly be a guest at the White House. Early next year, we’re told, President Bush… Read more

Jun 14, 2005

So what’s wrong with the USA?

Level Playing Field The Hindu, 12 June, 2005 It’s been an interesting experience, being an American abroad, especially since 9/11. Whether in Europe or south Asia, people gape with disbelief at what appears to be an unchained American empire, contemptuous of the rules that apply to others, murderously indifferent to the value of non-American life…. Read more

Feb 1, 2005

The passions of Woody Guthrie

The Guardian, February 2005 ‘Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie’ by Ed Cray, Norton, £18.99 Review by Mike Marqusee Had Woody Guthrie not been cremated, his spirit surely would have erupted from the grave in the early hours of 3rd November, as Republicans celebrating Bush’s re-election in Washington bellowed out his anthem,… Read more

Nov 25, 2004

Patriot Acts

The Nation, 13 December Review: Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt by Michael J Ybarra; Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth Century America by Ted Morgan; Treasonable Doubt: The Harry Dexter White Spy Case by R. Bruce Craig; Alger Hiss’s Looking Glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy by… Read more

Nov 1, 2004

Steve Earle: rockin’ more than the vote

Red Pepper, November 2004 From movie theatres to music arenas, popular culture is proving a major battleground in the presidential election. Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks and Pearl Jam have been touring the swing states and ‘rockin’ the vote’. The gigs are packed but there’s a debate about just what effect any of it has…. Read more

Oct 27, 2004

Geography of an American pastime

As the world focuses on the US presidential election, Americans focus on the World Series, the best-of-seven game competition to determine the champions of Major League Baseball. To European ears it’s always smacked of arrogance. How can a “world series” be contested among teams entirely drawn from one country – the USA (plus Montreal and… Read more