WAND - Women's Action for New Directions

Happy New Year! Welcome to the year of the pie.
Bake up some new federal budget priorities.
Also check out our Staff picks! | March 2008

DayDream Believers
Fred Kaplan argues that the Cold War’s end and 9/11 persuaded President Bush and his advisers to unilaterally impose America’s political will on the world, while remaining blind to the military and diplomatic fiascoes that followed. Rumsfeld’s "Revolution in Military Affairs," a doctrine touting supposedly omnipotent mobile forces and high-tech smart weapons, convinced Pentagon officials that Iraq could be pacified without a large force or a reconstruction plan.

The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict
This sobering study by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes casts a spotlight on expense items that have been hidden from the U.S. taxpayer, including not only big-ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans—for the rest of their lives.

Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide To Creating Groups That Can Solve Problems and Change the World, by Michael Jacoby Brown
This book provides detailed information to help you build a new group or strengthen an old one to solve problems.

Peace in Our Lifetime
Howard Zinn, Personal Review - Summer 2004
"...PEACE IN OUR LIFETIME offers encouragement and inspiration...it presents thoughtful and practical advice for ending the cycle of violence..."

Women A Celebration of Strength
From Legal Momentum: A fact-filled, boldly designed interactive book with surprises on every page, including pop-ups and our nation's most important documents on women's history.

Be the Change!
Our very own Amanda Hendler Voss (who leads our Faith in Action program and just gave birth to a beeyootiful baby) is quoted in this book several times. It's filled with stories of everyday citizens, celebrities, and high-profile leaders – people who have made a powerful difference in their communities around the world. Jim Lehrer calls it "a book that could change your life."

Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer: by Helen Caldicott
From Booklist: Never one to mince words, renowned physician and activist Caldicott presents exhaustive evidence to refute the now-resurgent claim that nuclear power is the solution to global warming. Eschewing hyperbole and speculation, Caldicott diligently presents the facts about the grave problems attendant on nuclear power.

Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism
Our good friend David Cortright has done it again, this time producing a book that's lively and sobering at the same time.
"David Cortright is a life-long activist and respected scholar. In Gandhi and Beyond, he convincingly shows the power of nonviolence as a philosophy of life, not just a method of social action... I commend this book to all who are seeking an alternative to violence." —Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics and editor of Sojourners

Ah, but now you can get every little thing you need on amazon.com
They've opened a grocery store, where you can buy all sorts of nonperishable items. And they have a fine selection of organic and natural products. And WAND gets a little cut! How can you beat that?

Don't wait til 2008 to see a woman as president
Enjoy the sight of the lovely Geena Davis as the leader of the free world on "Commander in Chief."

Imaginary Weapons - A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld, by Sharon Weinberger
From Publishers Weekly: The Pentagon's fascination with fringe science is old news, writes veteran defense reporter Weinberger in this incisive study, but the Bush administration has pushed it to new levels of wackiness.
From us: This is one cool book, if you can stomach the reports of politics before science -- or humanitarianism.

Taking The Long Way- The new album from those kick ass Dixie Chicks
From Amazon.com: Produced by the celebrated Rick Rubin, their new record impresses both as beautiful sonic tapestry (peppered with myriad Beatlesque hallmarks) and forthright yet vulnerable portrait of three women shaken by the personal and political events of the past few years. As they make clear in the defiant "Not Ready to Make Nice," they still smart over the backlash from their 2003 Bushwhacking.

Living with War- The new album from Neil Young
From Amazon.com: Even if you don't agree with Neil Young's politics, you can't help but be daunted by the intersection of his genius and ire on his second album in less than seven months. It is the very rare artist who is able to channel indignation and moral disgust in such a coherent and forceful way--without sacrificing any of the vivid imagery, passion, or the high level of musicality that we have come to expect from him over the past four decades.

"Why We Fight" -- Great Movie on DVD
"Why We Fight" is the provocative new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America’s reasons for entering World War II, "Why We Fight" surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how – and answering why – a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want - and What To Do About It
From Publishers Weekly: A straightforward agenda by political activists Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner advocates a seriously thought-out, workable scheme for empowering mothers at home and in the workplace. The book is snappily structured in chapters that correspond to the letters making up the word mother: M is for "Maternity/Paternity Leave"; O for "Open Flexible Work"; T for "TV You Choose and Other After-School Programs"; H for "Healthcare for All Kids"; E for "Excellent Child Care"; and R for "Realistic and Fair Wages."

House of War, by James Caroll
From Booklist: Carroll is the author of the 1996 National Book Award-winning memoir An American Requiem, and his latest impressive offering may garner similar tributes. His father was a military man who worked in the Pentagon, so as a young boy he was familiar with the labyrinthine corridors of that massive building. Like the White House, the Pentagon and what it refers to go far beyond just the name of the building; these "terms" connote entire institutions, and, as is obvious from this book's title, Carroll's domain here is the U.S. military.

The New American Militarism, by Andrew Bacevich
Andrew Day, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Bacevich has an authoritative background...his judgments and his point of view are evenhanded...Bacevich's analysis is acute and unsparing."

Overthrow : America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, by Stephen Kinzer
From The Washington Post's Book World:
"Do you think George W. Bush and the neoconservatives inducted "regime change" into American foreign policy's hall of fame? Think again. Long before Iraq, U.S. presidents, spies, corporate types and their acolytes abroad had honed the art of deposing foreign governments."

Urgent Message From Mother: Gather The Women, Save The World
"Bolen shows us how the cult of masculinity is endangering us all. Women and men are equally human and fallible but at least women don't have our masculinity to prove -- and that alone may make us the main saviors of this fragile Spaceship Earth."
-- Glorian Steinem

Women and the U.S. Budget: Where the Money Goes and What You Can Do About It | A new book by Jane Midgley
The national budget represents the common resources of the people of the United States. Yet only a handful of experts understand the full impact of budget policy on the American people.

Book offers "50 ways to improve women's lives"
WAND Executive Director Susan Shaer joins other women luminaries in offering practical, exciting tips for action.

The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer: and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race by Priscilla McMillan
Harvard historian McMillan focuses on the nine-year span in the late 1940s and early '50s when Oppenheimer, who had spearheaded the development of the atom bomb, was transformed from a hero into an alleged security risk, accused of spying for the Soviets.

Book features WAND activists and actions
On February 15, 2003 an estimated ten million people throughout the world demonstrated against war on Iraq. World public opinion was named by journalists and policymakers as the "second superpower."
David Cortright tells the story in his new book, "A Peaceful Superpower: The Movement against War in Iraq," and includes photos and stories of WAND activists.

Alan Cranston: "The Sovereignty Revolution"
From Susan Shaer, WAND Executive Director: "I had the honor for several years of co-chairing the Nuclear Abolition Project with Senator Cranston. He was a gentlemen, yet passionate and articulate about pragmatic steps to world peace. He served at the highest tables of power, and continued to serve all mankind up until his death. When I think controlling nuclear weapons is an overwhelming task, I think of the Senator and his never-ending search for paths to disarmament."


			©2008 WAND Inc.