Mud City Press

Book Reviews

Mud City Press is, at least in part, a literary endeavor. Along with our essays on environmental matters, short stories, and novels, we offer reviews of books old and new. Our literary editor is a salty, iconoclastic fellow who sails the Seas of Read with a wary eye out for the meaningful and profound. Below are his thoughts on books he feels are worth a look or, perhaps, a revisiting.

Along with the work of our in-house editor, Mud City Press also includes reviews by contributing writer Ed O"Rourke, an environmental consultant from Houston, Texas.

Table of Contents

BOOK REVIEWS:
THE DISPOSSESSED
Ursula Le Guin wrote many noteworthy pieces of science fiction, but this one is her masterpiece.
THE FINAL EMPIRE
William Kötke's visonary classic is now out in a second edition. Read review. Access entire book online.
EATING FOSSIL FUELS
Dale Allen Pfeiffer adds an important corollary to the thesis of peak oil.
OSWALD'S TALE
Norman Mailer uses a masterful psychological portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald to re-visit Dealey Plaza, November 22, 1963.
SUSTAINABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS: The Post Petrol Paradigm
Michael Richards details what is necessary to create a sustainable world as we transition out of the age of oil.
GARDEN PLANET
William Kötke takes a clear clean look at rebuilding after the collapse of empire.
FILM REVIEWS:
WHAT A WAY TO GO
T.S. Bennett and Sally Erickson's documentary "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire" is a grim and emotional view of our world through the lens of peak oil, climate change, and population overshoot.
REVIEWS BY ED O'ROURKE:
PLAN B 3.0: MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION
Lester R. Brown, one of the most intelligent and outspoken advocates for planet Earth, lays out his latest plan for saving civilization from ourselves.
THE GREAT TURNING: From Empire to Earth Community
This is David C. Korten's latest and most important book, verifying that, "We are the ones we have been waiting for."
THE SECRET HISOTRY OF THE WAR ON CANCER
Devra Davis recounts the history of manufacturer's hiding or deliberately obscuring the harmful effects of their products.
OUR FINAL HOUR
Great Britain's top astrophysicist, Sir Martin Rees, issues a "a scientist's warning: How terror, error, and environmental disaster threaten humankind's future in this century–on Earth and beyond."
NONVIOLENCE: TWENTY-FIVE LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY OF A DANGEROUS IDEA
Mark Kurlansky recounts the history of conscientious objection in America.
HELL AND HIGH WATER: Global Warming–The Solution and the Politics–And What We Should Do
Joseph Romm gives a detailed look at climate change and what we can do about it.
CRADLE TO CRADLE: Remaking the Way We Make Things
William McDonough and Michael Braungart tell us how to detoxify the things we manufacture.
WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD
David C. Korten provides a perspective on the influence of large corporations in twenty-first century society.
HEAT: HOW TO STOP THE PLANET FROM BURNING
British Journalist George Monbiot offers his ideas on how Great Britain can do her part in fighting climate change.
NEMESIS: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
Chalmers Johnson gives us a look inside the CIA in the third book of his Blowback Trilogy.

Many of the essays, stories, and reviews at Mud City Press are formated as ADOBE PDF files. If you don't have ADOBE's Acrobat Reader on your computer, you may download their free software at the ADOBE website.