Michael Workman

Released in commemoration of the Progressive's ninety-fifth anniversary, the twenty-odd politically topical interviews collected together in this volume were all conducted by David Barsamian. Not surprisingly, each of Barsamian's interviews tends to read like a sermon to the converted. All of the usual names are here: Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn. It's hard to not take pleasure in his interview with the ever-loveable, always sardonic Kurt Vonnegut, or to approach with a strange sort of wonder his decision to sit with actor Danny Glover.

Barsamian's clear and distinctly ideological interview style's not necessarily a bad thing. Political leftists, for instance, will appreciate the opportunity to hear their side of the usual arguments above the deafening din of patriotic hurrahs. Yet, it's hard to get over the sinking feeling when Barsamian fails again and again to challenge his interviewees, preferring instead to take the comfortable position of railing against common enemies: cops, the McDonaldization of the world, the Bush administration and poverty in general. All good things to argue against, but where are the solutions? Where the revolutionary ideas? Few of these subjects seem to have felt the need to propose any.

As a commemorative volume, perhaps it's appropriate that a look back at the experiences responsible for forging historically progressive points-of-view take precedence. Now-deceased former Columbia University professor Edward Said (who appears here twice), for instance, in an easy-breezy walk down memory lane, recalls an early protest at which he was knocked unconscious by riot police. Only moments before, he describes being surrounded by throngs of chanting protestors who may or may not have been marching for women's rights. When he woke up, the streets were clear, as if nothing had ever happened. The anecdote's almost an allegory of the sadly diminished state of progressive politics, where despite all the rich history, not enough thought's been given to the problems of our troubled present.

Louder Than Bombs: Interviews From the Progressive Magazine

By David Barsamian

South End Press, $16, 170 pages

(2004-05-18)

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