Economics for Everyone

MARCH 30, 2010: I'd like to post links to several more very generous reviews of e4e that have been published in recent months.  Many thanks to all the reviewers for their interest in progressive economics pedagogy, and for their very kind words:

Simon Black reviewed the book for Canadian Dimension, Canada's most progressive newsmagazine.

The leading U.S. academic journal Labor Studies Journal recently carried a kind review of the book from Larry Savage.

Teachers' publication in two countries (Canada and New Zealand) have reviewed the book for their members: Larry French reviewed it for the OSSTF's journal Education Forum, and Ron Miller of the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers' Association reviewed it for that union's newsletter, the PPTA News.

(Incidentally, I recently spoke to a large group of PPTA delegates from across New Zealand at their annual conference.  What a fine organization they are.  The right-wing government of John Key here is trying to set up the teachers' unions (the PPTA, and their primary school counterpart, the NZEI) as the source of all evil in the world, with an utterly and transparently phony campaign of vilification around "national standards" and other issues of so-called "quality" in education.  Past efforts to "marketize" education in N.Z. have been a dismal failure -- leading inevitably to an incredibly destructive ghettoization of neighbourhoods and people.  But that won't stop Key & Co. from trying the same thing all over again -- all the more so if they can position the opposition of teachers' unions as a wedge issue with the voters.)

The Journal of Australian Political Economy published a long and detailed review of e4e by Tristan Ewins, an independent young scholar and blogger in Australia. Tristan is a wonderful, very dedicated thinker and activist who will make a difference in the world.  His article is more than a review -- it's a call to action.

Finally, here's a little tidbit that appeared on the entertaining EconSquare blog, courtesy of my good friend Luigi.

The folks at Pluto continue to work hard to arrange for translations of Economics for Everyone.  The latest agreement is particularly exciting: the book will be published in Turkish, by Yordam press -- a very principled and effective progressive imprint.  I will visit Turkey later this year, to speak at the International Conference on Political Economy in Kocaeli.  I hope to meet with Yordam and with some of the many progressive economists who are working in Turkey.  Other translations in the works include Korean, Chinese, and French.