"Mom, they want you to help at a bake sale so my school can buy toilet paper." And so it begins. The school board explains there's just no money, not for books and certainly not for toilet paper. The reason is explained in the following 62 pages Addicted to War: Why the US can't kick militarism. A mix of text, cartoons and photos, the book is a clear, concise and thoroughly referenced journey through the history and future of US militarism. From chapters on "Manifest Destiny" - America's self assurance of a divine mandate to take whatever we desire - through the "War on Terrorism," illustrating how "the true costs of the wars the US has waged overseas have been largely hidden... the death and destruction was all overseas. That changed on September 11." Given the current drumbeat, the chapter on "Militarism and the Media," could hardly be more timely - like the 1991 statement by Richard Haas, a member of Bush Sr.'s National Security Council about the first Gulf War, "[Television was] our chief tool in selling our policy." The one chapter I found dissatisfying was, not surprisingly, the one on "Resisting Militarism." With everything else being so clear, I was disappointed not to find the answer laid out in three easy steps. Sadly, I was simply reminded of the importance of early opposition, no matter how marginalized. The American warlords might be able to conduct a short, domestically painless war, but as Vietnam era president Lyndon Johnson said "The weakest chink in our armor is American public opinion. Our people won't stand firm in the face of heavy losses, and they can bring down the government." Early opposition might not be able to stop a war, but it can facilitate and maximize hesitant opposition and shorten the war. It's not much of an answer, but it's a start. If you've got a class, family or friends who you want to clue in or just want to brush up on your anti-war understanding this is a book worth looking at. And maybe we can start writing the as yet unfinished chapter on "Retiring Militarism." --Addicted to War was written by Joel Andrus and published by AK Press, www.akpress.org--Troy Skeels

I finally got around to reading Tonatiuh's People John Ross's "Novel of the Mexican Cataclysm." It's "finally" because veteran journalist, Mexican correspondent and poet Ross set the novel during Mexico's tumultuous 2000 Presidential campaign. Published before the fact, and set in a universe not quite our own, a sort of NAFTAized magical realism. The events are recognizable, if only a bit different. Ross himself is present in his alter ego, Mickey Raus, a stringer for the North Coast Variety News, a California weekly on the perpetual verge of folding. Newt Gingrich is interim US president, having taken over following the tragic simultaneous crashes of Air Force One and Air Force Two. The long ruling PRI is the PRO - Party of the Organic Revolution. GE-DisneyMex controls the news and shadowy groups are reviving Aztec ritual sacrifice.

The story follows Raus, as he drinks and stumbles along the campaign trail of underdog presidential candidate Doctor Tonatiuh Galvan, son of a revolutionary general and national hero whose ghost wanders ridden with remorse over having created the PRO. Tonatiuh is named for the Aztec god of the Sun, and is proclaimed as the "Sixth Sun," by his supporters. His presidency, the sixth sun is prophesied as the resurgence of the pre-conquest culture.

The PRO has other ideas. The competing factions of the long ruling party manage to take time away from their internal struggles to try and thwart Tonatiuh's grass roots campaign.

Ross has a well practiced sense of irony and a thorough knowledge of Mexico. A lot of the pleasure for me was trying to read through the lines and figure out who's persona had been changed slightly, which characters were composite, and which events were completely absurd. That last one is harder than it ought to be. It's not for everybody, but it's a good read for people interested in a long time American's picture of the Mexico behind the headlines. --Tonatiuh's People was published by Cinco Puentes Press in 1998. --TS