The term “banana republic” has become a cliche to describe economic imperialism throughout history, but the legacy of colonialism persists in Latin America today. The tradition of predatory capitalism echoed in the recent death of Miguel Angel González Ramírez, a member of the Izabal banana workers’ union SITRABI in Guatemala.

The title, Who Are We, signals a questioning about identity and begins an exploration of its “vexed terrain.” Gary Younge, columnist for the Guardian and The Nation and the author of two previous books, lifts our understanding of identity from the taken-for-granted where it is too often treated as a fixed and done thing. Instead, Younge brings us into layers of our identities from micro to macro, from the personal to the political, revealing paradoxes both in how we know ourselves and how others (too often wrongly) ascribe identity to us.

A government can say they are taking a holistic approach to something like the ‘war on terror’ but that does not mean that they are actually doing it. The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice has a new report out showing just how poorly the United States is doing in this area.

Calling attention to how the US government’s counter-terrorism measures impact women and sexual minorities (those in the LGBTI community), the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) has released a report that suggests the USG government cannot continue to claim it is taking a “holistic” approach to countering terrorism while at the same time failing to address how the so-called “war on terrorism” impacts women, men and sexual minorities differently.

As the economy fails to improve, as we chart the rise of the Tea Party and the Republican Party’s ability to express disdain for unemployment benefits without significant political cost, Americans lack a roadmap for the role of class and gender in the new American landscape. Joan Williams’ book, Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter (Harvard 2010), supplies that roadmap. The book creates an innovative framework for examining the relationship between law, work and family in the post-industrial economy.

Sure, the notion that Democrats are effeminate wimps that can’t be trusted to lead the country is still an idee fixe on the right (along with its logical corollary, that strength is inherently masculine). But to have it hurled by the likes of Angle and Paul, who can’t quite summon the courage to face the press, is just a bit much to take.

For junior high and high school, I went to an all-girls’ school, and occasionally rumors of a student being lesbian would float through the classrooms. I was included in those whisper streams, having already pushed the boundaries of our school uniform with heavy black eye shadow, rhinestone earrings and glittered oxford shoes. The words didn’t really bug me too much, since my friends were my friends and didn’t care, and I was secure in what I was doing and with whom. I was lucky.