UPON A TIME – AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISTAKES BY JOHN HELMER
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SOVCOMPLOT – HOW PIRATES TRIED TO CAPTURE THE TREASURE
OF THE RUSSIAN SEAS, AND WERE CAUGHT OUT
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AUSTRALIAN FASCISM, HOW IT DESTROYED THE COURTS
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THE JACKALS’ WEDDING, AMERICAN POWER, ARAB REVOLT
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THE COMPLETE DANCES WITH BEARS COMIC BOOK
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From New York.
HITLER DIDN’T DIE IN BERLIN — HE MOVED TO MELBOURNE WHERE HE RUNS THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA — A TRUE COVID-19 THRILLER
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THE LIE THAT SHOT DOWN MH17
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SKRIPAL IN PRISON
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THE MAN WHO KNOWS TOO MUCH ABOUT RUSSIA
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UNCOVERING RUSSIA
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URBANMAN
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BRINGING THE WAR HOME: THE AMERICAN SOLDIER IN VIETNAM AND AFTER
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DRUGS AND MINORITY OPPRESSION
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Review:
Helmer begins by questioning both the popular wisdom and psychological theories about addiction, but this is not a wide open polemic like Szasz’ Ceremonial Chemistry. Instead this sociological analysis focuses on Helmer’s contention that narcotics use has for the most part been concentrated among the working class, and that the war on drugs is and always has been a form of class warfare. The second half of this argument is the most convincing. Tracing the rise of public concern over Chinese opium indulging, Mexican-American marijuana smoking, and Black cocaine and heroin addiction, Helmet levels a barrage of statistics to demonstrate a connection between campaigns to stamp out the drug menace and downturns in the business cycle and/or minority group inroads on a limited job market. Helmet isn’t as clear about why narcotics should be a primarily working class phenomenon. There are hypotheses–such as the frustration of unemployment and the flooding of the market by drug speculators (Chinese businessmen paid wages in opium during the mid 19th century), but the lack of information on hidden narcotics habits among the upper and middle classes makes the argument problematic. While he is an apparently prodigious researcher, the author doesn’t always define the exact scope of his argument and he extrapolates rather freely from his data. Obviously he is on to something.
Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.
THE DEADLY SIMPLE MECHANICS OF SOCIETY
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DRUG USE, THE LABOR MARKET, AND CLASS CONFLICT
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THE FACE OF THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES
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