Gowanus Books

Short stories, essays and poetry from 'parts of the world where the Internet is not yet so strongly entrenched but where the human imagination most assuredly is...'
-Publishers Weekly

"A thought-provoking mélange of essays and short stories…by authors who will be enriching us for years to come."
-Foreword Magazine

What's the real reason for what happened in Ferguson, and in Baltimore, Staten Island and so many other places?

Is economic disenfranchisement at the heart of it: deliberate denial to African Americans of the main source of wealth and social advancement -- home ownership? Read this and decide for yourself. "For many decades throughout the United States, the Federal Housing Administration inaugurated under the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt mandated that housing developments it stood behind — and for decades most new developments required FHA backing — be denied to prospective black homeowners...." Read the rest of this article.


Own your own copies of the best of the Web's premier journal of international writing, now available in two handsome volumes! Short stories, essays and poetry from 'parts of the world where the Internet is not yet so strongly entrenched but where the human imagination most assuredly is...' -Publishers Weekly "A thought-provoking mélange of essays and short stories…by authors who will be enriching us for years to come." -Foreword Magazine What's the real reason for what happened in Ferguson, and in Baltimore, Staten Island and so many other places? Is economic disenfranchisement at the heart of it: deliberate denial to African Americans of the main source of wealth and social advancement -- home ownership? Read this and decide for yourself. "For many decades throughout the United States, the Federal Housing Administration inaugurated under the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt mandated that housing developments it stood behind — and for decades most new developments required FHA backing — be denied to prospective black homeowners...." Read the rest of this article.		An International Online Journal of Idea & Observation Winner of the MILKWEED AWARD We're Back! A Word from the Publisher... (NEW!) Dixie as the Third World *A Journey in the Back Country* Schocken Books Sourcebooks in Negro History By Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. What Olmsted found was decidedly not the South of Gone with the Wind. The Cotton Belt Olmsted traveled through on horseback, accompanied from his starting point in Bayou Sara, Mississippi, only by his dog, has more in common with the exploitative behavior of corporations in Third World nations today than with what we imagine the Old South to have been. Reviewed by Thomas J. Hubschman Read the full review. Reader, I Was that Woman The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Volumes I & II By Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell "I first saw her coming out of a covered cart, in very old-fashioned clothes, and looking very cold and miserable. She was coming to school at Ms. W___'s. When she appeared in the school room, her dress was changed, but just as old. She looked a little old woman...” Reviewed by Mary Anthropokalos Read the full review. A Diary of the Nazi Years I Will Bear Witness, 1933-1941 & 1942-1945 By Victor Klemperer There seem to be two distinct kinds of (Aryan) Germans in these diaries: Nazi thugs who descend on Jews’ apartments, beat up the old women and men and steal the butter off the table before trashing the place; and “ordinary” Germans, even officials like local police who, when they had to visit the Jews Houses, doffed their hats, shook hands, apologized for the intrusion and even offered words of reassurance. One wonders how this could be the same country, never mind the same city.... Reviewed by Thomas J. Hubschman Read the full review Gin and Polo Burmese Days By George Orwell The story doesn’t hang on some small character or cultural flaw, but takes in the entire situation, the indigenous culture versus the foreign culture, and holds them both up to an equal flame of scrutiny. No one is innocent, no one is honest, and though some are worse than others only one character escapes the ending with some dignity.... Reviewed by John McMahon Read the full review Out of Africa The African Witch by Joyce Cary Cary seems something of an anomaly if you consider the history of African fiction as written by non-Africans. While his viewpoint of the African community is an outsider’s, he does make an attempt to get inside the African’s skin and is one of the few non-African writers to try to do so sympathetically, albeit self-consciously.... Reviewed by Anjana Basu Read the full review The Emperor's Tailors A Reader's Manifesto by B.R. Myers Criticism of fiction writing has been hijacked by an ideology that defines literature in a way that has nothing to do with old-fashioned values like engaging characters, interesting plot or even simple entertainment. In fact, any writing that celebrates these elements is categorized as sub-literary or "genre." The result of this hijacking has been the canonization of a mediocrity lavishly praised for what anyone with common sense would regard as obscurity, wordiness, and plain old-fashioned dullness.... Reviewed by Thomas J. Hubschman Read the full review Past Issues of Gowanus All GOWANUS works are Copyright © by their respective authors. Issues may not be archived on any machine and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purpose without written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Gowanus are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher or editorial staff. Copyright (c) Thomas J. Hubschman 1997-2015