Guernica: May 15th, 2009

From the Nomads Series by John Sevigny

Here are the highlights from the May 15th issue of Guernica:

100 years after Lewis W. Hine started work on his Ellis Island portraits, John Sevigny captures Latin American immigrants, hoping to give faces to the catch-all masses lambasted by Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan, who equate immigration with crime, in Nomads.

The Genocide Myth: In his latest book, Mahmood Mamdani attacks the Save Darfur Coalition as ahistorical hype-peddlers, and argues that the conflict in Darfur is more about land, power, and the environment than it is directly about race.

Standing Before History: On May 26, Shell goes to court on its role in the 1995 execution of iconic Nigerian writer & environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa. His son, and a bestselling novelist with a new book about the case, discuss his legacy, Nigeria now, and the landmark trial.

In Praise of Failure: Citing French literary gods like Proust and Moliere, the French prankster extraordinaire, in a new translation, asks, “Isn’t it hight time we started thinking about all the crap good writers make?”

Gabrielle Calvocoressi gives too-late advice to a father in Acknowledge, 1964.

Jennifer Pieroni contributes three short-short stories that take place near the beach, where people inflict damage or are hurt by the world around them.