Trade

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By | January 01, 0001

Will Kindles kill libraries?

In this corner: libraries struggling to bring in patrons. In the other: Kindles looking to expand their market. Will it be a bloodbath, or can they hug it out?
This week, OverDrive itself will host its own conference to help libraries deal with a massive onslaught of patrons clamoring to check out books on their Kindles. Can embattled public institutions handle such a drastic change?
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | July 27, 2011

Rewriting the history of capitalism

Revisions
Brown University president Ruth Simmons has made it hard to ignore the school's ties to slavery — and by extension, the ties of well-known Providence families.
By MARION DAVIS | March 30, 2011

Taxi turmoil

Plus, controlling local health costs
Taxis are an under-appreciated and often little-considered component in urban mass-transit systems. They fill the gaps left by the MBTA and offer a sort of curb-to-curb, citywide Zipcar service.
By EDITORIAL | March 17, 2010

Interview: Raj Patel

Borrow his book
"The opposite of consumption is not thrift but generosity; if you look at happiness studies, we are happiest when we give things away rather than when we accumulate or when we don't spend."
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 30, 2009

Ted Kennedy's real record

A note on the 32-year-incumbent's accomplishments
When a 32-year incumbent seeks re-election, there is a long and well-documented record that can be examined. So it's disconcerting to note that admit all the miles of newsprint and videotape that have been expended covering the US Senate campaign, little has been said of what Ted Kennedy has or hasn't accomplished.
By AL GIORDANO | August 26, 2009

The Year in Green

Going Green
I don't know whether it was the sky-high gas prices or what, but Portland sure caught an eco-bug in 2008.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 23, 2008

Newport company touts grease as a gas competitor

Energy
While the return of gas prices to a more palatable level has stifled public discontent for now, it's hard to predict when the next oil shock may occur.
By CARROLL ANDREW MORSE | November 12, 2008

Pilgrims’ progress

Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies
India, 1838. The opium business is booming, and drug money fills the British Empire’s coffers, offsetting a trade imbalance created by imports of Chinese tea and silk. But now the emperor wants the drug trade stopped.
By CHRIS WANGLER | October 08, 2008

Are you paying too much for your heating bill?

Critics charge that lax regulation is inflating utility costs in Rhode Island
As winter approaches and energy prices rise worldwide, Rhode Islanders will wince when they open their monthly bills for electricity and natural gas.
By STEVEN STYCOS | September 10, 2008

Road worriers

Obscene gas prices, stolen equipment, broken vans, no sleep -- so why do bands still go on tour?
Right around this time 10 years ago, our van died in the desert plains of Arizona on some godless stretch of I-8.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | September 04, 2008

Traffic Jammed

This small state should have better transit. So why doesn’t it?
It’s not just the relatively small number of RIPTA users who suffer from the inadequacy of Rhode Island’s transit system.
By AMY LITTLEFIELD | August 20, 2008

Traffic Jammed

Bra Boys

Awkward and amateurish take on hooligan surf tribe
A cheaply produced Australian documentary of local interest, now exported to America.
By GERALD PEARY | June 17, 2008

30 ways to have fossil-free fun in Boston this Summer

Pahk your damn cah
It’s tough to maximize your summer fun when, every time you start your engine, you realize that you’re strangling the last few breaths of life out of the planet’s 17 (or so) remaining white rhinos.
By MIKE MILIARD, JAMES PARKER, AND SHARON STEEL | June 12, 2008

Got sustainability?

Apeiron’s annual festival points the way to different possibilities
Growing numbers of Americans are taking up bicycling and gardening, and perhaps reconsidering the more costly habits of the not-so-distant boom times.
By IAN DONNIS | June 04, 2008

Economy drive

Trade fairly
Do you take your coffee with cream, sugar, or a dash of social responsibility? Is that a banana or a gun in your pocket?
By MIKE MILIARD | May 07, 2008

Another perspective

The view from Mexico on Immigration
Carmen Romero says the idea of immigrating to the United States is “a Mexican obsession,” though the reality of immigration for many is different from the dream.
By AMY LITTLEFIELD | April 02, 2008

Trading barbs

Letters to the Boston editor, March 21, 2008
I expect more skepticism from my newspapers.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 19, 2008

Jackson's sweet dream

Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign
This article originally appeared in the March 4, 1988 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By SCOT LEHIGH | March 07, 2008

The morning after

Hillary is rejuvenated, but perils lie ahead
Democrats and Independents are voting in record numbers.
By EDITORIAL | March 05, 2008

Welcome to Atlantica

Free trade
Big companies in northern New England and eastern Canada have launched another initiative to free themselves from what they consider to be onerous government regulation and oversight.
By KIMBERLY FISCHER | February 06, 2008

How She Move

Not original "original" screenplay
The dance sequences suffer for the lack of gloss, but it’s a fair trade because tiny bursts of drama erupt whenever the plot looks the other way.
By CHRIS BRAIOTTA | January 23, 2008

Gov: Cut services while I travel overseas

While Baldacci takes lobbyists’ money for a trip, his wife bills taxpayers
Lobbyists and campaign contributors are among the private interests paying for Governor John Baldacci’s upcoming trip to Asia, though the state forbids officials from accepting gifts.
By LANCE TAPLEY | October 24, 2007

Raking over the coals

Letters to the Boston editor, October 19, 2007
Placing Aviva Chomsky’s article on the front page was a wise decision.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | October 17, 2007

Damn you, Barack Obama

Win or lose, Obama's small donors may have already brought a revolution in campaign financing
Now that Obama's small contributors have effectively rewritten the history of political-campaign funding, even die-hard cynics are drinking the Kool-Aid.
By AL GIORDANO | September 26, 2007

Raising Hill

Hillary Clinton’s ‘aura of inevitability’ might hide her weaknesses — at least until the Republicans get their hands on her
Hillary Clinton took only two questions from the audience at the end of her 35-minute speech at the American Association of Retired Persons conference.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | September 12, 2007

Trade

A dénouement aching with ambiguity
The scandal of the sex-slave market pops up on the news long enough to titillate, but who wants to go into depressing and complex details?
By PETER KEOUGH | September 05, 2007