In Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, Michael Klare argues that a global political realignment of historic proportions is under way, based on ever-more-intense competition for reliable energy supplies. Klare describes emerging Big Power alliances and rivalries in energy-rich sites like the Caspian basin and Africa. (Holiday encore presentation.)

Coalbed methane gas development is threatening natural environments and local communities in places like Wyoming, says Jill Morrison. And Rick Wolff explains how the current economic crisis is connected to the decades-long stagnation in workers' wages. He contends that corporate boards of directors need to be radically reconstituted.