Narrative theme: politics / economics
The Library of America The Man Who Cried I Am: A Novel
Book SynopsisRediscover the sensational 1967 literary thriller that captures the bitter struggles of postwar Black intellectuals and artistsWith a foreword by Ishmael Reed and a new introduction by Merve Emre about how this explosive novel laid bare America's racial fault linesMax Reddick, a novelist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter, has spent his career struggling against the riptide of race in America. Now terminally ill, he has nothing left to lose. An expat for many years, Max returns to Europe one last time to settle an old debt with his estranged Dutch wife, Margrit, and to attend the Paris funeral of his friend, rival, and mentor Harry Ames, a character loosely modelled on Richard Wright.In Amsterdam, among Harry’s papers, Max uncovers explosive secret government documents outlining “King Alfred,” a plan to be implemented in the event of widespread racial unrest and aiming “to terminate, once and for all, the Minority threat to the whole of the American society.” Realizing that Harry has been assassinated, Max must risk everything to get the documents to the one man who can help.Greeted as a masterpiece when it was published in 1967, The Man Who Cried I Am stakes out a range of experience rarely seen in American fiction: from the life of a Black GI to the ferment of postcolonial Africa to an insider’s view of Washington politics in the era of segregation and the Civil Rights Movement, including fictionalized portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. John A. Williams and his lost classic are overdue for rediscovery.Few novels have so deliberately blurred the boundaries between fiction and reality as The Man Who Cried I Am (1967), and many of its early readers assumed the King Alfred plan was real. In her introduction, Merve Emre examines the gonzo marketing plan behind the novel that fueled this confusion and prompted an FBI investigation. This deluxe paperback also includes a new foreword by novelist Ishmael Reed.“It is a blockbuster, a hydrogen bomb . . . . This is a book white people are not ready to read yet, neither are most black people who read. But [it] is the milestone produced since Native Son. Besides which, and where I should begin, it is a damn beautifully written book.” —Chester Himes“Magnificent . . . obviously in the Baldwin and Ellison class.” —John Fowles“If The Man Who Cried I Am were a painting it would be done by Brueghel or Bosch. The madness and the dance is never-ending display of humanity trying to creep past inevitable Fate.” —Walter Mosely
£18.95
University of New Orleans Press Rejoice the Head of Paul McCartney
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£16.11
University of New Orleans Press The Counting House
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£17.06
Akashic Books The Freedom Artist
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£15.26
Parkhurst Brothers Publishers Inc Pressing Freedom
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£19.51
WW Norton & Co Cadillac Jack: A Novel
Book SynopsisLarry McMurtry’s “big hearted” fiction has been lauded for “taking us places we hadn’t known existed” (Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books). Cadillac Jack does exactly that, inviting readers into the passenger seat of a pearl-colored Caddy with peach velour–covered seats, joining a rodeo-bulldogger-turned-antique- scout at the wheel. “Superbly comic” (Newsday), this rollicking tale echoes the cultural climate of America today, with the cagey yet charming Jack grappling with the capitol’s pretentious elite. As he cruises through relationships with distinctively appealing women—including socialite boutique owner Cindy and discreet mother-of-two Jean—Jack realizes home for him will always be simply barreling down freeways in his Cadillac, wandering the country in search of another obscure treasure. Bolstered with its cast of unforgettable characters, Cadillac Jack entices with the prospect of undiscovered riches around that next bend in the road.
£12.99
Other Press LLC What You Need from the Night: A Novel
Book SynopsisA CrimeReads Best International Fiction Book of Fall 2023A powerful, intimate portrait of grief and radicalization that grapples with the conundrum of having loved ones we no longer recognize.After the death of his wife, a father raises his two sons alone. His bond with Fus, the elder, and Gillou, the younger, is a close one. But their town is not a place of opportunity, and it soon becomes clear that the boys are heading down different paths. Gillou sets his sights on university in Paris. Fus, despite his socialist upbringing, falls in with the local far-right group. Though he joins mostly for the camaraderie, their activities, which might on the surface appear harmless, lead to a violent confrontation.How can a father and son find common ground when everything seems set to break them apart? A sudden tragedy will force them to find an answer.Tense, sharp, and ultimately heartbreaking, What You Need from the Night asks what acts can truly be forgiven, and shines a spotlight on the forgotten corners of a country where white supremacy has taken hold much like in the US.
£13.59
Counterpoint China Dream
Book SynopsisBlending fact and fiction, this darkly comic fable “may be the purest distillation yet of Mr. Ma’s talent for probing the country’s darkest corners and exposing what he regards as the Communist Party’s moral failings” (Mike Ives, The New York Times).Called “Red Guards meet Kurt Vonnegut . . . powerful! by Margaret Atwood on Twitter, China Dream is an unflinching satire of totalitarianism. Ma Daode, a corrupt and lecherous party official, is feeling pleased with himself. He has an impressive office, three properties, and multiple mistresses who text him day and night. After decades of loyal service, he has been appointed director of the China Dream Bureau, charged with replacing people's private dreams with President Xi Jinping's great China Dream of national rejuvenation. But just as he is about to present his plan for a mass golden wedding anniversary celebration, his sanity begins to unravel. Suddenly plagued by flashbacks of the Cultural Revolution, Ma Daode's nightmare visions from the past threaten to destroy his dream of a glorious future.Exposing the damage inflicted on a nation's soul when authoritarian regimes, driven by an insatiable hunger for power, seek to erase memory, rewrite history, and falsify the truth, China Dream is a dystopian vision of repression, violence, and state-imposed amnesia that is set not in the future, but in China today.
£12.34
Algonquin Books Silence Is a Sense
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£14.41
Graywolf Press Silence Is My Mother Tongue
Book SynopsisA sensuous, textured novel of life in a refugee camp, long-listed for the Orwell Prize for Political FictionOn a hill overlooking a refugee camp in Sudan, a young man strings up bedsheets that, in an act of imaginative resilience, will serve as a screen in his silent cinema. From the cinema he can see all the comings and goings in the camp, especially those of two new arrivals: a girl named Saba, and her mute brother, Hagos.For these siblings, adapting to life in the camp is not easy. Saba mourns the future she lost when she was forced to abandon school, while Hagos, scorned for his inability to speak, must live vicariously through his sister. Both resist societal expectations by seeking to redefine love, sex, and gender roles in their lives, and when a businessman opens a shop and befriends Hagos, they cast off those pressures and make an unconventional choice.With this cast of complex, beautifully drawn characters, Sulaiman Addonia details the textures and rhythms of everyday life in a refugee camp, and questions what it means to be an individual when one has lost all that makes a home or a future. Intimate and subversive, Silence Is My Mother Tongue dissects the ways society wages war on women and explores the stories we must tell to survive in a broken, inhospitable environment.
£14.40
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Tiempos recios / Harsh Times
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£17.95
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (USA) LLC Tiempo de perdón / A Time for Mercy
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£17.06
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (USA) LLC La lista del juez / The Judge's List
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£16.16
Guernica Editions,Canada Through The Sad Wood Our Corpses Will Hang
Book SynopsisAt the age of twenty, Sheyda Porrouya's life is almost over. She was born in Iran on the day staunchly orthodox mullas declared the birth of the Islamic Republic and set about summarily purging the country of all things Western and un-Islamic. To make matters worse, as she matured, Sheyda seemed increasingly unable to distinguish between fairy tale and reality. She began to exhibit disturbing behavior. When Sheyda is accused of killing her mother, she is immediately jailed and sentenced to death by hanging. The narrative jumps back and forth from Sheyda's childhood to her current life in one of Iran's most notorious prisons, where she awaits either release or execution.
£19.76
Guernica Editions,Canada Thirteen Heavens
Book Synopsis "Two friends two friends, how close could they get without being one man … one in love with a ghost, the other … longed for the son who'd more than likely already become a ghost.” RubÉn Arenal, nicknamed Rocket by his close friends and family, and Ernesto Cisneros are longtime friends, as close as brothers, living in Mexico's northern state of Chihuahua. RubÉn is a potter who lives alone in his studio apartment. Ernesto is married to Guadalupe and they have one son, Coyuco, who is training to be a teacher. Out of these bald facts spins magic. RubÉn falls in love with an eerily lifelike mannequin in a shop window, widely rumored to be more flesh and bone than mere artifice and modelled on a local beauty nicknamed La Pascualita, who died young many decades ago. RubÉn trails after her ghost while Ernesto leaves their hometown to go in search of his son, kidnapped and disappeared by the police while out on a student protest with forty-two of his comrades from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College.
£19.76
Atlantic Books The Tyrant's Shadow
Book Synopsis[Senior's] vivid characters [capture] this chaotic era with a lively sense of how it must have felt to those living through it - The TimesA court without a kingdom, a kingdom without a king...England, 1652: since Charles I's execution the land has remained untethered, the people longing for change. When Patience Johnson meets preacher Sidrach Simmonds, she believes her destiny is to become his wife and help him spread the Lord's word. Simmonds sees things quite differently. Patience's brother Will has been bestowed the job of lawyer to Oliver Cromwell. Tasked with aiding England's most powerful man, he must try to overcome his grief after the loss of his wife. Then Sam Challoner, Will's brother-in-law, returns unannounced after years in exile, forcing Will and Patience to question their loyalties: one to a ruler, the other, a spouse. Who do they choose to save? Themselves, their loved ones or their country...Trade ReviewThere are echoes of The Miniaturist in The Tyrant's Shadow... a gripping journey that twists and turns to the very final page. This is refined historical fiction at its very best. * Elizabeth Fremantle *An extraordinarily good historical novel by an author at the top of her game... If there's any justice in the world, it should be a bestseller. * Andrew Taylor *Fresh and fearless historical fiction set in a fascinating era. And featuring top swearing. Loved it. * Anna Mazzola *A satisfying tale of romance, politics and old-fashioned adventure. * Sunday Times (Ireland) *A terrific read... confidently written * Daily Mail *Compulsively page-turning and highly recommended * The Historical Novels review/Historical Novel Society *[Senior's] vivid characters [capture] this chaotic era with a lively sense of how it must have felt to those living through it * The Times *Compulsively page-turning and highly recommended * Historical Novels Review *
£12.47
Atlantic Books Akram's War: a novel of one young Muslim's
Book SynopsisOne night, Akram Khan walks out of his house towards an appointed time and place where he is supposed to detonate a bomb that will end his life and that of many innocent bystanders. As he wanders through the town he encounters Grace, whose life has been marred just as his has, forming an unlikely closeness borne of need and necessity.Akram tells Grace about his seemingly inexorable journey towards radicalization: a childhood within the tight-knit Pakistani community, his complex friendships among outcasts, his disastrous years in the army, and his empty arranged marriage to a woman who remains a stranger. Delicately drawn, Akram's War is an honest and shocking kaleidoscopic portrait of contemporary Britain, and of the ways in which the twists and turns of fate can scar and mark a life.
£15.35
Verso Books We Want Everything: A Novel
Book SynopsisIt was the Autumn of 1969, and Italy exploded. Across the north of the country, factory workers stormed out on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions. The slogan "We Want Everything" rang through the streets. Italy's "Hot Autumn" had begun.In Nanni Balestrini's fictionalized account of the uprising, a young worker from Italy's impoverished south arrives at Fiat's Mirafiori factory in Torino, where he barely scrapes by with fourteen hour days of backbreaking work. His frustration is palpable, and soon he is agitating again his bosses for fun and giving himself minor injuries to win sick leave. Soon enough, he is swept up by a snowballing worker movement that leads to months of continuous strikes at Mirafiori. Eventually, the conflict bubbles out of the factory. The growing pressure having produced an inevitable crack, the streets are lined with barricades, and tear gas wafts into private homes.Introduced by Rachel Kushner, author of the critically acclaimed The Flamethrowers, We Want Everything is an explosive account of a revolution that would clear the way for another decade of radical unrest.Trade ReviewIn this fierce, compelling novel, Balestrini has found a way to individualise the universal, and universalise the individual, creating a document of the Italian labour struggles of the 1970s that has great value both as art and history. Balestrini becomes a channel for the working-class narrator, who stands for all the Southern masses who come north to the car factories to participate in the Italian 'economic miracle'. It's a book which charted a new course for fiction, one that deserves further exploration. -- Haru Kunzru, author of White TearsA fine example of a literary use of expressions that were then burgeoning in factories and mass meetings, caught between student unrest and worker fury. -- Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the RoseOne of the best novels of the year . Nothing could seem further from or more relevant to our historical moment. * Chicago Tribune *As demands arise again that echo the demands of the period-less work, more pay, more leisure, guaranteed income - We Want Everything sends a stirring reminder that these are not new demands, and that although it is a new generation rising to the challenge, it is the same fundamental struggle that continues * PopMatters *
£12.47
Atlantic Books Magnus and the Crossroads Brotherhood
Book SynopsisThe complete collection of Robert Fabbri's Vespasian novella series about Magnus and the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood.Marcus Salvius Magnus, leader of the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood, has long dominated his part of Rome's criminal underworld. From rival gangs and unpaid debts to rigged chariot races and blood feuds - if you have a problem, Magnus is the man to solve it. He'll do everything in his power to preserve his grip on the less-travelled back alleys of Rome, and of course, make a profit.But while Magnus inhabits the underbelly of the city, his patron, Gaius Vespasius Pollo, moves in a different circle. As a senator, he needs men like Magnus to do his dirty work as he manoeuvres his way deeper into the imperial court...In these thrilling tales from the bestselling Vespasian series, spanning from the rule of Tiberius through the bloody savagery of Caligula to the coming of Nero, Robert Fabbri exposes a world of violence, mayhem and murder that echos down the ages.______________________________________________Don't miss Robert Fabbri's epic new series Alexander's Legacy Trade ReviewFabbri does an excellent job with this scintillating source material. * Antonia Senior, The Times, on Emperor of Rome *Stuffed with political deviousness and vivid depictions of war and torture, Fabbri's eighth book of the series is shockingly good. * Sunday Sport on Emperor of Rome *Robert Fabbri has a winner on his hands. * The BookPlank *
£21.03
Goldsmiths, Unversity of London The Other Shore
Book SynopsisWhen the dead begin speaking to sixteen-year-old Kim Nguyen, her peaceful childhood is over.A delicate meditation on the nature of ghosts, belief, and how the future is shaped by the past. When the dead begin speaking to sixteen-year-old Kim Nguyen, her peaceful childhood is over. Suddenly everyone wants to exploit her new talent—her family, the Vietnamese government, and even the spirits themselves.
£20.70
Catapult Vengeance: A Novel
Book Synopsis“Tense and evocative . . . Despite its powerful social critique, Vengeance is cautious and prismatic, openly troubled by its own claims to authority.” —Katy Waldman, The New YorkerAs someone who writes “fiction, nonfiction, sometimes a hybrid of both,” the narrator of Vengeance, a character much like Zachary Lazar himself, tries to accurately view a world he knows is “beyond the limits of my small understanding.” In particular, he is compelled to unravel the truth behind the supposed crime of an inmate he meets and befriends, Kendrick King, who is serving a life sentence at Angola for murder. As the narrator attempts to sort out what happened in King’s life—paying visits to his devoted mother, his estranged young daughter and her mother, his girlfriend, his brother, and his cousin—the writer’s own sense of identity begins to feel more and more like a fiction. He is one of the “free people” while Kendrick, who studies theology and philosophy, will never get his only wish, expressed plainly as “I just need to get out of here.” The dichotomy between their lives forces the narrator to confront the violence in his own past, and also to reexamine American notions of guilt and penance, racial bias, and the inherent perversity of punitive justice.Inspired by a passion play, The Life of Jesus Christ, he witnessed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Vengeance, by way of vivid storytelling, helps us to understand the failure of empathy and imagination that perpetuates the incarceration crisis in our country.“The state of Louisiana is the world’s incarceration capital, and Zachary Lazar is a world-class novelist, who brings humility and sensitivity to this book (Rachel Kushner).
£12.34
Upset Press Mediterranean: Migrant Crossings
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£17.85
Archipelago Books The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
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£14.40
Meerkat Press Roberto to the Dark Tower Came
Book SynopsisWall Street Journal - "Mr. Epperson, a veteran screenwriter as well as a novelist, keeps readers guessing until the very last."Roberto, a young left-wing South American journalist, receives an ominous phone call: leave the country in ten days, or die. Roberto is being targeted because of a series of articles he’s written exposing government corruption and violence at the highest levels. Roberto believes the voice on the other end of the phone and has every intention of leaving, as soon as he follows a lead on a major story developing in the jungle: thousands of innocent lives are at stake. The book follows him on his perilous journey into the heart of darkness in pursuit of his story. Unknowingly, Roberto is headed toward a confrontation with an evil darker than he could possibly have imagined.Trade Review"A South American journalist makes his way into the deepest heart of darkness - Epperson immerses readers in a dense jungle seething with treacherous flora and fauna and murderous men, punctuating terror with startling moments of beauty." -- Publisher's Weekly"Roberto to the Dark Tower Came works as a thriller, for sure, but also a wider conversation piece about very real dangers and perils in the world today.This is a novel with a rounded-out character who we grow to know and care about, and a novel where atmosphere is important.Roberto the Dark Tower Came could form the basis of an entire section of a modern novel or current issues in literature course.Well done." -- Reading & Literature Resources"Epperson's graphic depiction of the unmitigated brutality of the militias in the jungle is heart-stopping. While readers can't help admiring Roberto's investigative persistence, they will probably be shouting, 'Get out before the ten days are up!' VERDICT This page-turning novel, which proceeds to tell the story of Roberto's life day by day, will be enjoyed by readers who like their fiction dark." -- Andrea Kempf, Library Journal"(4 stars)Haunting and tense,Roberto to the Dark Tower Cameis an unexpected thriller at every turn. Full of mystery, suspense and even a bit of romance, Tom Epperson has managed to craft a fast-paced political thriller, full of twists, turns, and a very unexpected ending . . . From start to finish,Roberto to the Dark Tower Camewas difficult to put down and remarkable to digest." -- Melissa Ratcliff, Paperback Paris
£21.56
Two Dollar Radio Born Into This
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£14.39
Two Dollar Radio I Will Die in a Foreign Land
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£16.11
At Bay Press Mother Goose Letters
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£21.84
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial El ladrón de esperanzas / The Thief of Hopes
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£16.96
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Cuando México perdió la esperanza / When Mexico
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£13.46
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México roto / Broken Mexico
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£16.96
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Adán en Edén / Adam in Eden
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£12.56
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Nosotros dos en la tormenta / Us Two in the Storm
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£19.76
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Todo lo que ganamos cuando lo perdimos todo / Everything We Gained When We Lost It All
£27.26
Lengua Viva El señor presidente. Edición Conmemorativa / The
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£21.50
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial La diáspora / Diaspora
£24.11
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial De la naturaleza de los dioses / Of the Nature of
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£34.78
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Dos espías en Caracas / Two Spies in Caracas
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£29.09
Suma Durante la plaga / During the Plague
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£23.71
