Political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisThis authoritative book traces the development of Plaid Cymru'spolitical thought from its birth in 19245 to the establishmentof the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. Through apenetrating study of the political beliefs of its most importantleaders Saunders Lewis, Gwynfor Evans, Dafydd Elis-Thomasand Dafydd Wigley we follow the party's emergence from thepolitical fringe to the threshold of a devolved Wales. Thedevelopment of Plaid Cymru's constitutional and economicpolicies are examined in detail, as well as its attitude towards theWelsh language. A vibrant discussion on the nature of nationalismand nationalist ideas locates the party's intellectual developmentin a broader international context. This is a book that revealsPlaid Cymru in a new and sometimes controversial light.

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Book SynopsisConservative skepticism of scientific authority—contesting evolution and the climate change consensus—is constantly in the news. But liberal humanists also have their doubts, targeting “scientistic” overreach. Andrew Jewett provides the first history of Americans’ diverse and longstanding criticisms of science as a source of corrupt social values.Trade ReviewErudite and truly original. Jewett explains why so many cultural leaders came to deplore the increasing incursions of science into the realm of values, especially after World War II. A pioneering book. -- Ronald L. Numbers, author of The CreationistsJewett has thoroughly scoured the wide field of American intellectual discourse to find the misgivings, fears, and doubts aroused by the growth and influence of science. Science under Fire is strikingly relevant to pressing present-day concerns. I know of nothing else quite like it. -- Howard Brick, author of Transcending CapitalismThe continued politicization of science is rooted in the discomfort that many still feel about the banishment of ethics, humanistic values, and religion from much of public policy. Jewett’s book reminds us that this tension has a long history and that we should remain attentive to what is gained and lost as science continues to dominate how we understand the world and our place in it. -- Christopher J. Phillips * Science *Tackles the deep and persistent American intellectual tradition we might call Science-hesitant…It takes them seriously, arguing their vision was no less ‘modern’ for ranking Science lower than other human values, such as religious faith…A sweeping tour of a vast array of intellectual trends…The challenges to the authority of Science in this book are less episodes in the history of American science than episodes in the history of American religion, and readers drawn to those questions will find much to interest them here. -- Michael D. Gordin * Los Angeles Review of Books *An exceptionally well-written, detail-rich treatment of anti-science attitudes in the United States over the past century…Jewett reveals that the sprawling, wheeling sweep of his historical study is the argument: there is no single or stable ideology of anti-science…[He] starts and ends by talking about climate denialism, anti-vax, and COVID lockdown skepticism. -- Donovan O. Schaefer * Isis *The anti-science crowd ridiculed mask-wearers as sheep mindlessly following the herd. Armed crowds gathered at the homes of public-health officials across the country and hounded them from their jobs…As Andrew Jewett makes clear…the scientific enterprise in America has long drawn public hostility…Follows nearly a century of critiques of scientific cultural authority, from the 1920s to roughly the present…Given the moment we are in, Science under Fire seems particularly well timed, and it ought to be instructive. -- David Steigerwald * Origins *Deeply researched and thoughtful…The tensions he describes are entirely familiar, but they take on a fresh appearance with the historical backdrop he provides, and his nuanced portrait of the positions of the key protagonists produces a welcome respect for the complexity of ongoing intellectual and political controversies…Jewett concludes with a plea to approach science more matter-of-factly. -- John Casterline * Population and Development Review *

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Book SynopsisIn Remains of Socialism, Maya Nadkarni investigates the changing fates of the socialist past in postsocialist Hungary. She introduces the concept of remainsboth physical objects and cultural remaindersto analyze all that Hungarians sought to leave behind after the end of state socialism.Spanning more than two decades of postsocialist transformation, Remains of Socialism follows Hungary from the optimism of the early years of transition to its recent right-wing turn toward illiberal democracy. Nadkarni analyzes remains that range from exiled statues of Lenin to the socialist-era Bambi soda, and from discredited official histories to the scandalous secrets of the communist regime''s informers. She deftly demonstrates that these remains were far more than simply the leftovers of an unwanted past. Ultimately, the struggles to define remains of socialism and settle their fates would represent attempts to determine the futureand to mourn futures that never materializeTrade ReviewRemains of Socialism is an examination of 'mature' postsocialism that aptly demonstrates the ongoing disciplinary relevance of the region. Nadkarni offers her astute observations in clear, confident, accessible prose. * American Anthropologist *Multi-layered, intimate, and insightful on many levels, this remarkable and beautifully written book sets a new standard in the field of memory studies. * Association for Women in Slavic Studies *[Remains of Socialism] constitute[s] highly valuable contributions to the literature on the memory of the socialist past and the elements of nostalgia and retro in this memory. [The book] also offer[s] a new, more reflective, analytical reading of nostalgia. * H-Soz-Kult *Nadkarni is a superbly well-informed anthropologist. It is almost a hopeless endeavor to scrutinize her text for factual inaccuracies, misunderstandings, or mistranslations. Her grasp of both the language and the gestures of her interviewees likely finds those anthropologists struggling to make sense of the production of meaning in their field research envious. * Austrian History Yearbook *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Banishing Remains 2. The Hole in the Flag 3. Nostalgia and the Remains of Everyday Life 4. Recovering National Victimhood at the House of Terror 5. Secrets, Inheritance, and a Generation's Remains 6. A Past Returned, A Future Deferred Conclusion

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of BBC History Magazine's Best Books of 2020""A bracing stringency is one of the virtues of The Decline and Rise of Democracy. It sweeps across the globe in command of recent scholarship. . . . It shows how complex democracy’s patterns are and, on the evidence, how simpler accounts of its past and prospects stumble." * The Economist *"An outstanding volume that analyses the development of democracy and autocracy in a refreshing and relevant way."---Simon Sebag Montefiore, BBC History Magazine"Democracy is a naturally occurring condition in humanity societies. This single idea sets Stasavage apart from so many theorists who look to the past."---Justin Kempf, Democracy Paradox"I opened The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today, by David Stasavage (Princeton, 2020), hoping to find insights on the prospects for democracy in Russia, and China. And so I did. I closed the book with a better understanding of American democracy as well."---David Warsh, Economic Principals"A rich and coherent account of democracy’s evolution over millennia and across diverse geographical and environmental settings, "a deep history". . . . This volume helps us look into the future, and one might be unsettled by what can be seen."---Varghese K. George, The Hindu"This book’s optimism and wide-eyed wonder sprouts like T.S. Eliot’s lilac through the dead earth of current Western declinism."---David Muir, The American Interest"A fascinating voyage through time and place."---Pierre Lemieux, Regulation"David Stasavage offers a rich, international overview on the origins of democracy and the conditions under which democracy flourishes (or doesn’t). . . . an outstanding piece of scholarly writing not just because of the theory it develops, but how it does so: In clear, concise, and forceful prose — the rarest of combinations, which makes this book all the more enjoyable."---Felix Simon, Medium"[Stasavage's] approach is refreshing and inspiring."---Wim Blockmans, Parliaments, Estates, and Representation"Stasavage has written an excellent analysis of the concept of democracy that gives hope and a better understanding of how this concept can be salvaged from the threats that are rising and the challenges that lie ahead."---John M. Bublic, The European Legacy"A piece of remarkable scholarship."---George Tridimas, Constitutional Political Economy

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Book SynopsisUnfinished Utopia is a social and cultural history of Nowa Huta, dubbed Poland''s first socialist city by Communist propaganda of the 1950s. Work began on the new town, located on the banks of the Vistula River just a few miles from the historic city of Kraków, in 1949. By contrast to its older neighbor, Nowa Huta was intended to model a new kind of socialist modernity and to be peopled with new men, themselves both the builders and the beneficiaries of this project of socialist construction. Nowa Huta was the largest and politically most significant of the socialist cities built in East Central Europe after World War II; home to the massive Lenin Steelworks, it epitomized the Stalinist program of forced industrialization that opened the cities to rural migrants and sought fundamentally to transform the structures of Polish society.Focusing on Nowa Huta''s construction and steel workers, youth brigade volunteers, housewives, activists, and architects, Katherine Lebow exploresTrade ReviewUnfinished Utopia is an extremely interesting and beautifully executed book.... This book will appeal to a very wide audience. It will of course interest historians of the Polish postwar first and foremost, but beyond that it will appeal to Eastern Europeanists and, notably, to historians of the Western European postwar as well. The book succeeds on many levels: as Polish history, as a history of postwar European recovery, as a history of Stalinism and of Communist identity formation, and, lastly, as a history of twentieth-century political and social transformations. -- Eva Plach * The Journal of Modern History *Each chapter provides the reader with fascinating material that ultimately illuminates the problems at the heart of the most recent discussions in Polish historiography. This includes the nature of Polish Stalinism, which Lebow sees as much more than mere ideology, but rather as a set of practices that individuals creatively appropriated. -- Anna Muller * Austrian History Yearbook *In this richly researched book, Lebow explores how Poland's socialistregime and the residents of Nowa Huta built the city and forged a new way oflife.... It is remarkable that Lebow is able to tell the story of Nowa Huta anddevelop these provocative arguments in such a short book. -- Steven E. Harris * East Central Europe *Katherine Lebow has redirected the study of Stalinism in scholarly debates. Unlike practitioners of traditional sovietology—now morphing into victimologyfor popular consumption—she seeks out the complexities and ambiguities of Stalinism in eastern Europe... This book will appeal to a wide readership across many disciplines. The range is extensive: urban geography, political mobilization, social structure, gender, youth culture, and film studies. It crosses boundaries within Poland and beyond. -- Anthony Kemp-Welch, University of East Anglia * Slavic Review *With its monumental architecture and bold layout, Nowa Huta appears to be the quintessence of Communist urban planning. Yet, as Katherine Lebow's rich yet concise study demonstrates, underneath the regimented spaces and ubiquitous concrete lie more complex and nuanced stories.... [Unfinished Utopia] also provides important general insights into the intricate processes by which modernist urban spaces, despite their aspiration to control, become powerful sites of negotiation and resistance. -- Uilleam Blacker * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: Unplanned CityChapter 2: New MenChapter 3: The Poor Worker Breaks His LegChapter 4: Women of SteelChapter 5: The Enlightenment of KaszaChapter 6: Spaces of Solidarity, 1956–89ConclusionNotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARHumanity's embrace of openness is the key to our success. The freedom to explore and exchange - whether it's goods, ideas or people - has led to stunning achievements in science, technology and culture. As a result, we live at a time of unprecedented wealth and opportunity. So why are we so intent on ruining it?From Stone Age hunter-gatherers to contemporary Chinese-American relations, Open explores how across time and cultures, we have struggled with a constant tension between our yearning for co-operation and our profound need for belonging. Providing a bold new framework for understanding human history, bestselling author and thinker Johan Norberg examines why we're often uncomfortable with openness - but also why it is essential for progress. Part sweeping history and part polemic, this urgent book makes a compelling case for why an open world with an open economy is worth fighting for more than ever.Trade ReviewClear, colourful and convincing, marshalling evidence from a range of eras and civilisations. [...] The author is often amusing as well as illuminating. * The Economist *No person or society is smart enough or wise enough or noble enough to solve the wicked problems of life by themselves. With clarity and grace, Johan Norberg reminds us that openness to things and ideas from others is the only route to well-being. * Steven Pinker *If we are to recover from the pandemic of 2020, the world needs openness more than ever: open minds, open hearts, open communications, open markets. Johan Norberg's superb book demonstrates, with hundreds of examples, how openness has been the key to the success of our species over 10,000 years and is the secret of prosperity and peace today. * Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist *Johan Norberg has a great story to tell: how, throughout history, open societies have always closed down, but never for good. The tension between closed and open, between trading and tribalism drives both progress and reaction. Why are the virtues and benefits of openness always under threat? We can't live without it, yet too often it seems that we can't live with it either. Norberg has a powerful argument to give us insight and hope that man's curiosity and imagination is unstoppable. * Margaret Heffernan, author of Wilful Blindness *Norberg's excellent book tells us that openness is more than a defensive reaction to those who want to close borders to migrants, trade and new ideas... [it is] a deeply rooted trait that has played a major role in the success of individuals, nations and humanity itself. * Vince Cable *Johan Norberg makes a compelling case that we all thrive -- in every sense -- on 'open'... This is big thinking that deserves everyone's attention. * Michael Blastland, author of The Hidden Half *Johan Norberg reminds us that every great civilization has been destroyed by the end of openness. His essential book, then, is a timely reminder that the fate of our civilization rests on a defense of openness. Strongly recommended. * Andrew Keen, author of The Internet Is Not The Answer *A prophet of anti-pessimism. -- Simon Jenkins * Guardian *This book is a blast of good sense. * The Economist on Progress *Norberg has a strong case and he makes it with energy and charm. A pertinent book for grumpy times. * The Times on Progress *Table of Contents0: Traders and tribalists 1: Open exchange 2: Open doors 3: Open minds 4: Open societies 5: Us and them 6: Zero-sum 7: Anticipatory anxiety 8: Fight or flight 9: Open or closed?

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Book SynopsisNamed a Best Book of the Year by Financial Times"Singular, stylish and slightly intoxicating in its scope."?Rolling StoneAcclaimed media critic J. Hoberman''s masterful and majestic exploration of the Reagan years as seen through the unforgettable movies of the eraThe third book in a brilliant and ambitious trilogy, celebrated cultural and film critic J. Hoberman''s Make My Day is a major new work of film and pop culture history. In it he chronicles the Reagan years, from the waning days of the Watergate scandal when disaster films like Earthquake ruled the box office to the nostalgia of feel-good movies like Rocky and Star Wars, and the delirium of the 1984 presidential campaign and beyond.Bookended by the Bicentennial celebrations and the Iran-Contra affair, the period of Reagan''s ascendance brought such movie events as Jaws, Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, Ghostbusters, Blue Velvet, and Back to the Future, as well as the birth of MTV, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and the Second Cold War.An exploration of the synergy between American politics and popular culture, Make My Day is the concluding volume of Hoberman''s Found Illusions trilogy; the first volume, The Dream Life, was described by Slate''s David Edelstein as "one of the most vital cultural histories I''ve ever read"; Film Comment called the second, An Army of Phantoms, "utterly compulsive reading." Reagan, a supporting player in Hoberman''s previous volumes, here takes center stage as the peer of Indiana Jones and John Rambo, the embodiment of a Hollywood that, even then, no longer existed.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Co-Winner of the 2018 Runciman Award, The Anglo-Hellenic League""A valuable exploration of the means by which Greek oligarchic régimes sought to maintain themselves in power."---P. J. Rhodes, Sehepunkte"[A] fascinating and insightful book."---Ganesh Sitaraman, Guardian"Meticulous, accessible, and insightful, Simonton presents a fresh and much-needed account of oligarchy and how it worked during antiquity. . . . Classical Greek Oligarchy is a masterful book."---Lee Trepanier, voegelview.com"Stimulating and thought-provoking. . . . I would happily recommend this book to scholars of Classical history and politics."---Daniel B. Unruh, Classical Review"Remarkable and innovative. . . . This book is a major contribution to the political history of the classical antiquity and to classical scholarship at large. There is no doubt it will soon become a must-read for all students of ancient Greek history and ancient Greek political thought . . . [and] will most likely prove engaging far beyond the field of classical scholarship."---Marek Węcowski, Ancient History Bulletin"Highly recommended." * Choice *"Well-researched, clearly written, and vigorously argued."---Greg Anderson, American Historical Review"An important and pioneering book."---Alex Gottesman, Classical World"A densely argued and challenging book. . . . All serious students of ancient political history will need to engage with it."---Philip Harding, Phoenix Journal"Simonton’s social science perspective provides a highly productive theoretical framework: by drawing on New Institutionalism he is able to shed new light on patchy evidence and make a major contribution to ancient political history. This theoretical framework is well integrated into the discussion of the ancient source material so that it has genuine explanatory power rather than being alienating to the reader unfamiliar with this literature."---Claire Taylor, Polis, The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought (AGPT)"This engaging monograph provides thoughtful and persuasive treatment of oligarchic government in the Greek world ca. 500–300 BC. . . . One of the pleasures of this book is the fact that [Simonton] manages to offer radically new andhighly persuasive readings of well-known texts, in addition to offering to readers a wide gamma of texts . . . that have been consistently overlooked in modern discussions."---Richard Westall, Ancient West and East

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Book SynopsisThroughout the ages and across every continent, people have struggled against those in power and raised their voices in protest-rallying others around them or, sometimes, inspiring uprisings many years later. This anthology, global in scope, presents voices of dissent from every era of human history: speeches and pamphlets, poems and songs, plays and manifestos. Every age has its iconoclasts, and yet the greatest among them build on the words and actions of their forerunners. The Verso Book of Dissent should be in the arsenal of every rebel who understands that words and ideas are the ultimate weapons.Trade ReviewThe Verso Book of Dissent shows the many ways in which the constant struggle to create a better world has broken through the walls of apathy and acquiescence. -- Noam ChomskyA delightful anthology to dip into if you are or have ever been disgruntled with the status quo . for radicals everywhere. -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *A very right-on compendium of opposition to authority. -- Gavin Bowd * Scotland on Sunday *Reading the [The Verso Book of Dissent] is like encountering the best version of our angry selves. -- Jonathan Messinger * Time Out Chicago *A near-definitive anthology. -- Richard Whittaker * Austin Chronicle *The anthology's editors excerpt the writings of a wide array of historical figures, including Socrates . Martin Luther King . [and] the Marquis de Sade. * National *A unique anthology. * Kaleidoscope *Almost a Leftist coffee-table book ... a good gift for budding activists and writers. * Global Comment *This anthology presents voices of dissent from throughout history and across the globe: speeches and pamphlets, poems and songs, plays and manifestos, demonstrating that words and ideas are the ultimate weapons. * Greenlight Books *

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Book SynopsisKeith Mako Woodhouse offers a nuanced history of radical environmentalism in the late-twentieth-century United States. Focusing especially on the group Earth First!, The Ecocentrists explores how it challenged civilization but glossed over the ways economic inequality and social difference defined people’s relationships to the nonhuman world.Trade ReviewWoodhouse deftly brings together the intellectual history of the many threads of American environmentalism with the thinkers, the activists, the organizations, and the issues that have charged environmental politics since the 1960s. Required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the history of environmental activism and thought. -- James Morton Turner, Wellesley CollegeThis book is a profound achievement. In The Ecocentrists, Keith Woodhouse examines ecocentrism within and up against traditions of radical American protest, politics, and action. Deepening our understanding of radical environmentalism well beyond any previous study, the book lays to rest caricature and misinformation. Each chapter—each page—will make you think hard. -- William Deverell, University of Southern CaliforniaA compelling story about the enigmatic journey of environmentalism since the 1960s, The Ecocentrists shines a bright light on the radical potential and heartbreaking pitfalls of Americans’ ecological crusades. Highlighting the historic and contemporary tensions within the environmental movement between localism and globalism, populism and elitism, freedom and limits, and humanism and misanthropy, Woodhouse provides essential reading for anyone interested in thinking through how efforts to create a healthier planet can be made as just and humane as possible. -- Darren Frederick Speece, author of Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental PoliticsThe Ecocentrists captures eloquently the human stories of those who stood up for the nonhuman world. Keith Woodhouse’s willingness to take seriously the most radical members of the environmental movement yields fresh ways of understanding conventional environmental politics. A smart, rigorous, and brilliant book. -- Kendra Smith-Howard, University of AlbanyInsightful and well-grounded in the literature, this is required reading for historians of environmentalism and modern political movements and, for the general reader, a stimulating introduction to an urgent area of popular concern. * Publishers Weekly *His book is strongest when it contextualizes radical environmentalism in relation to broader ideologies (liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, anarchism)....Recommended. * Choice *This outstanding and extensively researched work, covers a wide range of ideas and personalities; an essential addition for all environmental collections. * Library Journal (starred review) *In the era of climate change, Woodhouse wonders if the ecocentrists’ narrative of crisis is the only one that can create a clear-eyed view of the problem, as well as the political and popular will to mobilize against it. * Los Angeles Review of Books *A well-crafted expansion of our understanding of the environmental movement, and it reminds us that, while there areno easy answers to our current moment of environmental crisis, we are not the first to have wrestled with the difficult questions about human freedom and our relationships with the more-than-human world. * H-Environment *A superb history of radical environmentalism in the United States. -- Benjamin Kunkel * New Republic *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Ecology and Revolutionary Thought2. Crisis Environmentalism3. A Radical Break4. Public Lands and the Public Good5. Earth First! Against Itself6. The Limits and Legacy of RadicalismConclusionNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisGlorious' GUARIDAN''Vigorous, rigorous and eminently readable' SPECTATORLondon is a city of dreamers. A city of possibility and experiment. A city of fervent imaginings and courageous aspirations. For centuries, it has been the capital of utopian thought. The Infinite City tells this history for the first time. In his soaring new book, Niall Kishtainy draws us into the imaginative worlds of Thomas More, the Diggers, William Morris and Extinction Rebellion protestors. He introduces us to thinkers like Thomas Spence who threw coins stamped with the words YOU FOOLS' into the alleys of Holborn. To Ada Salter who was the first woman borough councillor in London and ignited the Bermondsey Revolution. To ninety-two-year-old Dolly Watson who became the queen of Claremont Road in Leytonstone during the Reclaim the Streets protests in the 1990s. These are inspiring tales of people who drew might from the city around them and fought for their ideologies in an increasingly transforming world.BeginTrade Review A Waterstones Best Book of 2023 A TLS Best Book of 2023 ‘Engaging… The Infinite City bravely challenges those who view London merely “as an infernal maze, as a centre of wealth, power and empire” and highlights instead those who have imagined it as a place of “possibility and experiment”’ TELEGRAPH, **** star review ‘An excellent history of London-based Utopian thought . . . vigorous, rigorous and eminently readable’ SPECTATOR ‘In a series of vivid depictions of London spanning centuries, Kishtainy brings back to life some of London’s utopian dreamers, including the Diggers, Thomas Spence and the socialist mystic James Pierrepont Greaves, founder of the Ham Common Concordium, an austere utopian spiritual co-operative’ LITERARY REVIEW ‘I was fascinated by every page, every anecdote and every detail’ BEN JUDAH, author of This is London ‘From More’s Utopia to the forlorn hopes for a more equitable post-pandemic society, this is a fresh and fascinating look at utopias in theory and practice, artfully framed as a history of London. Conscientiously researched, yet brimful of memorable anecdotes about man-eating sheep and medieval churches made out of pudding, it impresses upon us the importance of daring to dream — and dream big — for yesterday’s impossibility can be tomorrow’s reality’ MATHEW GREEN, author of Shadowlands ‘Reconstructing some of the many utopian fantasies that London has inspired since the sixteenth century, Niall Kishtainy has written a richly informative, elegantly argued book that introduces us to a series of dreamers who, far from appearing eccentric, seem all too relevant in the twenty-first century. The Infinite City will prompt us to rethink the value of utopia as well as to reconsider our understanding of the metropolis’ MATHEW BEAUMONT, author of Nightwalking

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Book Synopsis''A gripping and rigorous crime story about the murder of a once thriving democracy, exposing an arsenal of lethal weapons, some wielded on the streets, others in the courts and press'' NAOMI KLEINEssential reading'' YANIS VAROUFAKISThe world's largest democracy is facing the greatest challenge since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.?The Incarcerations pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 human rights defenders (the BK-16) professors, lawyers, journalists, poets have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists.Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a public commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state, and plotting to kill the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare r

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Book Synopsis'A gripping and rigorous crime story about the murder of a once thriving democracy, exposing an arsenal of lethal weapons, some wielded on the streets, others in the courts and press' NAOMI KLEIN Essential reading' YANIS VAROUFAKIS

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY AWARDDavid Aaronovitch grew up in Communist Great Britain a Britain hidden from view for most, but for those on the inside it was a life filled with picket lines, militant trade unions, solidarity rallies for foreign Communists, the Red Army Choir, copies of the Daily Worker, all underpinned by a quiet love of the Soviet Union.In this idiosyncratic blend of memoir, history and biography, David Aaronovitch uncovers the story of his family's life by picking through letters, diaries and secret service files, which in turn unleash vivid childhood memories of a lost and idealistic world. Party Animals is about personal life and political life becoming tragically intertwined, and one family's search for meaning in the twentieth century.Trade ReviewAn affectionate and insightful account of 20th-century history that also amounts to a manifesto for the power of words – and belonging. -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times, Book of the Year *Compassionate and wise… An effervescent and essential writer. -- Nick Cohen * Observer *David Aaronovitch is to be congratulated on his Le Carre like sleuthing into the deceits and self-delusions of his parents and their communist friends. He has produced a wise, funny and sometimes heart-breaking account of how otherwise good and nice people are capable of believing a load of total and utter b*ll*cks about the world, the class system and themselves. It is an invocation of a vanished tribe that is still relevant, alas, to the Britain of Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone and Owen Jones, I loved it. -- Boris JohnsonParty Animals is an utterly engaging and truly humane story about fitting in, opting out, and finding meaning. Unflinchingly honest, it is by turns harrowing and hilarious. Not since Clive James's Falling Towards England has there been a memoir so clearly destined to become a classic in its own time. -- Amanda ForemanDavid Aaronovitch has written a compelling account of the Communist mindset in post-war Britain: a superb mix of social history, Marxist philosophy and often painful family biography. It is a hugely revelatory insight into a lost world and its modern legacies. -- Tristram HuntA raw…extraordinary new memoir-cum-social history… Vivid and moving. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *The extraordinarily gripping final section… elevates his book above similar memoirs by other children of party members… Tremendously frank, often moving. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *A colourful, sentimental, damning and funny part-history, part-autobiography. That is, until an extraordinarily brutal final chapter… [that] reveals Party Animals to be more than just a revealing memoir, but, hopefully, Mr Aaronovitch’s catharsis. -- Mark Leftly * Independent on Sunday *Deeply personal… A clever and moving portrait of a strange, unexplored subculture, of dedicated self-education by desperately poor young men, of undoubtedly good causes adopted for the advancement of a wicked and dangerous purpose. -- Peter Hitchens * Mail on Sunday *A rich and forensic examination, all the more uncomfortable for its honesty and the authoritative knowledge of Left-wing politics that Aaronovitch brings to it … Like Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood, this is a riveting autobiography that forces you to think about your own family history. * Evening Standard *An uncommonly gripping book, not just as political or social history…but as an account of the lies that families tell themselves to survive. -- Robert Hanks * Daily Telegraph *An honest portrait of communist obsession… A stirring personal yet expansive history of the ideals his committed communist parents strived towards… Aaronovitch fuses his adolescent memories with historical landmarks in the communist way of life… A memoir’s reach is too narrow, a historical biography’s too vast. Party Animals is a smart and well-balanced mix. -- Guy Pewsey * Independent *In his closely observed memoir…Aaronovitch has concentrated both the tragedy and comedy of western communism into a family, his own… The description Aaronovitch gives of his family and of the Party community is rich, subtle and poignant… The best thing he has done. -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *A painfully honest memoir. -- John Sutherland * The Times *Aaronovitch’s song of love and pain for the lost family of British communism. -- Martin Kettle * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis''A manual for the 21st-century citizen... accessible, refreshingly critical, relevant and urgent'' - Financial Times ''Fascinating and deeply disturbing'' - Yuval Noah Harari, Guardian Books of the Year In this New York Times bestseller, Cathy O''Neil, one of the first champions of algorithmic accountability, sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life -- and threaten to rip apart our social fabric.We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives - where we go to school, whether we get a loan, how much we pay for insurance - are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. And yet, as Cathy O''Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and incontestable, even when they''re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination. Tracing the arc of a person''s life, O''Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These weapons of math destruction score teachers and students, sort CVs, grant or deny loans, evaluate workers, target voters, and monitor our health. O''Neil calls on modellers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it''s up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.Trade ReviewFascinating and deeply disturbing -- Yuval Noah Harari * Guardian Books of the Year *This is a manual for the 21st-century citizen, and it succeeds where other big data accounts have failed - it is accessible, refreshingly critical and feels relevant and urgent -- Federica Cocco * Financial Times *Well-written, entertaining and very valuable -- Danny Dorling * Times Higher Education *O'Neil has become a whistle-blower for the world of Big Data... Her work makes particularly disturbing points about how being on the wrong side of an algorithmic decision can snowball in incredibly destructive ways * Time *Cathy O'Neil has seen Big Data from the inside, and the picture isn't pretty. Weapons of Math Destruction opens the curtain on algorithms that exploit people and distort the truth while posing as neutral mathematical tools. This book is wise, fierce, and desperately necessary -- Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not To Be WrongWeapons of Math Destruction is a fantastic, plainspoken call to arms. Cathy O'Neil's book is important precisely because she believes in data science. It's a vital crash course in why we must interrogate the systems around us and demand better -- Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and co-editor of Boing BoingOften we don't even know where to look for those important algorithms, because by definition the most dangerous ones are also the most secretive. That's why the catalogue of case studies in O'Neil's book are so important; she's telling us where to look * Guardian *In today's world, if you want to change your fate you've got to pray at the altar of the algorithm... As math guru Cathy O'Neil argues in her newest book, these models are just the latest way America's institutions perpetuate bias and prejudice to reward the rich and keep the poor, well, poor. It's a nuanced reminder that big data is only as good as the people wielding it * Wired *Not math heavy, but written in an exceedingly accessible, almost literary style; her fascinating case studies of WMDs fit neatly into the genre of dystopian literature. There's a little Philip K. Dick, a little Orwell, a little Kafka in her portrait of powerful bureaucracies ceding control of the most intimate decisions of our lives to hyper-empowered computer models riddled with all of our unresolved, atavistic human biases -- Chris Jackson * Paris Review *O'Neil is an ideal person to write this book... She is one of the strongest voices speaking out for limiting the ways we allow algorithms to influence our lives and against the notion that an algorithm, because it is implemented by an unemotional machine, cannot perpetrate bias or injustice... While Weapons of Math Destruction is full of hard truths and grim statistics, it is also accessible and even entertaining. O'Neil's writing is direct and easy to read - I devoured it in an afternoon -- Evelyn Lamb * Scientific American *

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH AND ECONOMIST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017''A provocative take on the UK''s new tribal divisions ... a book whose timing is pitch-perfect'' Andrew MarrMany Remainers reported waking up the day after the Brexit vote feeling as if they were living in a foreign country. In fact, they were merely experiencing the same feeling that many British people have felt every day for years. Fifty years ago, people in leafy North London and people in working-class Northern towns could vote for a Labour party that broadly encompassed all of their interests. Today their priorities are poles apart. In this groundbreaking and timely book, Goodhart shows us how people have come to be divided into two camps: the ''Anywheres'', who have ''achieved'' identities, derived from their careers and education, and ''Somewheres'', who get their identity from a sense of placTrade ReviewGoodhart offers an impeccably sensible and decent exposition of how the political elites have failed their societies ... The book makes compelling reading both for voters and those who want to get elected by them -- Max Hastings * The Sunday Times *[Goodhart] has written a book that is thoughtful, well argued and dangerously moderate. It may even be an incitement to independent thinking * The Times *[A] provocative take on the UK's new tribal divisions ... And it broadly works ... The Road to Somewhere has the feel of a book whose timing ... is pitch-perfect -- Andrew Marr * New Statesman *Goodhart's exploration of this underlying divide -- and the question of what might be done -- is not only timely but also offers an accessible, evidence-based and direct account of how these conflicts are reshaping the political world around us -- Matthew Goodwin * Financial Times *Goodhart has clarity of argument and courage. He has been making these points for a decade and urging the mainstream to engage with them. He does not do fads * Observer *Whatever other objections Goodhart's new book might provoke, few could call it irrelevant or untimely ... he returns to this most vexed terrain, picking his way through nettles and thorns that might deter thinner-skinned writers -- Jonathan Freedland * The Guardian *[Goodhart] has written what may turn out to be the most sympathetic and insightful book about Britain's discontented masses -- Toby Young * The Spectator *Mr Goodhart's book seems likely to inform the debate on what post-Brexit Britain should look like * The Economist *This meticulously researched book ... enables us to imagine Brexit as a moment that could just prove to be the start of a national renewal * Prospect *Challenging and illuminating -- Will HuttonDavid Goodhart offers the best and most complete explanation I've seen for why things seem to be coming apart in so many countries at the same time -- Jonathan Haidt, author of 'The Righteous Mind'

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND THE IRISH TIMES''Illuminating and entertaining . . . while the world seems to counsel despair, The Persuaders is animated by a sense of possibility'' The New York TimesThe lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people''s minds to enable real change. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. People increasingly write each other off instead of seeking to win each other over. Debates are framed in moralistic terms, with enemies battling the righteous. Movements for justice build barriers to entry, instead of on-ramps. Political parties focus on mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the sceptical. And leaders who seek to forge coalition are labelled sell-outs.In The Persuaders best-selling author Anand GiridhaTrade ReviewGiridharadas proves how senseless it is to lambast ideological opponents, especially when they're actually goodhearted and persuadable. Reassuringly sane, The Persuaders shows people are often less hardline and more conflicted than they seem * The Irish Times, Books of the Year *I was fascinated by The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas - it's changed my view on the way we can (or can't) change people's minds -- Erica Wagner * New Statesman *The Persuaders provides the urgent wisdom we need to fix our broken world. It is a call for an army of persuaders-the teachers, listeners, and peacemakers willing to take the necessary risks to have a working society again. In a culture where everyone we disagree with is written-off, Giridharadas asks us to write our neighbors, friends, and family members back into our lives. This is the book every reader needs now, because we need each other more than ever -- Min Jin Lee, author of PachinkoAn engaging and provocative study of the dangers of political purity -- Emma Brockes * The Observer *Illuminating and entertaining . . . while the world seems to counsel despair, The Persuaders is animated by a sense of possibility * The New York Times *A handbook for defending democracy * CNN *An incredibly hopeful book . . . Every now and then, I come across something that makes me think in a completely new way, and this was one of those times. . . . It's just so good -- Brené Brown, Unlocking UsGiridharadas has already established himself as a major chronicler of one of our great divides - the disparities of income and opportunity that undergird American plutocracy. Now he turns his attention to another kind of gulf, one that's just as endemic and dangerous: ideology. It's one thing to diagnose and quite another to offer real solutions, but in this wide-ranging and profound book, Giridharadas explores real strategies for bridging these divides by finding a language in which we can speak to one another, and persuade. Reading The Persuaders I felt something I hadn't in quite a while: a tremor of hope -- Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of PainAt the heart of The Persuaders is an immense spirit of generosity. With clarity and nuance, Anand Giridharadas paints portraits of people who are pushing the boundaries of traditional political paradigms, and whose work serves as a clarion call for all of us to imagine a new set of political possibilities. It is both a challenge and an affirmation. This is a guidebook to a better world -- Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is PassedI was profoundly moved by The Persuaders. It is full of counterintuitive wisdom for repairing a broken world. In a cynical and hate-filled culture, what would it take for us to become persuaders? The beautifully written profiles are affecting and urgently needed because our world can no longer wait -- Min Jin Lee * The Sydney Morning Herald, Best Books of 2022 *

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Book Synopsis*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**A Financial Times 2023 book to watch*''Forceful ... The fundamental thrust of Goodwin''s argument is right ... a new centre ground of British politics is being formed - even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it'' The TimesWhat has caused the recent seismic changes in British politics, including Brexit and a series of populist revolts against the elite? Why did so many people want to overturn the status quo? Where have the Left gone wrong? And what deeper trends are driving these changes?British politics is coming apart. A country once known for its stability has recently experienced a series of shocking upheavals. Matthew Goodwin, acclaimed political scientist and co-author of National Populism, shows that the reason is not economic hardship, personalities or dark money. It is a far wider political realignment that will be with us for years to come. An increasingly lTrade ReviewA single missile laser-targeted at a careless, feckless ruling elite who have ignored the wants and wills of the vast majority of voters ... The fundamental thrust of Goodwin's argument is right. ... a new centre ground of British politics is being formed - even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it. -- Sebastian Payne * The Times *A much-needed corrective. It gives voice to those whose values are scarcely heard or represented by the media ... impassioned and convincing. -- Patrick West * spiked *Goodwin's central thesis is that the rise of the radical right, the Brexit referendum and Johnson's general election victory of 2019 are expressions of a deeper realignment in UK politics that pits the marginalised white working class, socially conservative older voters and the 'non-graduate majority' against a new elite of university-educated progressives. -- Nick Pearce * Financial Times *The most consistent chronicler of events that have upturned the UK several times ... there is much to recommend it as an antidote against the madness of our times. -- Titus Techera * Washington Examiner *Well-written and cogently argued ... [Goodwin] understands the broad forces that spurred the surprising changes and tumult in the politics of the West, and he writes about them without villainizing or heroizing ... a crucial one to read. -- Bo Winegard * Aporia *This book is a valuable read for understanding better the cause of our recent democratic upheavals. -- Baroness Stowell * The House Magazine *Hot property... [from] an insightful author and a trendsetting 'entrepreneurial academic', combining his scholarly work with writing punchy op-eds and making his case on TV and radio. -- Rakib Ehsan * CapX *Goodwin is angry on behalf of the white working class. He wants a political programme that offers them more protection from the gales of international economic competition and from the erosion of their socially conservative values. -- David Willetts * Prospect *

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Book SynopsisIn time for the federal election that promises to be a referendum on Stephen Harper's tenure, Party of One is a scathing look at the majority government of a prime minister determined to remake Canada.     In Party of One, investigative journalist Michael Harris closely examines the majority government of a prime minister essentially unchecked by the opposition and empowered by the general election victory of May 2011. Harris looks at Stephen Harper's policies, instincts, and the often breathtaking gap between his stated political principles and his practices.     He argues that Harper is more than a master of controlling information; he is a profoundly anti-democratic figure. In the F-35 debacle, the government's sin wasn't only in keeping the facts from Canadians, it was in inventing them. He illustrates how Harper has made war on every independent source of information in Canada since coming to power. H

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Book SynopsisThe Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome tells the story of 2200 years of the use and misuse of the idea of Roman decline by ambitious politicians, authors, and autocrats as well as the people scapegoated and victimized in the name of Roman renewal. It focuses on the long history of a way of describing change that might seem innocuous, but which has cost countless people their lives, liberty, or property across two millennia.Trade ReviewProponents of gradualism, sceptical about the need for radical change and its promised benefits, will have a handy primer to challenge the misuse of Roman precedents. * MICHAEL WHITBY, The Classical Review *The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome might be one of Watts's most significant books. * Evan Axel Andersson, World History Encyclopedia *This clearly written scholarly work covers 2,000 years of political and intellectual history. * A. J. Papalas, East Carolina University, Choice Connect *This is a gripping book, which packs much detail into its 242 pages. It is built around the theme of continuous decline or apparent decline. The book has many insights, in particular the way in which Roman history is misused by modern writers and politicians. This reviewer would strongly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in European history or classics. * Rupert Jackson, Classics for All *Edward J. Watts, a professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, is a scholar of the later ancient world, who takes his readers from republican Rome to Republican Washington with a resounding theme that anyone promising to restore lost greatness is probably up to no good.... This is a powerful lens through which to view the past, both for those who already think they know it well and those who have practical uses for it.... He gives a masterly account of the complex family who founded the Roman empire's last and longest-lasting dynasty, and of its principal figure, Michael Palaeologus (1261-82), who restored Constantinople to its capital status while committing 'sins so great that even his successors hesitated to embrace his legacy too closely. * Peter Stothard, Wall Street Journal *History professor Watts accomplishes an impressive feat by effectively compressing the vast history of Rome and its empire into a relatively short book... In such an abbreviated history of much of the Western World, Watts succeeds admirably in his purpose. But his truly novel contribution is his ability to weave in the ways that the 'deeply entrenched narrative' of Roman decline and recovery accompanied Rome's growth in the second century B.C.E. and on to its commanding position in the western empire as the seat of Catholicism, before the break with Constantinople.... A fresh, complex story of how historical perceptions come into being and are used to persuade and rule. * Kirkus Reviews *The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome traces the dreams and nightmares of the longest lasting polity in the history of Europe. For almost two millennia, Romans remained haunted by the prospect of their own decline and fall. They were also constantly hypnotized by programs that claimed to 'Make Rome Great Again.' Each such program left a trail of victims and scapegoats. Edward Watts tells this story of alternating hopes, fears, and grand illusions from beginning to end with zest and truly panoramic erudition. Those who wish to understand how the chill ghost of Rome's fall can still be conjured up by modern pundits and politicians - and frequently with toxic results--should read this book. * Peter Brown, author of The Ransom of the Soul: Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity *The 'fall of Rome' is an idea that has been weaponized throughout the ages. Where one speaks of a 'decline,' talk of blame is usually soon to follow. Any 'renewal' or 'revival' quickly results in its own victims. TheEternal Decline and Fall of Rome is the first book to tell the story of the use and misuse of these ideas over the long course of Roman history. As Watts lays out, there was no one decline of Rome, nor one fall, but a series of them, each of them heavily politicized. * Anthony Kaldellis, author of Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade *In this timely and well-executed work, Edward Watts has brought off three exceptional achievements: literary, historical, and political. His well-tempered description of Roman decline and fall strikes chords in contemporary America, inviting a use of Rome's example to think more responsibly about the challenges of our own world. * Janet Nelson, author of King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne *Memory of Rome's imperial greatness has inspired over the centuries the ambitions of rulers, popes, and warlords. But alongside this was the warning of Rome's fall. In this masterful compression, Edward Watts brings together ideas of empire and decline, showing their interaction over almost two millennia and their continued relevance and misuse in politics today. * Martyn Rady, author of The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power *Watt's book is well-written and it demonstrates the work of a classical scholar at the top of his game. Moreover, he makes an admirable argument about the need for a positive American leader akin to Marcus Aurelius. * Jesse Russell, European Conservative *Table of ContentsChapter 1 A Snapshot and a Story Chapter 2 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Republic, c. 200 BC-14 AD Chapter 3 Manufacturing the Golden Age of Trajan, 14 -117 AD Chapter 4 Renewal without Decline: The Antonines and Severans, 117-235 AD Chapter 5 Decline and False Renewal: The Third Century Crisis, 235-284 AD Chapter 6 Decline, Renewal, and the Invention of Christian Progress, 284-337 AD Chapter 7 Roman Renewal versus Christian Progress, 337-363 AD Chapter 8 When Renewal Fails to Arrive, 363-384 AD Chapter 9 The Loss of the Roman West and the Christian Future, 384-c. 470 AD Chapter 10 Justinian, Roman Progress, and the Death of the Western Roman Empire, c. 470-565 AD Chapter 11 Rome, the Arabs, and Iconoclasm, 565-c. 750 AD Chapter 12 Old Rome, New Rome, and Future Rome, c. 750-814 AD Chapter 13 The Retrenchment of One Roman Empire, the Resurgence of Another, 814-1085 AD Chapter 14 The Captures of Constantinople, 1085-1282 AD Chapter 15 The Fall of Roman Constantinople and the End of Roman Renewal, 1282-1461 AD Chapter 16 Roman Renewal After the Fall, c.1450-c. 1560 AD Chapter 17 The Dangerous Idea

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Book SynopsisLate in life, William F. Buckley made a confession to Corey Robin. Capitalism is boring, said the founding father of the American right. Devoting your life to it, as conservatives do, is horrifying if only because it''s so repetitious. It''s like sex. With this unlikely conversation began Robin''s decade-long foray into the conservative mind. What is conservatism, and what''s truly at stake for its proponents? If capitalism bores them, what excites them?Tracing conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution, Robin argues that the right is fundamentally inspired by a hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market, others oppose it. Some criticize the state, others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality. Despite their opposition to these movements, conservatives favor a dynamic conception of politics and society--one that involves self-transformation, violence, and war. They are also highly adaptive to new challenges and circumstances. This partiality to violence and capacity for reinvention has been critical to their success.Written by a keen, highly regarded observer of the contemporary political scene, The Reactionary Mind ranges widely, from Edmund Burke to Antonin Scalia to Donald Trump, from John C. Calhoun to Ayn Rand. It advances the notion that all right-wing ideologies, from the eighteenth century through today, are historical improvisations on a theme: the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back.When its first edition appeared in fall 2011, The Reactionary Mind set off a fierce debate, in the New York Review of Books, on academic blogs, and throughout the internet. So intense was the controversy that it became the subject of a profile in the New York Times. Now updated to include Trump''s election and the rise of global populism, The Reactionary Mind is more relevant than ever.Trade ReviewAcclaim for The Reactionary Mind:“Robin is an engaging writer, and just the kind of broad-ranging public intellectual all too often missing in academic political science…. Robin's arguments deserve widespread attention." * The New Republic *A very readable romp through the evils of Conservatism." * The Observer *The common opinion on the Left is that conservatives are fire-breathing idiots, who make up in heat what they lack in light. Robin's book is a welcome correction of this simplistic view and puts the debate where it ought to be: on the force and content of conservative ideas." * Dissent *This little book will continue to spark controversy, but that is not the reason to read it: it is a witty, erudite and opinionated account of one of the most significant movements of our times." * Times Higher Education *...written with panache. The series of scholarly strikes Robin makes against conventional wisdom are often exhilarating." * The Daily *The Reactionary Mind is a wonderfully good read. It combines up-to-the-minute relevance with an eye to the intellectual history of conservatism in all its protean forms, going back as far as Hobbes, and taking in not only restrained and sentimental defenders of tradition such as Burke, but his more violent, proto-fascist contemporary Joseph de Maistre. Some readers will enjoy Corey Robin's dismantling of different recent thinkers * Barry Goldwater, Antonin Scalia, Irving Kristol; others will enjoy his demolition of Ayn Rand's intellectual pretensions. Some will be uncomfortable when they discover that those who too lightly endorse state violence, and even officially sanctioned torture, include some of their friends. That is one of the things that makes this such a good book." Alan Ryan, Professor of Political Theory, Oxford University *A fascinating exploration of a central idea: that conservatism is, at its heart, a reaction against democratic challenges, in public and private life, to hierarchies of power and status. Corey Robin leads us through a series of case studies over the last few centuries * from Hobbes to Ayn Rand, from Burke to Sarah Palinshowing the power of this idea by illuminating conservatives both sublime and ridiculous." Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University *Table of ContentsTK

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Book SynopsisIn the last few years, populism -- of the right, left, and center varieties -- has spread like wildfire throughout the world. The impulse reached its apogee in the United States with the election of Trump, but it was a force in Europe ever since the Great Recession sent the European economy into a prolonged tailspin. In the simplest terms, populism is a political ideology that vilifies economic and political elites and instead lionizes ''the people.'' The people, populists of all stripes contend, need to retake power from the unaccountable elites who have left them powerless. And typically, populists'' distrust of elites shades into a catchall distrust of trained experts because of their perceived distance from and contempt for ''the people.'' Another signature element of populist movements is faith in a savior who can not only speak directly to the people, but also serve as a vessel for the plain people''s hopes and dreams. Going back to the 1890s, a series of such saviors have come and gone in the US alone, from William Jennings Bryan to Huey Long to -- finally -- Donald Trump.In The Populist Temptation, the eminent economic historian Barry Eichengreen focuses on the global resurgence of populism today and places it in a deep context. Alternating between the present and earlier populist waves from modern history, he argues that populists tend to thrive most in the wake of economic downturns, when it is easy to convince the masses of elite malfeasance. Yet while there is more than a grain of truth that bankers, financiers, and ''bought'' politicians are responsible for the mess, populists'' own solutions tend to be simplistic and economically counterproductive. Moreover, by arguing that the ordinary people are at the mercy of extra-national forces beyond their control -- international capital, immigrants, cosmopolitan globalists -- populists often degenerate into demagoguery and xenophobia. There is no one solution to addressing the concerns that populists raise, but Eichengreen argues that there is an obvious place to start: shoring up and improving the welfare state so that it is better able to act as a buffer for those who suffer most during economic slumps. For example, America''s patchwork welfare state was not well equipped to deal with the economic fallout that attended globalization and the decline of manufacturing in America, and that played no small part in Trump''s victory. Lucidly explaining both the appeals and dangers of populism across history, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not just the populist phenomenon, but more generally the lasting political fallout that follows in the wake of major economic crises.Trade ReviewThe Populist Temptation is strongly recommended for scholars interested in the economic roots and consequences of right wing populism, and, more broadly, those utilizing historical comparative narratives. Furthermore, the effort of the author to refer to the impacts of populism in the EU makes it also valuable for scholars of European public policies or interested in the future of the EU. * Hugo Marcos-Marne, Democratization *Barry Eichengreen is the world leader in distilling the lessons of economic history for the policy makers of today. This important book is the best we yet have on populism and the antidotes it demands. * Lawrence H. Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University *No one makes economic history relevant to today while doing justice to the past like Barry Eichengreen. The Populist Temptation is the best of American and European perspectives on the worst of current EU and US politics. Sobering and sensible, this is a necessary interpretative guide to our times. * Adam S. Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics *Finally, a superb book that places populism in its proper historical context. And who better to write it than Barry Eichengreen, a master at shedding light on our contemporary economic problems from a historical perspective? Eichengreen brilliantly describes the backlash unleashed by economic difficulties and dislocation periodically throughout history, and the varying success of political regimes to rise to the challenge. Historical treatments with their focus on deeply rooted processes can be fatalistic. Eichengreen nicely sidesteps that trap, with a hopeful, constructive message pointing the way forward. * Dani Rodrik, Harvard University *In The Populist Temptation, Barry Eichengreen, amongst the foremost international economists today, explains why we are seeing an outburst of populist movements across the industrial world, and how they mirror similar movements from history. He argues that while the populists have genuine grievances, the solutions their leaders propose are unlikely to work. Eichengreen is skeptical that populists' concerns can be addressed easily. However, his insightful analysis is an essential starting point for anyone who wants to understand one of the most important developments of our times. * Raghuram G. Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago *Barry Eichengreen has written a characteristically lucid book on the contemporary threat of populism... * The Financial Times *The publication of these excellent books is therefore timely... Amid a surge in such publications on a changing world they stand out for their clarity of analysis and writing. * Paschal Donohoe, The Irish Times (referring to both The Populist Temptation and Ctrl Alt Delete, How Politics and the Media Crashed Our Democracy) *Barry Eichengreen is the world leader in distilling the lessons of economic history for the policy makers of today. This important book is the best we yet have on populism and the antidotes it demands. * Lawrence H. Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University *No one makes economic history relevant to today while doing justice to the past like Barry Eichengreen. The Populist Temptation is the best of American and European perspectives on the worst of current EU and US politics. Sobering and sensible, this is a necessary interpretative guide to our times. * Adam S. Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics *Finally, a superb book that places populism in its proper historical context. And who better to write it than Barry Eichengreen, a master at shedding light on our contemporary economic problems from a historical perspective? Eichengreen brilliantly describes the backlash unleashed by economic difficulties and dislocation periodically throughout history, and the varying success of political regimes to rise to the challenge. Historical treatments with their focus on deeply rooted processes can be fatalistic. Eichengreen nicely sidesteps that trap, with a hopeful, constructive message pointing the way forward. * Dani Rodrik, Harvard University *In The Populist Temptation, Barry Eichengreen, amongst the foremost international economists today, explains why we are seeing an outburst of populist movements across the industrial world, and how they mirror similar movements from history. He argues that while the populists have genuine grievances, the solutions their leaders propose are unlikely to work. Eichengreen is skeptical that populists concerns can be addressed easily. However, his insightful analysis is an essential starting point for anyone who wants to understand one of the most important developments of our times. * Raghuram G. Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago *Table of ContentsPrefaceChapter 1. The Populist ArchetypeChapter 2. American PanoramaChapter 3. Luddites and LaborersChapter 4. Voyage of the BismarckChapter 5. The Associationalist WayChapter 6. Unemployment and ReactionChapter 7. The Age of ModerationChapter 8. Things Come ApartChapter 9. Trumped UpChapter 10. Breaking PointChapter 11. ContainmentChapter 12. Au Revoir Europe?Chapter 13. Prospects

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Book SynopsisThis book discusses utopian ideals and experimentation before, during, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Richard Stites grounds his study in the larger field of Russia''s social, intellectual, and cultural history, examining party programmes, economic policy, and moral practices to recreate the vast tableau of revolutionary life. Above all, he reveals how people expressed revolutionary sentiment through myth, ritual, symbol, cult, and community.Trade Review`Stites has produced a dazzling compendium of the manifold ideas and projects that flashed across Russia after 1917.' Times Higher Education Supplement'a comprehensive and sympathetic look at a long-gone age of revolutionary dreamers and utopia builders' SLOVO (from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies)'thoroughly researched and extremely informative book ... A book to be enjoyed.' Political Studies'Richard Stites' book is a lively, charismatic catalogue of the many manifestations of Russian 'pre-figurative behaviour' ... Stites profitably indulges the historian's love for accreted details and anecdotes, which add up to a cultural mosaic and suggest a scholarly proof.' Spencer Golub, Brown University, Theatre Research International, 1992

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Book SynopsisThe Soviet withdrawal from Afganistan has been largely attributed to the bravery of the Afghan resistance reinforced by American weaponry and support. This book shows how it was infact years of persistent United Nations initiatives that proved crucial to the conclusion of the Geneva accords, and that the ideological hard line of the Reagan administration prolonged the conflict. Diego Cordovez, the United Nations mediator for the Afghanistan conflict, and prominent foreign policy analyst Selig Harrison have written the definitive account of the negotiations that helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the last great clash of the cold war.Trade ReviewA fascinating and superbly-researched account which seems destined to be the classic work on the subject. * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe most recent addition to the Fundamentals of Philosophy Series, Political Philosophy is a concise yet thorough and highly engaging introduction to the essential problems of the discipline. Organized topically and presented in a straightforward manner by an eminent political philosopher, A. John Simmons, it investigates the nature and basis of political authority and the structure and organization of political life. Each chapter focuses on a central problem, considers howit could be addressed, and outlines the various philosophical positions surrounding it. Covering both historical and contemporary work, this unique text offers a survey of major concepts and debates while also reflecting the author's views and contributions. Accessible to novices yet also useful for advancedstudents, Political Philosophy presents a unified and accessible portrait of the issues that have been puzzling political philosophers for years.Trade Review"Political Philosophy is excellent. It presents a comprehensive point of departure for anyone interested in social and political philosophy. This is a must-read not just for undergraduates and graduates but also for anyone interested in political philosophy. Simmons's arguments are straightforward and subtle yet feisty and engaging."--Ajume H. Wingo, Harvard UniversityTable of Contents1. Morals and Politics ; 2. States? ; 3. Obligations ; 4. Justice ; 5. Democracy ; 6. The World of States

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Book SynopsisWomen have historically been prevented from living autonomously by systematic injustice, subordination, and oppression. The lingering effects of these practices have prompted many feminists to view autonomy with suspicion. Here, Marilyn Friedman defends the ideal of feminist autonomy. In her eyes, behavior is autonomous if it accords with the wants, cares, values, or commitments that the actor has reaffirmed and is able to sustain in the face of opposition. By her account, autonomy is socially grounded yet also individualizing and sometimes socially disruptive, qualities that can be ultimately advantageous for women. Friedman applies the concept of autonomy to domains of special interest to women. She defends the importance of autonomy in romantic love, considers how social institutions should respond to women who choose to remain in abusive relationships, and argues that liberal societies should tolerate minority cultural practices that violate women''s rights so long as the women in Trade Review[a] highly readable, informed, and philosophically refined book. * John Christman, Journal of Value Inquiry *

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Book SynopsisIs there a limit to the legitimate demands of morality? In particular, is there a limit to people''s responsibility to promote the well-being of others, either directly or via social institutions? Utilitarianism admits no such limit, and is for that reason often said to be an unacceptably demanding moral and political view. In this original new study, Murphy argues that the charge of excessive demands amounts to little more than an affirmation of the status quo. The real problem with utilitarianism is that it makes unfair demands on people who comply with it in our world of nonideal compliance. Murphy shows that this unfairness does not arise on a collective understanding of our responsibility for others'' well being. Thus, according to Murphy, while there is no general problem to be raised about the extent of moral demands, there is a pressing need to acknowledge the collective nature of the demands of beneficence.Trade Review"Readers will learn much by workings through Murphy's book. It advances discussion on several important topics regarding benificence."--Thaddues Metz, Philosophical Review

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Book SynopsisFighting for France is a ground-breaking examination of violence in French politics in the interwar period. During these years, a range of groups at the political extremes employed physical aggression against their enemies and threatened to bring about the violent demise of the democratic regime. Until now, historians have denied and downplayed the frequency and seriousness of French political violence in favour of an interpretation that emphasises France''s weddedness to democracy. Fighting for France demonstrates that the democratic culture of the late Third Republic co-existed with a culture of violence in which the physical punishment of rivals and opponents was considered acceptable. Drawing on the narratives constructed around outbreaks of violence, the book reconstructs the lived experience of fighting and the sense that contemporaries made of conflict. It examines violence in a variety of settings, from the street to the factory floor. A range of actors come under investigationTrade Review...this is an important piece of research that will help historians gain a greater understanding not just of French political culture in this period but also of the relationship between violence and democratic political culture in Europe more broadly. * Karine Varley, H-Net *Millington contributes a nuanced exploration of the circumstances in which violence took place in France, and the political cultures that both nurtured and constrained its use. * Joan Tumblety, European History Quarterly *Fighting or France is sure to be of interest to specialists in French twentieth-century politics and political culture, as well as to those with an interest in the comparative study of democracies' responses to political extremism in the era of fascism. It could serve as a readable and engaging supplementary text for an undergraduate course on Europe in the era of the World Wars, and could also be used to provoke productive discussion about the similarities and differences between political violence in interwar Europe and in our own time. * Drew Flanagan, H-France *

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