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Book SynopsisAn investigation of misinformation and fracturing in contemporary American political culture. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine’s 165-year archive.A collection of essays from Atlantic staff writer Megan Garber, On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics is a timely treatise on our contemporary American political culture. Using the concept of “misdirection” to argue how attention, boredom, uncertainty, and cynicism have become the disquieting stalwarts of our current political arena, Garber offers readers a new and accessible theory for understanding the lasting power of Donald Trump and his right-wing legions.

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Book SynopsisA rousing commentary on the history of labor and the future of work. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine’s 165-year archive.On Work gathers a selection of Derek Thompson’s most popular and significant writing on work, life, and the future of jobs. From essays on how mass automation could change society to his widely read treatise on “workism” as our modern religion, Thompson’s analysis and forecasts have become fixtures of the twenty-first century conversation about work.

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of American ideas of utopia through the lens of one millennial's quest to live a more communal life under late-stage capitalismTold in a series of essays that balance memoir with fieldwork, Heaven Is a Place on Earth is an idiosyncratic study of American utopian experiments—from the Shakers to the radical faerie communes of Short Mountain to the Bronx rebuilding movement—through the lens of one woman’s quest to create a more communal life in a time of unending economic and social precarity. When Adrian Shirk’s father-in-law has a stroke and loses his ability to speak and walk, she and her husband—both adjuncts in their midtwenties—become his primary caretakers. The stress of these new responsibilities, coupled with navigating America’s broken health-care system and ordinary twenty-first-century financial insecurity, propels Shirk into an odyssey through the history and present of American utopian experiments in the hope that they might offer a way forward.  Along the way, Shirk seeks solace in her own community of friends, artists, and theologians. They try to imagine a different kind of life, examining what might be replicable within the histories of utopia-making, and what might be doomed. Rather than “no place,” Shirk reframes utopia as something that, according to the laws of capital and conquest, shouldn’t be able to exist—but does anyway, if only for a moment.

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Book SynopsisEuropean history of the past century is full of examples of philosophers, writers, and scholars who supported or excused the worst tyrannies of the age. How was this possible? How could intellectuals whose work depends on freedom defend those who would deny it?   In profiles of six leading twentieth-century thinkers—Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Alexandre Kojève, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida—Mark Lilla explores the psychology of political commitment. As continental Europe gave birth to two great ideological systems in the twentieth century, communism and fascism, it also gave birth to a new social type, the philotyrannical intellectual. Lilla shows how these thinkers were not only grappling with enduring philosophical questions, they were also writing out of their own experiences and passions. These profiles demonstrate how intellectuals can be driven into a political sphere they scarcely understand, with momentous results.In a new afterword, Lilla traces how the intellectual world has changed since the end of the cold war. The ideological passions of the past have been replaced in the West, he argues, by a dogma of individual autonomy and freedom that both obscures the historical forces at work in the present and sanctions ignorance about them, leaving us ill-equipped to understand those who are inflamed by the new global ideologies of our time.

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Book SynopsisThree distinguished experts and policy practitioners declare: "Despite the wrongs committed against China in the past, the People’s Republic of China must not represent the future, for it is corrupt. Harking back to what Ronald Reagan did to spur the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States must enunciate that its objective is the peaceful end of the Communist Party of China. China existed for four thousand years before the formation of a communist junta within its borders; China can only achieve greatness combined with liberty and wealth if it frees itself from one-party rule and the despotism this type of government always brings.”America is doomed to collapse under a multi-pronged attack led by the PRC and by statists in our midst. We must return in great haste to the Judeo-Christian principles upon which we were founded, which made us the most prosperous, secure, and generous nation in human history.Trade Review"If you care about the future of America, you need to read America's #1 Adversary -- now!" -- LTG William G "Jerry" Boykin, former commander, U.S. Army Special Forces, and author of seven books including his autobiography, Never Surrender"This must-read book details China's effort to dominate global affairs through waging a soft war of infrastructure development in developing countries, using energy as a main weapon. Blessed with abundant resources, the United States must counter this attack." -- William F Martin, United States Deputy Secretary of Energy (1986-1988)"Don't just absorb America's #1 Adversary : share it with your fellow citizens, without whose vigilance America can never remain truly secure." -- Dr John Lenczowski, founder, president, and professor, The Institute of World Politics

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Book SynopsisPoetry by Kay GabrielPhotography by Luc DelahayeArt by Bahar BehbahaniFiction by Katie Kane and David Naimon Richard Seymour: ‘Caedmon’s Dream: On the Politics of Style’Politics and the English language – among others – redux. Bromides, ornamentaphobia and the elitism of ‘clarity’. Robert Knox: ‘Against Law-sterity’Beyond economics and ideology to a jurisprudential horizon. The law of austerity and the austere grounds of law. Esther Leslie: ‘Men of Doubt: Fortini, Benjamin, Brecht’Fragments, scraps, posters and poems, certainty and its discontents, ethics and hunger and a neglected angel. Barnaby Raine: ‘Jewophobia’Navigating sound, fury and fear, the bad faith and even good, in an unstable debate, striving for a theory worthy of the name. China Miévi

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark book, the author of The New Enclosure provides a forensic examination and sweeping critique of early-twenty-first-century capitalism. Brett Christophers styles this as 'rentier capitalism', in which ownership of key types of scarce assets - such as land, intellectual property, natural resources, or digital platforms - is all-important and dominated by a few unfathomably wealthy companies and individuals: rentiers. If a small elite owns today's economy, everybody else foots the bill. Nowhere is this divergence starker, Christophers shows, than in the United Kingdom, where the prototypical ills of rentier capitalism - vast inequalities combined with entrenched economic stagnation - are on full display and have led the country inexorably to the precipice of Brexit. With profound lessons for other countries subject to rentier dominance, Christophers' examination of the UK case is indispensable to those wanting not just to understand this insidious economic phenomenon but to overcome it. Frequently invoked but never previously analysed and illuminated in all its depth and variety, rentier capitalism is here laid bare for the first time.Trade ReviewIn praise of The New Enclosure:With his carefully crafted and meticulously researched study, he has made an essential contribution to our understanding of politics and government in modern Britain. -- Adam Tooze * Financial Times *In praise of The New Enclosure:The biggest privatisation of all isn't housing, railways, or utilities, but the oldest source of oligarchic power-land. In this clear, readable, accessible and maddening book, Brett Christophers makes clear the massive mismanagement, waste, opacity and centralisation of wealth that has resulted. Necessary reading for anyone who wants to know where ruling class power comes from, and how to take it back. -- Owen HatherleyIn praise of The New Enclosure:If you're someone who's interested in Britain-and I mean Britain tout court: the whole 80,823 square miles of its physical existence-then this is a book you must read. -- Will Self * Guardian *In praise of The New Enclosure:Brett Christophers's The New Enclosure towers with empirical and argumentative force. Christophers dissects the process by which 1.6 million hectares, or 8 percent of Britain, ended up in private hands since the election of Margaret Thatcher. This is a stunning work of scholarship. It speaks to the history of capitalism and social inequality, cast as the undemocratic ownership of nature. -- Steven Stoll * Orion Magazine *In praise of The New Enclosure:British taxpayers have been robbed blind by the recent fire sale of 400 billion pounds of public land. Like Henry VIII's destruction of the monasteries, Thatcher's privatisation frenzy has led to the destruction of public assets unprecedented amongst leading economies, and to the enrichment of landowners and financiers. In this comprehensive and rigorously researched book, Brett Christophers opens up a field of study-public land-largely buried by academia, landowners and no doubt, by financiers. A must-read. -- Ann PettiforA seminal study * Guardian *Our economic present is supposed to be characterised by free markets, unleashed creative entrepreneurship, the control of knowledge, and globalisation of production. Yet as Brett Christophers shows in this incisive and vital study, the supposedly long-dead rentier is the characteristic capitalist of our age, not the entrepreneur of neoliberal theory. Thinking beyond the clichés, and the standard statistical summaries of the economy, he shows that instead of entrepreneurs there are exploiters of ownership and control who underinvest in the future. The new rentiers are everywhere, passively piling up the returns accruing from investments, from land, from housing, monopolistic utilities, consumer credit, and the control of platforms, natural resources and long-term contracts. -- David Edgerton, author of Rise and Fall of the British NationEmpirically rigorous and theoretically insightful, Rentier Capitalism is a fascinating contribution to the debate on the changing face of British capitalism. Christophers makes a clear and compelling case that the profits of some of the largest British corporations stem not from production itself, but from their ability to exploit their control over critical resources to extract economic rents.' -- Grace Blakeley, author of StolenEmpirically rich and theoretically astute, Rentier Capitalism offers a definitive account of a central feature of neoliberal capitalism: the resurgent power of unproductive assets. Spanning finance, housing, fossil fuels and the public sector out-sourcing racket, this will be a vital resource for anyone seeking to make sense of economic inequality and injustice in the UK and beyond. -- Will DaviesOur economic present is supposed to be characterised by free markets, unleashed creative entrepreneurship, the free production and flow of knowledge, and the frictionless mobility of capital and production. Yet as Brett Christophers shows in this incisive and vital study, the supposedly long-dead rentier is the characteristic capitalist of our age, not the entrepreneur of neoliberal theory. Thinking beyond the clichés, and the standard statistical summaries of the economy, he shows that instead of entrepreneurs there are exploiters of ownership and control who underinvest in the future. The new rentiers are everywhere, passively piling up the returns accruing from investments, from land, from housing, monopolistic utilities, consumer credit, and the control of platforms, natural resources and long-term contracts. -- David EdgertonIn this eye-opening, wide-ranging, and pedagogical book, Brett Christophers reveals the outsized role that rents play in today's economy-from natural resources to intellectual property, from land to finance, from infrastructure to digital platforms. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding modern-day capitalism. -- Gabriel Zucman coauthor of The Triumph of InjusticeBrett Christophers' comprehensive study of the dominance of rent will change how we think about inequality. Contemporary capitalism relies more on controlling something valuable than it does on making something valuable. Rentier Capitalism is a brilliant and indispensable book. -- Jodi DeanIf you want to understand the complexities of modern capitalism, there is no better place to start than Brett Christophers' ambitious new exploration of rentierism. Unique in examining this phenomenon across its multiple facets, Christophers' insightful analysis reveals the inner workings of rentier capitalism with grit and detail. This is essential reading for all serious students of political economy. -- Greta R. Krippner, University of MichiganAt last! For some years the great and the good have been muttering about the rentierisation of the economy, without really defining what they mean. What is rentier capitalism and what do we do about it? How did capitalism go from being all about "doing" to all about "having"?These are some of the most important questions we should be pondering in the coming years. And now, finally, we have a book that defines this crucial trend and provides a forensic analysis of it. An insightful, fascinating read. -- Ed Conway, Sky News Economics Editor, a Times columnist, and author of The SummitTo understand the inequalities of wealth and power that define contemporary capitalism, read this important book. Rentierism shapes every sphere of our shared lives, Christophers shows, from energy to real estate, aerospace to health care, and entertainment to Airbnb. Tracing the different way each sector is organized to compel payments to those who monopolize its key assets, the book explains how rent takes multiple forms. It is this variability that allows capitalism's extraordinary profits--and inequalities--to be generated at every juncture. -- Timothy MitchellWe are plagued by wealth and income inequality, declining productivity, falling investment, and polarized populations. But how are they related? Christophers answers that question, in my view definitively, by showing us how the economy we inhabit is a province of rents protected by power, in everything from finance and patents to carbon extraction and land ownership. Few books come along that fundamentally challenge the way you see the world. This is one of them. Christophers rewired my understanding of capitalism on a fundamental level. Piketty told us that the Trente Glorieuses were a stochastic blip, not a fundamental change. He saw that in the data. Christophers builds upon this insight a theory as to why that is that is both compelling and powerful - that the equilibrium state of capitalism is one of rent accumulation - and that such an equilibrium is a question of class power exercised through the state. -- Mark BlythAn essential read for anyone thinking about what UK governments might need to do differently as the pandemic upends the economy, and people's jobs, without doubt feeding an appetite for some significant change in the philosophy of public policy. -- Diane Coyle * The Enlightened Economist *An important and urgent contribution to our understanding of modern capitalism. -- Christine Berry * openDemocracy *A striking reminder of the way-in the UK economy, in this case-concentration of ownership has continued to increase in recent decades. -- Diane Coyle * Five Books, Best Economics Books of 2020 *Arguably one of this year's most important books. -- Will Hutton * Guardian *Rentier Capitalism is an autopsy report for a decomposing corpse. Christophers clinically dissects a corrupted body, before arriving at a probable cause of death. Of course, capitalism is still with us, but for those wanting to understand the system more, the better and sooner to end it, this book is essential reading. -- Glyn Robbins * Socialist Review *It's all crackling, shimmering stuff ... you'll start seeing rentiers everywhere, hearing them in every news bulletin, or envisioning how they all interlock like a lattice of money-pipes, situated at almost every choke point in supply, and all involved in massive anti-competitive behaviour. -- Mic Moroney * Irish Times *From North Sea oil to the railways to water and electricity, this is a damning book about what successful British firms actually do - bid for privatised contracts, charge large rental fees, and sit back and let the profits come in from poor-quality, monopolised services. -- Owen Hatherley * Tribune *Rentier Capitalism presents convincing evidence of the extent to which rent-seeking has become a central aspect of the British economy. -- Richard Goulding * Greater Manchester Housing Action *Masterful ... a rigorously researched and theoretically insightful account of how large areas of capitalism have changed from "doing" to having. -- Sean Byrne * Dublin Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisThis volume of over thirty essays is organised around five primary dimensions of Hillary Clinton’s influence: policy, activism, campaigns, women’s ambition and impact on parents and their children. Combining personal narrative with scholarly expertise in political science, this volume looks at American politics through the career of Hillary Clinton in order to illuminate overarching trends related to elections, gender and public policy. Featuring an extraordinarily varied list of contributors working within the field of political science, and a fresh interdisciplinary approach, this book will appeal to broad range of politically engaged audiences, practitioners and scholars.Trade ReviewCargile, Davis, Merolla and VanSickle-Ward assembled an exciting volume of diverse perspectives to commemorate the enduring effects of Hillary Clinton’s career. This volume combines inspiring stories with systematic analyses to reclaim the narrative around Clinton. It elucidates and celebrates the countless ways in which she changed the face of politics, inciting "resilience, recognition, and resistance" among women and girls everywhere. * Tiffany Barnes, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky, USA *I enthusiastically recommend The Hilary Effect to students of, and participants in, American politics. Taken together, the 42 chapters provide insight into the consequences of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, extensive career in government, domestic and foreign policy-making, and political activism, demonstrating that her contributions are more significant and far-reaching than previously reported. The authors provide much-needed context along with both research-based and personal insight into previously understudied or overlooked positive aspects of Clinton’s leadership, revealing the enduring legacy of Clinton’s career and its effects on the mass public, political activists, women’s candidacies, children and parents, and generations of women and men alike. * Kathryn Pearson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota, USA *Table of ContentsI About the Contributors Prologue: The Path Up is Always a Jagged Line, Gloria Steinem II. Introduction, Jennifer L. Merolla and Rachel VanSickle-Ward III. I’m With Her: Clinton’s Impact on Women’s Lives and Ambitions 2. Preface, Jennifer L. Merolla 3. The Stories Not Told: Misrepresenting the Women Who Loved Clinton, Jennifer Piscopo 4. Parallel Lives, Debra Van Sickle 5.Listening Her Way to a Historic Victory: On Hillary Clinton’s 1999-2000 Senate Campaign, Kathleen A. Feeley 6. Recognition, Jennifer Chudy 7. Clarity in the Chaos: A New (and Improved) Vision of Motherhood, Faith & Feminism, Jaclyn Cohen 8. From Fraud to Fighter, Brinda Sarathy IV. Agents of Change, Drivers of Progress: Clinton’s Role in Shaping Activism 9. Preface, Denise S. Davis 10. Clinton Does Inspire: The Narrative about Hillary Clinton’s ‘Enthusiasm Gap’ Silences the Political Voices of Women, Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Jennifer L. Merolla 11. Dolores Speaks: Hillary’s Influence on Activism and Politics, Dolores Huerta and Ivy A.M. Cargile 12. My Personal Hillary Effect, Torie Osborn 13. Pantsuit Nation, Jenn Carson 14. Glass Tumblers, DC Lozano 15. Failure is Impossible, Paulette Hinds-Brown 16. The #Resistance Tips its Pussy Hat to HRC, Casey B.K. Dominguez 17. The Hillary (Counterfactual) Effect: A Peculiar Paradox of Policy History and the Influence of Black Political Activism, Shayla C. Nunnally V. When There Are No Ceilings, the Sky's the Limit: Clinton’s Impact on Campaigns and Elections 18. Preface, Ivy A.M. Cargile 19. Hillary Clinton: The Exception and the Rule, Carrie Skulley 20. Battling Stereotypes of Women as Weak on National Security, Mirya R. Holman, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister 21. Rethinking Gender as an Electoral Asset, Kelly Dittmar 22. A Mother for President: Motherhood Takes Center Stage at the DNC, Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Jill S. Greenlee 23. Turning Point: Hillary Clinton’s Impact on Latino Politics, Adrian D. Pantoja 24. Latinas and Clinton’s 2016 Campaign, Christina Bejarano 25. Not in ‘Mixed-Company’?: Courageous Conversations about Women and the Race Gap in American Politics, Lorrie Frasure 26. The Year After, A’shanti Gholar 27. Running Because of Hillary, Denise S. Davis 28. Stronger Together: How Hillary Clinton May Have Nudged More Women to Run for Office, Kristin Kanthak VI. Our Children are Watching: Clinton’s Impact on Parents and Kids 29. Preface, Jennifer L. Merolla 30. Even in Defeat, Clinton’s Campaign Could Still Inspire Young Women, Christina Wolbrecht and David Campbell 31. Hillary Clinton, My Daughter, and Me, Abby Wood 32. Drawing Madam President: How Children Imagine Hillary Clinton as a Political Leader, Jill S. Greenlee, Angela L. Bos, Mirya R. Holman, J. Celeste Lay, and Zoe M. Oxley 33. Real Moms of Palo Alto, Real Takeaways from Hillary’s Candidacy, Melissa Michelson 34. Fatherhood, First-daughters and the First Woman Presidential Candidate, Jill S. Greenlee, Tatishe Nteta, Elizabeth (Libby) Sharrow and Jesse Rhodes VII. Deal Me In: Clinton’s Impact on Policy 35. Preface, Rachel VanSickle-Ward 36. Standing Her Ground on Foreign Policy, Roselyn Hsueh 37. Women’s Rights are Human Rights, Celeste Montoya 38. Global Gender Effects: The Impact of Hillary Clinton on American Foreign Policy,Sara Angevine 39. The Backbone of Democracy: Clinton, Women of Color, and the Fight for Voting Rights, Ivy A.M. Cargile 40. The Economic Woman: Why Clinton’s Economic Message still Matters, Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Emma Stephens 41. The Wisdom of a Wonky Woman, Reflecting on Clinton’s Approach to Policy on the Campaign Trail, Rachel VanSickle-Ward VIII. Conclusion, Jennifer L. Merolla and Rachel VanSickle-Ward

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Book SynopsisDespite winning the December 2019 General Election, the Conservative parliamentary party is a moribund organisation. It no longer speaks for, or to, the British people. Its leadership has sacrificed the long-standing commitment to the Union to 'Get Brexit Done'. And beyond this, it is an intellectual vacuum, propped up by half-baked doctrine and magical thinking. Falling Down offers an explanation for how the Tory party came to position itself on the edge of the precipice and offers a series of answers to a question seldom addressed: as the party is poised to press the self-destruct button, what kind of role and future can it have? This tipping point has been a long time coming and Burton-Cartledge offers critical analysis to this narrative. Since the era of Thatcherism, the Tories have struggled to find a popular vision for the United Kingdom. At the same time, their members have become increasingly old. Their values have not been adopted by the younger voters. The coalition between the countryside and the City interests is under pressure, and the latter is split by Brexit. The Tories are locked into a declinist spiral, and with their voters not replacing themselves the party is more dependent on a split opposition - putting into question their continued viability as the favoured vehicle of British capital.Trade ReviewA masterful account of the long view. Fewer people are benefitting from Conservative policies each decade. The party then has to rely more and more on the fears of older voters for support. Phil Burton Cartledge persuasively explains how the Tories are running out of rope even while appearing to poll so well. -- Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%As the UK enters its 11th successive year of Conservative majority rule, Falling Down is an important and timely intervention. Burton-Cartledge breaks through the self-referential debates on the left to provide a rigorous and acute analysis of British Conservatism, filling a significant lacuna in left strategic thought. Falling Down should be considered critical reading socialist academics, activists and politicians alike.' -- Grace Blakeley, author of The Corona CrashFalling Down's autopsy of the Conservative Party is ... a timely one ... an important contribution to the kind of militant political science the left desperately needs. -- Alfie Steer * Tribune *Enjoyable and revealing. Burton-Cartledge does a fine job of putting forward a bold thesis * On Magazine *Astute -- Oscar Rickett * i news *Falling Down provides a useful overview of Conservative politics throughout the decades since Thatcher, and of the leading political actors that have shaped Britain. -- Sabrina Huck * Red Pepper *Excellent -- Chris Bambery * Counterfire *A welcome respite from the short-termism of other commentators -- Freddie Hayward * New Statesman *A must-read ... this book offers exquisite, well-sourced chronicles of the events under-pinning [Burton-Cartledge's] thesis -- Peter Kenyon * Chartist *Burton-Cartledge has a good point to make: one of the reasons for the Tories' continuing success is that their opponents never take them seriously enough. * Economist *

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Book SynopsisComrades, This is Madness, the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Salvage, put together during the pandemicThe Salvage Editorial Collective on the Covid-19 crisis'Mothering Against the World': Sophie Lewis on 'Momrades''The Bushes': new fiction from China Miéville'Hookers and Other Angels': photography from Juno Mac (co-author of Revolting Prostitutes)'Prepared for the Worst': Richard Seymour on Disaster Nationalism'Welfare State Populism and the Left-Behind Left' by Kevin Ochieng Okoth'A Glimmer of a Shell of a Husk' by Maya Osborne'The Phallic Road to Socialism' by Sebastian BudgenA newly translated interview with Daniel Guérin'Nationalism After Coronavirus' by Sivamohan Valluvan'Striking in Striking Times: Capitalism's Coronavirus Crisis' by Gregor Gall'Getting Dressed for a Pandemic' by Camila Valle'Out of the Iron Lung: A Miasma Theory of Coronavirus' by Matthew BroomfieldAnd poetry by Nisha Ramay

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Book SynopsisFrom the COVID-19 pandemic to uprisings over police brutality, we are living in the greatest social crisis of a generation. But the roots of these latest emergencies stretch back decades. At their core is a politics of death: a brutal neoliberal ideology that combines deep structural racism with a relentless assault on social welfare. Its results are the failing economic and public health systems we confront today-those that benefit the few and put the most vulnerable in harm's way.Contributors to this volume not only protest these neoliberal roots of our present catastrophe, but they insist there is only one way forward: a new kind of politics-a politics of care-that centers people's basic needs and connections to fellow citizens, the global community, and the natural world. Imagining a world that promotes the health and well-being of all, they draw on different backgrounds-from public health to philosophy, history to economics, literature to activism-as well as the example of other countries and the past, from the AIDS activist group ACT-UP to the Black radical tradition. Together they point to a future, as Simon Waxman writes, where "no one is disposable."CONTRIBUTORS Robin D. G. Kelley, Gregg Gonsalves and Amy Kapczynski, Walter Johnson, Anne L. Alstott, Melvin Rogers, Amy Hoffman, Sunaura Taylor, Vafa Ghazavi, Adele Lebano, Paul Hockenos, Paul Katz and Leandro Ferreira, Shaun Ossei-Owusu, , Colin Gordon, Jason Q. Purnell, Jamala Rogers, Dan Berger, Julie Kohler, Manoj Dias-Abey, Simon Waxman, Farah GriffinA co-publication between Boston Review and Verso Books.Trade ReviewBoston Review is so good right now. -- Naomi Klein, activist and New York Times best-selling authorBoston Review cuts out the noise, the posturing, and the hysteria and engages ideas with intelligence and humanity. In other words, it's a democratic place for a reading public. -- Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize–winning authorLet mainstream publications give in to the perceived demand for bite-sized news; Boston Review provides the exquisite main course. -- UTNE award citation for Best Writing, 2010In our swamp of media sensationalism and group-speak, Boston Review stands out as a bold voice for reason and argument, one of the very, very few places that offer intelligence, integrity, and variety. -- Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of ChicagoBoston Review is a place where American prose feels exact and alive. It is one of the three or four American journals that makes me feel we have a culture. -- Robert Hass, Poet Laureate of the United States, 1995–97Always challenging, always provocative, Boston Review brings a fresh and insightful perspective to the literature and politics of a multicultural age. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., general editor of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature

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Book SynopsisUnder the incurious gaze of the major media, the political establishment and the financial sector have become increasingly deceitful and dangerous in recent years. At the same time, journalists at Rupert Murdoch's News International and elsewhere have been breaking the law on an industrial scale. Now we are expected to stay quiet while those who presided over the shambles judge their own conduct.In The Return of the Public, Dan Hind argues for reform of the media as a necessary prelude to wider social transformation. A former commissioning editor, Hind urges us to focus on the powers of the media to instigate investigations and to publicize the results, powers that editors and owners are desperate to keep from general deliberation.Hind describes a programme of reform that is modest, simple and informed by years of experience. It is a programme that much of the media cannot bring themselves even to acknowledge, precisely because it threatens their private power. It is time the public had their say.Trade ReviewA superb analysis of the way in which citizens have lost power in a political and economic system built around the free market. -- Roy Greenslade * Guardian *A book marked by a somber and scathing rhetoric that recalls the Frankfurt School critique of thinkers such as Adorno and Marcuse. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *In his ingenious and quietly passionate argument, Dan Hind shows how we could take democracy into the media so that it becomes something regular people can shape-a part of how we rule ourselves instead of stealing democracy from us. -- Anthony Barnett, founder, openDemocracyDrawing on history and democratic theory, this book offers a powerful indictment of public exclusion. It is also original, breaking with standard corporatist approaches to reform. Well written, eloquent and very well worth reading. -- James Curran, co-author of Power Without ResponsibilityA persuasive and vital analysis. -- David Cromwell, co-editor of Media Lens * Times Higher Education Supplement *Winner, 2011 Best Book of Ideas * Bristol Festival of Ideas *

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Book SynopsisIn recent years, the West has seen a rising tide of populist and anti-political feeling. Figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage have gained power by distancing themselves from "the establishment" and portraying politics itself as the enemy of the people. And it's not just them - increasingly, the media and politicians of all stripes hurl the word "ideological" as an insult, tie themselves in knots to avoid mentioning "the working class," and champion the "depoliticising of key decision-making." In this book, Eliane Glaser - one of the early commentators to call attention to this new wave of populism - takes stock of how we got here and where we're going. At the heart of this is a vital question: Is the "death of politics" simply an inevitable sign of the times, going hand in hand with climate change, technological development and postmodern malaise? Or is it the intentional result of right-wing engineering? In addressing this question, Glaser shows how forces on the Right have manipulated and benefitted from the apathy of anti-politics; and how the Left's move to centre under neoliberal leaders has helped in the process. She argues that in order to revive productive engagement and hope for the future, we need to return to three pillars of political philosophy that have become dirty words: ideology, authority and the state. Glaser puts forward a strong and galvanising defence of these foundations, showing that however unpopular they may be, they're necessary for the functioning of a fair society.

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Book SynopsisDespite the doom and gloom of financial crises, global terrorism, climate collapse, and the rise of the far-right, a number of leading intellectuals (Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, Johan Norberg, and Matt Ridley, among others) have been arguing in recent years that the world is getting better and better. But this “progress narrative” is little more than a very conservative defence of the capitalist status quo. At a time when liberal democracy appears incapable of stemming the tide of the far-right populism, and when laissez-faire capitalism is ill-equipped to deal with socio-economic problems like climate change, inequality, and the future of wok, the real advocates of progress are those willing to challenge these established paradigms. The Glass Half-Empty argues that, without criticising the systems of capitalism, the changes needed to make a better world will always fall short of our expectations. The "progress narrative" needs to be challenged before we stumble into a potentially catastrophic future, despite having the means to build a truly better world.Trade Review"A highly original, concise and readable polemic that acts as a perfect foil to the confected positivity of the 'New Optimists', while reminding us that a better world is, in fact, possible.

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Book SynopsisA proposal for countering the futility of neoliberal existence to build an egalitarian, sustainable, and hopeful future.If maximizing utility leads to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people, as utilitarianism has always proposed, then why is it that as many of us currently maximize our utility--by working endlessly, undertaking further education and training, relentlessly marketing and selling ourselves--we are met with the steady worsening of collective social and economic conditions? In Futilitarianism, social and political theorist Neil Vallelly eloquently tells the story of how neoliberalism transformed the relationship between utility maximization and the common good. Drawing on a vast array of contemporary examples, from self-help literature and marketing jargon to political speeches and governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vallelly coins several terms--including "the futilitarian condition," "homo futilitus," and "semio-futility"--to demonstrate that in the neoliberal decades, the practice of utility maximization traps us in useless and repetitive behaviors that foreclose the possibility of collective happiness. This urgent and provocative book chimes with the mood of the time by at once mapping the historical relationship between utilitarianism and capitalism, developing an original framework for understanding neoliberalism, and recounting the lived experience of uselessness in the early twenty-first century. At a time of epoch-defining disasters, from climate emergencies to deadly pandemics, countering the futility of neoliberal existence is essential to building an egalitarian, sustainable, and hopeful future.

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Book SynopsisIn James: A Letter to the Scattered, Earnest Graham's dramatic illustrations follow women and men around the globe and through time. Follow hunted Christians into Roman catacombs, accompany errands of mercy in modern hospital corridors, see courage and kindness amidst the carnage of the Thirty Years' War, witness the fight for justice in 19th-century Mexico, and march beside protestors in 1960s Alabama. A Letter to the Scattered, the first in a series of graphic novels from Olive Branch Books, brings the ancient wisdom of the Epistle of James to a new audience.

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Book SynopsisThe Constitution defines treason as levying war against the United States, by persons who hold allegiance to the US, in other words all Americans. This author argues that violence committed against citizens by anyone who wages weather warfare (she assumes Hurricane Katrina is an example) or who sets epidemics in motion (by laboratory-created diseases such as AIDS) should be prosecuted for the crime of treason. As for the violent MK-Ultra techniques, to which thousands of children were subjected, and which Congress revealed in 1975, how is it that all the perpetrators escaped punishment? They would be properly designated not as Dr Strangelove's but as traitors. The law is clear on this.

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Book Synopsis2020 marks 75 years since the end of World War II, yet even as the war slips from living memory, its legacies continue to influence current political and military thinking.This anthology will analyse these legacies for a number of countries and regions including China, Russia, the United States, the Near East, and Germany illustrating in detail how World War II is not merely a historical event, but a defining moment for current military and political thinking around the globe. This book will therefore be of interest for those interested in history, but also political and military decision makers, and followers of current political and military affairs.Trade ReviewThe accuracy of the accounts and analysis makes this a valuable resource not only for historians but also for international political analysts. * Journal of Military History 11/01/2023 *As with any compilation work, the tone and style of the writing changes between authors with each new chapter. However, the various approaches create a harmonious narrative akin to an experienced jazz band, where each musician enjoys his/her moment in the spotlight while complementing the other players. While no single book can possibly account for every facet of World War II, Long Shadow effectively offers a comprehensive analysis of the war and its continuing importance. * ARMOR Magazine 21/12/2022 *This thought-provoking book provides policy makers, senior military leaders, and the general reader alike with an easy-to-understand analysis of how the collective memories of World War II continue to influence international and regional relations between states. * Military Review 02/11/2022 *Table of ContentsForeword CGS Introduction: Dr Matthias Strohn France: Prof Olivier Schmitt Poland: Dr Paul Latawski Baltic States: Dr James Corum Austria and the Balkans: Prof Lothar Höbelt Germany: Dr Matthias Strohn USA: Dr Timothy Bird China: Prof Kerry Brown Russia: Pavel Baev Denmark: Dr Niels Poulsen UK: Prof Niall Barr Africa: Prof Richard Reid Netherlands: Prof Jan Hoffenaar Near East: Prof Mike Neiberg Conclusion: Maj Gen Dr Andrew Sharpe

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