Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions Books

956 products


  • The Mexican Revolution

    Oxford University Press The Mexican Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Mexican Revolution defined the sociopolitical experience of those living in Mexico in the twentieth century. Its subsequent legacy has provoked debate between those who interpret the ongoing myth of the Revolution and those who adopt the more middle-of-the-road reality of the regime after 1940. Taking account of these divergent interpretations, this Very Short Introduction offers a succinct narrative and analysis of the Revolution. Using carefully considered sources, Alan Knight addresses the causes of the upheaval, before outlining the armed conflict between 1910 and 1920, explaining how a durable regime was consolidated in the 1920s, and summing up the social reforms of the Revolution, which culminated in the radical years of the 1930s. Along the way, Knight places the conflict alongside other ''great'' revolutions, and compares Mexico with the Latin American countries that avoided the violent upheaval. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The old regime and the causes of the revolution (1876-1910) ; 3. The Madero revolt and regime (1910-11) ; 4. Counter-revolution and constitutionalism (1913-14) ; 5. The revolution in power (1914-20) ; 6. The institutional revolution: the Sonoran Dynasty (1920-34) ; 7. The Depression, Cardenas and after (1930 -)

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • White Fury

    Oxford University Press White Fury

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe sugar planter Simon Taylor, who claimed ownership of over 2,248 enslaved people in Jamaica at the point of his death in 1813, was one of the wealthiest slaveholders ever to have lived in the British empire.Slavery was central to the eighteenth-century empire. Between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were brought from Africa to the Caribbean to toil and die within the brutal slave regime of the region, most of them destined for a life of labour on large sugar plantations. Their forced labour provided the basis for the immense fortunes of plantation owners like Taylor; it also produced wealth that poured into Britain. However, a tumultuous period that saw the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, as well as the rise of the abolitionist movement, witnessed new attacks on slavery and challenged the power of a once-confident slaveholder elite.In White Fury, Christer Petley uses Taylor''s rich and expressive letters to allow us aTrade ReviewWhite Fury tells a highly readable complete story... the volume is thoroughly researched and it is well-illustrated. * Robert Davis, New York Review of Books *[A]n exceptional book that will become a major point of reference for historians of the 18th-century Caribbean and scholars investigating the sudden abolition of the British slave trade in 1807... White Fury is a powerful contribution to scholarship on the British Atlantic in the age of revolutions, and it deserves to be widely read. * Reviews in History *Petleys brilliant biography of [Simon] Taylor (17401813)... not only describes the complicated feelings of a patriotic planter whose warm regard for his British heritage was increasingly not reciprocated by a Britain coming to think of planters as evil and retrograde but also captures the many challenges and opportunities available within the plantation economy during the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. * , Reviews in American History *Petley mines hundreds of extant letters written by Taylor, as well as a wide range of printed sources, to craft a highly readable account of the aspirations, everyday realities and crises faced by Jamaica's richest sugar planter... Petley has produced a smart, accessible biography of one of the most important slaveholders in the eighteenth-century British empire. * Brooke Newman, Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies *A subtle, sensitive and marvellously evocative biography of Jamaica's richest and most powerful planter, bringing powerfully to life the brutal but highly productive slave system which undergirded the success of the British Empire in the late eighteenth century. * Trevor Burnard, University of Melbourne *A revealing and persuasive account of one man's life at the centre of Britains slave empire in the Caribbean. In subtly tracing Simon Taylor's 'white fury' provoked by the movement for abolition Petley offers an original and provocative account of British slavery as it entered its death throes. * James Walvin, author of A Short History of Slavery *[A]n exceptional book that will become a major point of reference for historians of the 18th-century Caribbean and scholars investigating the sudden abolition of the British slave trade in 1807... White Fury is a powerful contribution to scholarship on the British Atlantic in the age of revolutions, and it deserves to be widely read. * Reviews in History *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: Foundations and Aspiration1: A West Indian Life2: Slave Empire3: Sugar and StrifePart II: Crises and Frustration4: The American Revolution5: Reactions6: New Revolutions7: War and AbolitionConclusions and LegaciesNotesFurther ReadingIndex

    1 in stock

    £23.84

  • Russias Empires

    Oxford University Press Inc Russias Empires

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisCombining the talents and expert knowledge of an early modern historian of Russia and of a Soviet specialist, Russia''s Empires is the first major study of the entire sweep of Russian history from its earliest formations to the rule of Vladimir Putin. Looking through the lens of empire, which the authors conceptualize as a state based on institutionalized differentiation, inequitable hierarchy, and bonds of reciprocity between ruler and ruled, Kivelson and Suny displace the centrality of nation and nationalism in the Russian and Soviet story. Yet their work demonstrates how imperial polities were key to the creation of national identifications and processes that both hindered and fostered what would become nations and nation-states. Using the concept of empire, they look at the ways that ordinary people imagined their position within a non-democratic polity - whether the Muscovite tsardom or the Soviet Union - and what concessions the rulers had to make, or appear to make, in order to Trade ReviewIn this remarkable work, two of the leading historians of the "imperial turn" have drawn on the past quarter-century of historical work and produced the most readable and insightful single volume of Russian history to date. Valerie Kivelson and Ronald Suny reveal how Russia's empires functioned as polities by employing not just coercive power but discursive power. In doing so, they illuminate how Russia also became an "imperial nation," one where national and imperial policies developed simultaneously yet frequently produced tensions. Russia's Empires is historical synthesis at its finest." - Stephen Norris, Miami UniversityIn this remarkable work, two of the leading historians of the "imperial turn" have drawn on the past quarter-century of historical work and produced the most readable and insightful single volume of Russian history to date. Valerie Kivelson and Ronald Suny reveal how Russia's empires functioned as polities by employing not just coercive power but discursive power. In doing so, they illuminate how Russia also became an "imperial nation," one where national and imperial policies developed simultaneously yet frequently produced tensions. Russia's Empires is historical synthesis at its finest." - Shoshana Keller, Hamilton CollegeRussia's Empires provides an elegant, stimulating and comprehensive account of Russian history, placing the management of imperial diversity at the heart of the narrative. It is both readable and rigorous, and should help to introduce a new generation of students to the many fascinations of Russia's imperial past and present." - Alexander Stephen Morrison, Nazarbayev UniversityOriginal, engaging, authoritative, and beautifully illustrated - no other short survey engages Russia's remarkable history of diversity as fully and effectively as Russia's Empires. This should become the field's go-to text for college courses. An impressive achievement." - Willard Sunderland, University of CincinnatiTable of ContentsList of Maps Preface About the Authors Introduction Thinking About Empire Empires Russia's Imperial Formations Chapter One: Before Empire: Early Rus' Visions of Diversity of Lands and Peoples Before the State: The Peoples of Rus New Models for Understanding Kiev Rus': Stateless Head or Galactic Polity Appanage Rus' and Further Fragmentation Mongol Khans and the Aura of Empire Chapter Two: Imperial Beginnings: Muscovy Building a State; Claiming an Empire Ivan the Terrible: Imperial Principles in Practice Muscovite Autocracy: Power and Obligation Who Were the Muscovites? What was Rus'? The People Speak: The Time of Troubles Imperial Conquest and Control Chapter Three: Disrupting the Easy Road from Empire to Nation State: A Theoretical Interlude Nation, Nationalism, and the Discourse of the Nation Chapter Four: Responsive Rule and Its Limits: Force and Sentiment in the Eighteenth Century Succession, Consultation, and the Politics of Affirmation The Petrine Revolution and the Imperial State Peter's Successors: A Century of Women (and Children) on Top Chapter Five: Russians' Identities in the Eighteenth Century: A Multitude of Possibilities What does Russian mean? Thinking about Nations in the Eighteenth Century A Multiplicity of Nations: The Peoples and Divisions of Empire Imperial Expansion in the Eighteenth Century Chapter Six: Imperial Russia in the Moment of the Nation, 1801-1855 A Kind of Constitution Clash of Empires Imperial Conservatism The Decembrists Official Nationality The Intelligentsia Expansion, Conquest, and Rebellion Imagining the Russian "Nation": Between West and East Chapter Seven: War, Reforms, Revolt, and Reaction A Foolish War The Great Reforms: Nations, Subjects, and Citizens Participatory Politics and Categories of Difference Who Are We? More Questions of National Identity Russification, Diversity, and Empire "Pacifying" the Peripheries Conquering Central Asia Counter-Reforms and Political Polarization Empire and the Revolutionary Movement Chapter Eight: Imperial Anxieties: 1905-1914 The Fate of Empires in the Twentieth Century The Modernizing Empire and its Discontents Imperial Overreach: Tsarist Modernization and Expansion The First Revolution, 1905 When Nationalism Goes Public: Reimagining Empire Chapter Nine: Clash and Collapse of Empires: 1914-1921 The Great War Nationality and Class Across the Revolutionary Divide Soviet Power Soviet Nationality Policies Chapter Ten: Making Nations, Soviet Style: 1921-1953 The Stalin Years, 1928-1953 Beating Peasants into Submission Empire-State and State of Nations Building National Bolshevism From Hot War to Cold War: External Empire as Defensive Expansion Cold War at Home: The Internal Empire Soviet Discursive Power Chapter Eleven: Imperial Impasses: Reform, Reaction, Revolution Policy and Experience: Friendship of the Peoples A Strange Empire The Soviet Union in the World Stagnation Gorbachev and the Test of Perestroika Chapter Twelve: The End of Empire, 1991-2016 . . . Or Not? Vladimir Putin and the Rebuilding of the State Democratic Recession in the Post-Soviet States Post-Superpower Russia and NATO Expansion Red Lines in the Near Abroad: Georgia and Ukraine Conclusion

    1 in stock

    £47.20

  • The Old Regime and the Revolution Volume I

    The University of Chicago Press The Old Regime and the Revolution Volume I

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDe Tocqueville's great meditation on the origins and meanings of the French revolution remains one of the most profound and influential studies of this pivotal period.

    1 in stock

    £25.65

  • The Shining Path

    WW Norton & Co The Shining Path

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA narrative history of the unlikely Maoist rebellion that terrorised Peru even after the fall of global Communism.

    1 in stock

    £21.84

  • Revolution Song

    WW Norton & Co Revolution Song

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis“An engaging piece of historical detective work and narrative craft.” —Chicago TribuneTrade Review"The intertwined stories of Revolution Song give a sense of how far-reaching a phenomenon the War of Independence was. It leaves to readers the pleasure of judging what each of the figures in the book—or perhaps the combination of them all—contributed to an event that changed the world." -- The New York Times Book Review

    1 in stock

    £13.29

  • The First European Revolution

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd The First European Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book provides a radical reassessment of Europe from the late-tenth to the early-13th centuries. Professor Moore argues that the period witnessed the first true revolution in European society, characterized by a transformation in the economy, in family structures, and in the sources of power.Trade Review"This is a remarkable book... it can function as a synthesis of the best studies for upper-division undergraduates or graduate students. It is so well researched and argued that even though it asks the reader to accept yet one more period as revolutionary, it is entirely convincing." History: Reviews of New Books "A volume which is consistently intelligent and stimulating, not least because it draws on the insights of social anthropology and of other periods and places in history than its own ... it is the essence of a good book that it should open the reader's mind and sharpen his arguments. By that token this is assuredly a good book." Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsList of Maps and Figures. Series Editor's Preface. Preface. Introduction. Part I: The Approach of the Millennium:. 1. Glad confident morning. 2. The Faithful People. 3. The Gifts of the Saints. 4. An Age of Miracles. Part II: The Powerful and the Poor:. 5. The Urban Revolution. 6. The Crisis of the Carolingian Regime. 7. The End of Affluence. 8. The Shaping of an Agrarian Economy. 9. The Little Community. Part III: Sex and the Social Order:. 10. Family, Land and Power. 11. Vying in Good Works. 12. Chastity, Property and Obedience. 13. Incest, Matrimony and Chivalry. 14. Brothers in Christ. 15. Apostacy and Betrayal. Part IV: The Ruling Culture:. 16. The Highest Learning. 17. The Giant' s Shoulders. 18. New monarchy, new men. 19. Courts and Courtiers. 20. A Governing Passion. 21. Doubt, Hesitation and Pain. Part V: Order Restored:. 22. Pious and Inflexible Severity. 23. The Pursuit of Monopoly. 24. The Community of the Faithful. 25. Exporting the Revolution. 26. The Europe of the New Regime. Table od Dates. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

    1 in stock

    £29.40

  • A Short History of the Irish Revolution

    Gill A Short History of the Irish Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Irish revolution began with the Ulster crisis of 1912 followed by the Irish Nationalist Party securing the passage of the Home Rule Act in 1914. By then, however, the Great War had broken out: the Act was suspended for the duration of the war, with the violent Ulster opposition to it still unresolved.But the war changed everything. Over thirty thousand Irish troops died. A radical nationalist minority rebelled against British rule at Easter 1916, an event that established itself as the foundation date of a new, more assertive nationalism. In 1918 Sinn Féin supplanted the old Nationalist party and formed its own assembly in Dublin. At the same time the IRA began an armed campaign against British Rule.By 1922, Britain had withdrawn from twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland which now constituted the Irish Free State. The Ulster problem had, however, never been resolved. The result was partition and the establishment of two states on the island something u

    1 in stock

    £11.39

  • The Irish Times Book of the 1916 Rising

    Gill The Irish Times Book of the 1916 Rising

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis bestselling book recreates the actual course of events during that tumultuous week, based on contemporary witnesses, memoirs and later recollections. It adds up to the most comprehensive and accessible account of Easter Week in print and has received praise in all quarters.

    1 in stock

    £17.09

  • Become Ungovernable

    Pluto Press Become Ungovernable

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA sweeping, magisterial work of abolitionist feminist political theoryTrade Review'In Become Ungovernable, H.L.T. Quan offers us possibilities for rescuing the concept of democracy from its fatal entanglement with racial, heteropatriarchal capitalism. This phenomenal text urges us to seek radical democratic futures, not in more equitable modes of governance, but rather in revolutionary community-making practices - especially those emanating from anti-racist and abolition feminist traditions.' -- Angela Y. Davis'Quite simply a brilliant, original, and capacious work of political theory anchored in an erudite analysis of core concepts like representative democracy, democratic elitism, authoritarianism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, justice, and governance. A compelling and inspiring book that belongs in our movements and our classrooms.' -- Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of 'Feminism Without Borders, Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity''An elegantly written masterpiece that covers a breathtaking amount of intellectual, political, and geographic territory: from the pre-Civil War American South to rebellions in northern China to the Zapatista experiment in Chiapas, Mexico. Building on a vast body of feminist, Black radical, and abolitionist literature, H.L.T. Quan calls for a feminist ethic of care as a guiding principle for the future, rejecting state-centered solutions as non-solutions to our collective longing for freedom and free spaces.' -- Barbara Ransby, historian, writer, longtime activist, author of 'Making All Black Lives Matter''A masterpiece expression of H.L.T. Quan's lifework. Reflecting analytical, theoretical, and creative insights cultivated through 25+ years as a documentary filmmaker and several decades as one of the most careful, uncompromising, thoughtful critical caretakers of the living Black radical archive conceptualized by the late, great Cedric Robinson, this book is a gift to all who are serious about the conjoined tasks of abolition and liberation.' -- Dylan Rodrguez, University of California at Riverside, founding member of Critical Resistance and Cops Off Campus'An unruly book. Leaping across broad swaths of time and space, H.L.T. Quan exposes the prison house of liberal antidemocracy and the accumulation of rebellions inside in order to construct a theory of democracy as radical praxis. "Democratic living," as she calls it, refuses the tyranny of order, embraces the unruliness of collective struggle, and recognizes freedom not as a destination but practicean abolitionist, feminist, anticapitalist, antiracist, radically inclusive practice. In other words, to preserve life and break liberalism's hold, we have to make a living. Quan shows us a way.' -- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of 'Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination'Table of ContentsPreface Part I: Antidemocracy in America 1. Against Tyranny: An Introduction 2. The Myth of White Autarky 3. Democratic Thought and the Unthinkable 4. Love of Freedom: Jeffersonian Antidemocracy and the Politics of Governing 5. The Empty Sounds of Liberty Part II: Life Beyond Governing 6. From Home Politicus to Robo Sapiens: An Interlude 7. iLife and Death: The New/Old Capitalist Algorithm 8. Governments Reform, People Revolt 9. Speculative Justice and the Politics of Mutuality 10. Toward a Democratic Ethic of Living

    2 in stock

    £17.99

  • The New Spirit of Islamism

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The New Spirit of Islamism

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £20.89

  • Invisible Armies

    WW Norton & Co Invisible Armies

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis"Destined to be the classic account of what may be the oldest ... hardest form of war."-John Nagl, Wall Street JournalTrade Review"A sweeping panorama that ranges over a vast terrain... thoughtful, smart, fluent, with an eye for the good story." -- Mark Mazover - New York Times Book Review, Front Page Review"[A] comprehensive history of guerrilla warfare, breezily written and chock-full of perceptive insights.... [Boot] has a great feel for details...a mighty impressive achievement, one that should be a bible for policymakers everywhere in the civilized world." -- Steve Forbes - Forbes Magazine"The word “magisterial” is bandied about far too freely these days, but in the case of Max Boot’s sweeping and deeply researched history of guerrilla warfare, it proves fair. Somewhere in the first third of Boot’s book, you begin to realize that guerrilla wars (and terrorism and insurgencies) are the way we fight, while the formal set battles of, say, the Napoleonic wars are but an exception." -- Lucas Wittmann - The Daily Beast"For the historian and journalist Max Boot to use the phrase ‘an epic history’ in the subtitle of his own book implies a magnificent lack of modesty in his own capabilities. The work more than matches the hype…. This pathbreaking book should thus be on the reading list of every NATO officer hoping to defeat an insurgency." -- Andrew Roberts - Commentary"There’s no better guide to both the past and the future than Invisible Armies, the tour de force of a scholar as well as a man who’s seen American adversaries and soldiers at work up close." -- The Weekly Standard"A landmark book about a perennial and important challenge: guerilla warfare." -- Jon Meacham, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House"...[I]mpressively researched, astutely synthesized, and eminently readable." -- Booklist"Fascinating. . . . Beginning with the barbarians at the gates of the Roman Empire, a wonderful and valuable historic narrative filled with colorful characters." -- Walter Isaacson"Starred review. A military historian and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Boot presents a sweeping, well-written, and comprehensively documented history of guerrilla war… The result is a compelling narrative and perceptive analysis: a must read in today's world." -- Publishers Weekly"The most definitive and comprehensive work to date on the dominant form of warfare of our times. A must read for scholars, military and government professionals and a fascinating journey for the general public." -- General (ret.) Jack Keane, former Army Vice Chi"Sweeping, meticulous, and exceptionally thoughtful. Max Boot's Invisible Armies is an important, compelling contribution to our understanding of how men make war." -- Rick Atkinson, author of An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle"Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Savage Wars of Peace, presents an astutely synthesized account of insurgency and counterinsurgency through the ages—from the Peloponnesian War to the post-Sept. 11 battlefields of today." -- Ihsan Taylor - New York Times"A magisterial overview of insurgency and counterinsurgency, peppered with fascinating personalities. The author counts 442 insurgencies since the American Revolution, 25.2 percent of which were successful." -- Gerard DeGroot - The Washington Post

    1 in stock

    £17.09

  • Alienation Spectacle and Revolution

    Resistance Books Alienation Spectacle and Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £9.81

  • Hope and Marxism

    Resistance Books Hope and Marxism

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book collects essays exploring Marxist theory and history. Essays include historical examinations of Rosa Luxemburg''s place in the German workers movement, the development of the bourgeois state, and of the roots of Nazi violence. Other chapters discuss Marx''s notions of progress, alienation and emancipation, Luxemburg''s views on political economy and political strategy. Also included are engagements with Ernst Bloch, analytical Marxism and Althusser, as well as a pioneering essay on Marxism and ecology.

    2 in stock

    £15.00

  • Nowhere

    Salamander Street Limited Nowhere

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWelcome to Nowhere.I'm going to share with you how I got hereAnd what here' actually means to me.In this intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experience of the counter-revolution that followed, actor and activist Khalid Abdalla (United 93, The Kite Runner, The Crown) takes us on a surprising journey into his own history, set against a cartography of seismic world events.From the histories of colonialism and decolonisation; friendship and loss; protests and uprising against regimes across the world; to the violence in Gaza following the events of October 7th 2023, Khalid brings together the personal and the political in an act of anti-biography that asks how we got here and how we find agency amidst the mazes of history.Commissioned and produced by Fuel. Supported by Arts Council England and CVC.

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Writers and Revolution

    Cambridge University Press Writers and Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisFocusing on the efforts of nine European intellectuals, including Tocqueville, Flaubert and Marx, to make sense of 1848, Jonathan Beecher casts a fresh and engaging perspective on the experience and impact of the Revolution, and on why, within two generations, a democratic revolution had twice culminated in the dictatorship of a Napoleon.Trade Review'A truly remarkable book which will interest historians of France, of the revolution of 1848, of those who were thrilled by the change it promised, of those who feared it, and of their varying but universal disappointments. An excellent read and an important book.' Patrice Higonnet, University of Harvard'In 1848, France had a revolution, declared a republic, elected a dictator. This engaging book vividly evokes the hopes, expectations, and disappointments of a year when anything seemed possible. As we confront the weakness of liberal democracies today, a reminder of the lost radical ideas that preceded them could not be more timely.' Rebecca Spang, Indiana University'Jonathan Beecher's book is a brilliant summation of many years' thinking about the meaning of a revolution, which has remained enigmatic both for contemporaries and for us. The experience of 1848 is recounted through the reactions of nine of the most powerful writers of that time, from George Sand to Flaubert.' Gareth Stedman Jones, University of Cambridge'At the heart of (this book) is a simple but powerful idea: to follow nine contemporary intellectuals … into the revolution, link arms with them as they pass through its euphoria, confusion and violence, and track their steps as they re-emerge into the post-revolutionary world.' Christopher Clark, London Review of BooksTable of Contents1. Prologue; 2. Lamartine, the Girondins and 1848; 3. George Sand: 'The People' Found and Lost; 4. Marie d'Agoult: A Liberal Republican; 5. Victor Hugo: The Republic as a Learning Experience; 6. Tocqueville: 'A Vile Tragedy Performed by Provincial Actors'; 7. Proudhon: 'A Revolution Without An Idea'; 8. Alexander Herzen: A Tragedy Both Collective and Personal; 9. Marx: The Meaning of a Farce; 10. Flaubert: Lost Hopes and Empty Words; 11: Aftermath, Themes and Conclusion.

    1 in stock

    £34.99

  • Life in Revolutionary France

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Life in Revolutionary France

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe French Revolution brought momentous political, social, and cultural change. Life in Revolutionary France asks how these changes affected everyday lives, in urban and rural areas, and on an international scale. An international cast of distinguished academics and emerging scholars present new research on how people experienced and survived the revolutionary decade, with a particular focus on individual and collective agency as discovered through the archival record, material culture, and the history of emotions. It combines innovative work with student-friendly essays to offer fresh perspectives on topics such as:* Political identities and activism * Gender, race, and sexuality* Transatlantic responses to war and revolution * Local and workplace surveillance and transparency * Prison communities and culture* Food, health, and radical medicine * Revolutionary childhoodsWith an easy-to-navigate, three-part structure, illustrations and primary source excerpts, Life in RevoluTrade Review[A]n outstanding, often brilliant, collection which deserves recognition and frequent consultation for its refreshing insights into the myriad worlds of revolutionary experience. * French Studies *I have never seen such an edited volume before. Every chapter offers original scholarship and new methodological approaches, which could help any student of history read their sources with fresh eyes. This book not only teaches social and cultural history but also instructs students how to become better historians. I can offer no greater praise than the fact that I am excited to use this book in my French Revolution classes, and it also helped me to reframe my own research projects. * H-France Review *With this engaging collection, Mette Harder and Jennifer Ngaire Heuer take distance from notions of the French Revolution as an engine of abstract change to explore how that event shaped individual lives and to examine how seemingly private choices intersected with broad social, political, and cultural movements. * Canadian Journal of History *Life in Revolutionary France revivifies the social history of the French revolution. Mette Harder and Jennifer Ngaire Heuer’s fine team of experienced and emergent scholars offer bright, insightful coverage of topics that range from religion to revolutionary justice, from prisons to prostitution, from émigrés to Caribbean slaves, from armies to waxworks, from crime to diet - and much besides. * Colin Jones, Professor of History, Queen Mary University of London, UK *Ranging from peasant resisters and Caribbean prisoners of war to prostitutes and the orphaned children of executed revolutionary leaders, this remarkably original collection opens dramatic new perspectives on the French Revolution. The ordinary is shown to be extraordinarily fascinating when lives are transformed by dramatic events. Anyone interested in the meaning of revolution will want to read these essays. * Lynn Hunt, Distinguished Research Professor of History, UCLA, USA *The anthology is therefore an overall highly readable, inspiring and important contribution to the research debate. * Zeitschrift fur Historische Forschung (Bloomsbury Translation) *Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Maps List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Rethinking the Revolutionary Everyday, Mette Harder and Jennifer Ngaire Heuer Part I. Revolutionary Identities and Spaces 1. Republicans and Royalists: Seeking Authentic Rural Voices in the Sources of the French Revolution, Jill Maciak Walshaw Source: Trial of Thomas Bordas, a weaver from Segonzac, department of the Dordogne, accused of having publicly stated that he wanted to be governed by a king. 28 pluviôse–12 prairial year IV (February 17, 1796–May 31, 1796) 2. Mapping Women’s Everyday Lives in Revolutionary Marseille, Laura Talamante Source: Deliberation of the Dames Citoyennes from the Saint-Martin District, no. 7, 7 July 1790 3. Emigration, Landlords, and Tenants in Revolutionary Paris, Hannah Callaway Source: Overview of Rentals in the Boulainvilliers Market on 24 Fructidor VI (September 10, 1798) 4. Home Fronts and Battlefields: The Army, Warfare, and the Revolutionary Experience, Christopher Tozzi Source (a): “It should come as no surprise if I want to make a Jew into a soldier.” Speech by the Abbé Henri Grégoire at the National Assembly, 23 December 1789 Source (b): From the Petition of the Jews Established in France addressed to the National Assembly, 28 January 1790 5. Race, Freedom, and Everyday Life: French Caribbean Prisoners of War in Britain, Abigail Coppins and Jennifer Ngaire Heuer Source: Undated Report on the State of the Prisons and Hospitals of Portchester and Forton (likely from the end of 1796), TNA (The National Archives) ADM 105/44 Part II. The Right To? – Revolutionary Justice at Work 6. Crime, Law, and Justice, Claire Cage Source: Penal Code of 25 September 1791 7. Surveillance at Work: A Theft on the Rue du Bac, Ralph Kingston Source: Defense Statement by Citizen Bonnet, former employee of the [French Ministry of] External Relations. Written after his termination for theft on 7 Fructidor VIII (August 25, 1800) 8. Sex as Work: Public Women in Revolutionary Paris, Clyde Plumauzille Source: Letters by a Woman arrested for Prostitution under the “Terror” 9. Doctors, Radicalism, and the Right to Health: Three Visions from the French Revolution, Sean M. Quinlan Source: The French Doctor and Legislator François Lanthenas on Freedom, Health and Hygiene: De l’influence de la liberté sur la santé (1792) Part III. Revolutionary Experience, Practices, Sensations 10. Tasting Liberty: Food and Revolution, E. C. Spary Source: Anon., “L’Hydre aristocratique,” Paris, 1789 11. Spectacles of French Revolutionary Violence in the Atlantic World, Ashli White Source: Massachusetts Mercury (Boston), December 25, 1795, page 3: This Evening – Advert for Bowen’s Museum 12. Practice and Belief: Religion in the Revolution, Jonathan Smyth Source: Extract from Robespierre’s Speech on Freedom of Worship, made at the Jacobin Club, Paris on November 21, 1793 (1 Frimaire Year 2 of the Revolution) 13. Facing the Unknown: The Private Lives of Miniatures in the French Revolutionary Prison, Sophie Matthiesson Source: Hubert Robert (1733–1808), Jean-Antoine Roucher (1745–1794) as he prepares to be transferred from Sainte-Pélagie to Saint-Lazare, 1794 14. Revolutionary Parents and Children: Everyday Lives in Times of Stress, Siân Reynolds Source: The Families of Revolutionaries Recommended Readings Index

    1 in stock

    £28.49

  • The Fevered Fight

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Fevered Fight

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisComprehensive medical history of the American Revolutionary War from Lexington to Yorktown.

    1 in stock

    £21.25

  • The Loneliest Revolution

    Edinburgh University Press The Loneliest Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this first-hand account of the Iranian Revolution, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran with insights gleaned in his subsequent career as a sociologist of Iran.Trade Review"The prose of our historiography is changing. Solid scholars with an impeccable academic background are turning to the more publicly accessible genre of memoir, and Ali Mirsepassi's exceptionally insightful new book is a vintage of such fruitful prose. Deeply erudite, and yet intimate, endearing, and irresistibly readable, The Loneliest Revolution charts a whole new way of writing history. A bravura performance! ?" -Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University

    1 in stock

    £18.22

  • Munich 1919: Diary of a Revolution

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd Munich 1919: Diary of a Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisMunich 1919 is a vivid portrayal of the chaos that followed World War I and the collapse of the Munich Council Republic by one of the most perceptive chroniclers of German history. Victor Klemperer provides a moving and thrilling account of what turned out to be a decisive turning point in the fate of a nation, for the revolution of 1918-9 not only produced the first German democracy, it also heralded the horrors to come. With the directness of an educated and independent young man, Klemperer turned his hand to political journalism, writing astute, clever and linguistically brilliant reports in the beleaguered Munich of 1919. He sketched intimate portraits of the people of the hour, including Erich Mühsam, Max Levien and Kurt Eisner, and took the measure of the events around him with a keen eye. These observations are made ever more poignant by the inclusion of passages from his later memoirs. In the midst of increasing persecution under the Nazis he reflected on the fateful year 1919, the growing threat of antisemitism, and the acquaintances he made in the period, some of whom would later abandon him, while others remained loyal. Klemperer's account once again reveals him to be a fearless and deeply humane recorder of German history. Munich 1919 will be essential reading for all those interested in 20th century history, constituting a unique witness to events of the period.Trade Review"Klemperer guides us through the confusion of those troubled days in Munich with empathy, subtlety and a perceptive eye." - Christopher Clark, University of Cambridge, UK"Klemperer has once again proven himself to be a brilliant reporter and an intelligent essayist. A sensational testimony. - Die Zeit"With his talent for dramatic portrayals, for reflection, and his knack for boiling things down to their essence, Munich 1919 gives us a more intimate view of Klemperer than we've ever seen before." - Die Welt"Klemperer's ability to grasp moods and attitudes has a truly Dickensian quality." - Los Angeles Times"A message in a bottle, with real immediacy." - Sydney Morning Herald"A compelling chronicle" - The Times Literary Supplement“This account needs to be read for itself and its dramatic descriptions of chaos and political madness. But it also needs to be read as a harbinger of the future — and attitudes that shaped German acquiescence in, and belief in, the violent antisemitism of Nazi ideology" - The Jewish Chronicle"Klemperer’s diary provides an invaluable, unique perspective on the creation and suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic. Observing and recording how events unfolded from his university perch, Klemperer’s account conveys the sense of confusion, of isolation, and of uncertainty that pervaded… Born in Prussia to Jewish parents, Klemperer uneasily records how Bavarian particularism blurred anti-Prussianism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Bolshevism into a toxic brew of resentment, fear, and loathing. Klemperer’s Munich 1919. Diary of a Revolution will become essential reading for those interested in the Weimar Republic, Bavarian identity, and the backstory to the rise of Hitler and National Socialism." - H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online ‘a sobering glimpse into an uncertain time when history might have tilted in a different direction. Through [Klemperer’s] writings, we can come to see how those first violent months of the Weimar Republic were only a prelude to the later catastrophe.’The Nation "This is a gem of a book."Journal of Modern HistoryTable of ContentsForewordChristopher Clark Notes on the text Munich 1919 Diary of a Revolution Politics and the Bohemian World February 1919 Revolution Two Munich Ceremonies February 1919 Revolution Munich After Eisner's Assassination February 22, 1919 Revolution The Events at the University of Munich April 8, 1919 Revolution The Third Revolution in Bavaria April 9, 1919 Revolutionary Diary April 17, 1919 April 18, 1919 Revolution Revolutionary Diary April 19, 1919 Revolution Revolutionary Diary April 20, 1919 April 21, 1919 April 22, 1919 Revolution Revolutionary Diary April 30, 1919 Revolution Revolutionary Diary May 2, 1919 May 4, 1919 May 10, 1919 Revolution Munich Tragicomedy January 17, 1920 Appendix The German Revolution of 1918-9: A Historical EssayWolfram Wette Chronology About this edition Picture credits Notes Index

    1 in stock

    £12.99

  • In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The 1918–1921

    Pan Macmillan In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The 1918–1921

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Times Literary Supplement Book of the YearA riveting account of a forgotten holocaust: the slaughter of over one hundred thousand Ukrainian Jews in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In the Midst of Civilized Europe repositions the pogroms as a defining moment of the twentieth century.‘Exhaustive, clearly written, deeply researched’ - The Times‘A meticulous, original and deeply affecting historical account’ - Philippe Sands, author of East West StreetBetween 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbours with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms – ethnic riots – dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems.Trade ReviewVeidlinger’s book ranks alongside Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands in forcing our eyes eastwards. It is deeply researched and masterfully written, with a cool restraint that only intensifies its power. It reminded me of Faulkner’s line that “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” -- Patrick Bishop * The Sunday Telegraph *[An] exhaustive, clearly written, deeply researched story of events in a time and place most of us know nearly nothing about - the pogroms of 1918-21 in Ukraine and Poland . . . [an] imortant and scholalry book. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *We now know much more about the pogroms of 1918–21 because of Veidlinger’s painstaking research . . . he has succeeded in shining a bright scholarly light on a much less well-known attempt to exterminate European Jews two decades before the Holocaust. In its thoroughness and controlled passion, In the Midst of Civilized Europe is descriptive history at its best. -- David N Myers * Literary Review *Superbly researched . . . Jeffrey Veidlinger askes big historical questions that will change our understanding of the relation between pogroms immediately after the First World War and the Holocaust, barely twenty years later. -- David Herman * TLS *Revelatory . . . Veidlinger’s crisp prose and extensive research makes the scale of the tragedy immediate and devastating. This is a vital addition to understanding how the Holocaust happened. * Publishers Weekly *Chilling . . . unequivocal . . . A vital history that draws a direct line from Eastern European antisemitic violence to the Holocaust. * Kirkus Reviews *No history of that Jewish catastrophe comes close to the virtuosity of research, clarity of prose, and power of analysis of this extraordinary book. -- Timothy Snyder, author of BloodlandsThis brilliant account of the bloody pogroms, which were perpetrated in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution, represents an important advance on a neglected subject. -- Norman Davies, author of God's Playground, Europe: A History and Vanished KingdomsA work of singular importance: a meticulous, original and deeply affecting historical account, one that provides new insights into the conditions that catalyzed mass-murder on an industrial scale. -- Philippe Sands, author of East West StreetCompelling and well-written, the book will find a broad audience. This is a story that needs to be told. -- Ronald Grigor Suny, author of Stalin: Passage to RevolutionIn this deeply learned but highly readable book, Veidlinger demonstrates how the all-but-forgotten pogroms in the collapsing Russian Empire in 1918–21 set precedents for the horrors that were to follow just two decades later. -- Zvi Gitelman, author of A Century of Ambivalence

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • The Central Asian Revolt of 1916: A Collapsing

    Manchester University Press The Central Asian Revolt of 1916: A Collapsing

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe 1916 Revolt was a key event in the history of Central Asia, and of the Russian Empire in the First World War. This volume is the first comprehensive re-assessment of its causes, course and consequences in English for over sixty years. It draws together a new generation of leading historians from North America, Japan, Europe, Russia and Central Asia, working with Russian archival sources, oral narratives, poetry and song in Kazakh and Kyrgyz. These illuminate in unprecedented detail the origins and causes of the revolt, and the immense human suffering which it entailed. They also situate the revolt in a global perspective as part of a chain of rebellions and disturbances that shook the world’s empires, as they crumbled under the pressures of total war.Trade Review'The 1916 rebellion in Central Asia is tremendously important for historians of both the Great War and the ‘Russian’ Revolution. This collection of uncommonly rich and deep essays takes the analysis of 1916 to a much higher level by showing the dynamics of power and violence at the microlevel as well as at the level of the empire as a whole. The authors use a wide variety of sources sensitively and effectively. This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the period.' Joshua Sanborn, David M. ’70 and Linda Roth Professor of History, Lafayette College'Finally a book that examines in depth the revolts that, in 1916, upset the fragile Imperial order in Russian Central Asia and triggered the bloody reaction of the army and the Russian settlers against the local populations. By reconstructing the micro-dynamics of the uprising, its relationship with the ongoing Great War and the role of the various actors involved in the events this wonderfully researched volume represents an indispensable tool to understand the nature of the long Russian domination over the region.' Marco Buttino, Emeritus Professor, University of Turin‘This impressive volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the events of 1916 in Central Asia. The treatment here is both deep and multifaceted, combining broad analytic horizons with thorough and careful treatment of individual events. Bringing together scholars from North America, Europe, and Central Asia, and based on research in a wide range of languages and multiple archives and sources, it presents both indigenous voices as well as those of Russian settlers, soldiers and officials. The chapters in this volume will allow the 1916 Central Asian Revolt to take its rightful place in the historiography of the First World War, the Russian Empire, and of anti-colonial rebellions. As one author notes, this event sees the catalytic intersection of the world war with Russia’s colonial crisis. This excellent volume should be of great interest to historians of the Russian empire and Soviet Union, but equally to scholars interested in colonialism and anti-colonial resistance and the First World War.’Peter Holquist, Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Making War, Forging Revolution. Russia’s Continuum of Crisis 1914 –1921'[...] It brings together cutting-edge research by scholars from Central Asia, Europe, Japan, and North America to present a detailed and analytically sophisticated view of the uprising. [...] This volume is the definitive account of the 1916 revolt in any language.'The Russian Review -- .Table of ContentsNote on translation, transliteration and datesGlossary and abbreviationsEditors' introductionAminat Chokobaeva, Cloé Drieu and Alexander Morrison1 Why in Central Asia, why in 1916? The revolt as an interface of the Russian colonial crisis and the World WarTomohiko Uyama2 The exemption of peoples of Turkestan from universal military service as an antecedent to the 1916 revolt.Tatiana Kotiukova3 The ­­­­1916 uprisings in Jizzakh: economic background and political rationalesAkmal Bazarbaev and Cloé Drieu4 The “virtual reality” of colonial Turkestan: how Russian officials viewed and represented the participation of the Local population in the 1916 revoltOybek Mahmudov5 Fears, rumours, violence: the Tsarist regime and the revolt of the nomads in Central Asia, 1916Jörn Happel6 When the nomads went to war: the uprising of 1916 in Semirech’eAminat Chokobaeva7 Scales of violence: the 1916 Central Asian uprising in the context of wars and revolutions (1914-1923)Niccolò Pianciola8 Violent acculturation: Alexei Kuropatkin, the Central Asian Revolt, and the long Shadow of conquestIan W. Campbell 9 Refugees, resettlement and revolutionary violence in Semirech’e after the 1916 revolt Alexander Morrison 10 Links across time: Taranchis during the uprising of 1916 in Semirech’e and the “Atu” massacre of 1918 Ablet Kamalov 11 Making political rebellion "primitive": the 1916 rebellion in the Kazakh steppe in long-term perspective (ca.1840-1930) Xavier Hallez and Isabelle Ohayon 12 From Rebels to refugees: memorialising the revolt of 1916 in oral poetry Jipar Duishembieva 13 A Qirghiz verse narrative of rebellion and exile by Musa Chaghatay uulu Daniel Prior 14 Domesticating 1916: the evolution of Amangeldi Imanov and the creation of a foundation myth for the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1916-1939)Danielle Ross Select bibliography Index

    1 in stock

    £29.45

  • Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisMarie Antoinette has always fascinated readers worldwide. Yet perhaps no one knew her better than one of her closest confidantes, Marie Thrse, the Princess de Lamballe. The Princess became superintendent of the Queens household in 1774, and through her relationship with Marie Antoinette, a unique perspective of the lavishness and daily intrigue at Versailles is exposed. Born into the famous House of Savoy in Turin, Italy, Marie Thrse was married at the age of seventeen to the Prince de Lamballe; heir to one of the richest fortunes in France. He transported her to the gold-leafed and glittering chandeliered halls of the Chteau de Versailles, where she soon found herself immersed in the political and sexual scandals that surrounded the royal court. As the plotters and planners of Versailles sought, at all costs, to gain the favour of Louis XVI and his Queen, the Princess de Lamballe was there to witness it all. This book reveals the Princess de Lamballes version of these events and is based on a wide variety of historical sources, helping to capture the waning days and grisly demise of the French monarchy. The story immerses you in a world of titillating sexual rumours, blood-thirsty revolutionaries, and hair-raising escape attempts and is a must read for anyone interested in Marie Antoinette, the origins of the French Revolution, or life in the late 18th Century.

    2 in stock

    £13.49

  • France: An Adventure History

    Pan Macmillan France: An Adventure History

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA SPECTATOR and PROSPECT Book of the Year'Ceaselessly interesting, knowledgeable and evocative' Spectator'A fresh way to write history' Alan Johnson'A quirky, amused, erudite homage to France . . . ambitious and original' The Times_____France: An Adventure History is a profoundly original and endlessly entertaining history of France, from the first century BC to the present day, based on countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, by bicycle and in the library.Beginning with the Roman army’s first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending with the Gilets Jaunes protests in the era of Emmanuel Macron, each chapter is an adventure in its own right. Along the way, readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history – Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Résistance, the Tour de France – but all presented in a shining new light.Graham Robb does not offer a standard dry list of facts and dates, but instead a panorama of France, teeming with characters, full of stories, journeys and coincidences, giving readers a thrilling sense of discovery and enlightenment. France: An Adventure History is a vivid, living history of one of the world’s most fascinating nations by a ceaselessly entertaining writer in complete command of subject and style._____'A rich and vibrant narrative . . . clear-eyed but imaginative storytelling' Financial Times'Full of life' ProspectTrade ReviewRobb's concise and fast-paced writing pedals along with never a dull paragraph . . . a dazzling and moving contribution to a long tradition. * Sunday Times *A stunning history of France... Graham Robb deserves to be a national treasure. * Spectator *A quirky chronicle of our neighbour . . . a witty, free-ranging homage to the French people. * The Times *Delightful, discerning, and charmingly irreverent. * Kirkus *Robb's perspectives are refreshing as well as deeply researched. * Booklist *With joy, curiosity and more than a dash of ambition Robb brings 2,000 years of French history to life. * Washington Post *A complete history of France from Caesar's time to now . . . Thanks to the way Robb does his research - often literally getting on his own bike to sniff things out - it is tres facile to go along with him. * Prospect *Graham Robb writes history on two wheels and in four dimensions. * Wall Street Journal *

    1 in stock

    £21.25

  • Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution

    Pan Macmillan Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today' - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich'This work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama' - GuardianIn Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution.For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin the extraordinary but troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government that deposed him. The other is the view from the bottom, that of the workers and peasants who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship imposed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his successors.Service's vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin’s death in 1924. In it, he reveals that key seeds of the revolution were sown by the Tsar's decision to join the war against Germany in 1914. He shows with brutal clarity how those events played out, eventually leading to the establishment of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which would endure for the next seven decades.Nicholas II, Kerensky and Lenin are to the fore, but Service enriches his narrative by drawing on little-known diaries of those such as the Vologda peasant Alexander Zamaraev, the NCO Alexei Shtukaturov and the Moscow accounts clerk Nikita Okunev. Through the testimony of these ‘ordinary’ people, Service traces the tortuous path that Russia took through war, revolution and civil war.'This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . ' - The TimesTrade ReviewRobert Service’s Blood on the Snow is his masterwork, the product of decades of thought about Russia’s past. A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today. -- Michael Burleigh, author of author of Day of the Assassins and The Third Reich: A New HistoryThis work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama * Guardian *Blood on the Snow crowns Robert Service’s four decades of work on the Russian Revolution and its perpetrators. * Literary Review *This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . Service takes a methodical approach, carefully outlining the sequence of events and always emphasising the importance of simple luck. In contrast to other authors, he lets ordinary people have their voice, through an assortment of otherwise neglected diaries. * The Times *Robert Service’s Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution 1914–1924 brings a new vibrancy to the history of the Revolution . . . With its short chapters and choppy sentences, and a title and jacket design that are more airport novel than academic tome, Service’s history reads like a thriller and is all the better for it. * TLS *

    2 in stock

    £24.00

  • The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless

    PublicAffairs,U.S. The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEquatorial Guinea is a tiny country roughly the size of the state of Maryland. Humid, jungle covered, and rife with unpleasant diseases, natives call it Devil Island. Its president in 2004, Obiang Nguema, had been accused of cannibalism, belief in witchcraft, mass murder, billiondollar corruption, and general rule by terror. With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was Equatorial Guinea the target of a group of salty British, South African and Zimbabwean mercenaries, travelling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane specially adapted for military purposes, that was originally flown to Africa by American pilots? The real motive lay deep below the ocean floor: oil. In The Dogs of War , Frederick Forsyth effectively described an attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea , in 1972. And the chain of events surrounding the night of March 7, 2004, is a rare case of life imitating art,or, at least, life imitating a 1970s thriller,in almost uncanny detail. With a cast of characters worthy of a remake of Wild Geese and a plot as mazy as it was unlikely, The Wonga Coup is a tale of venality, overarching vanity and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent.

    1 in stock

    £14.24

  • The Austrian Revolution

    Haymarket Books The Austrian Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis is the story of the decline and fall of an empire, a region devastated by war, and a world stage fundamentally transformed by the Russian Revolution. Bauer’s magisterial work -- available in English for the first time in full -- charts the evolution of three simultaneous, overlapping revolutionary waves: a national revolution for self-determination, which brought down imperial Austro-Hungary; a bourgeois revolution for parliamentary republics and universal suffrage; and a social revolution for workers’ control, factory councils, and industrial democracy.The brief but crowning achievement of Red Vienna, alongside Bauer’s unique theorization of an "integral socialism" -- an attempted synthesis of revolutionary communism and social democracy -- is a vital part of the left’s intellectual and historical heritage. Today, as movements once again struggle with questions of reform or revolution, political strategy, and state power, this is a crucial resource. Bauer tells the story of the Austrian Revolution with all the immediacy of a central participant, and all the insight of a brilliant and original theorist.Trade Review"The appearance of Otto Bauer’s classic study, The Austrian Revolution, ably translated for the first time by Walter Baier and Eric Canepa, is ... a welcome addition to the English-language literature on Austrian history. First published in 1923, the book examines the republic’s early years from the perspective of one of European socialism’s leading theorists and one of Austria’s most important political actors. It is a work of history deeply informed by the author’s concrete political experience as well as his commitment to a Marxist approach to understanding unfolding events.” —Jacobin"It is largely thanks to Otto Bauer’s The Austrian Revolution that I discovered the richness of the Austro-Marxist tradition and the many affinities between the writings of Bauer and of our Gramsci, especially on the question of hegemony.’ – Luciana Castellina, co-founder of Il Manifesto"The revolution in Central Europe in 1918-21 was a giant event that came closer to changing world history than most of us realize. For English-speakers, this translation opens a challenging new window on the Austrian workers’ council movement and the role of the Entente powers in the counter-revolution that followed. Published in 1923, it stands unique as an analysis of the revolution’s internal dynamics and the costs of defeat.’ – Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums"Otto Bauer’s The Austrian Revolution is one of the classics of Marxist political analysis comparable to Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire or Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution, and it is one of the forgotten shining gems of the extraordinarily rich literature of Austro-Marxism." – Michael R. Krätke, author of Friedrich Engels"Red Vienna and the contributions of its protagonists like Otto Bauer are tragically overlooked on the contemporary left. Baier and Canepa have edited a thrilling work from Bauer with the aim of correcting that―and to chart a new course for those looking for alternatives to bankrupt social-democratic parties and defeated Leninist ones."– Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin Table of ContentsFirst Section: War and RevolutionThe Southern Slavs and the WarThe Czechs and the EmpireThe Poles and the Central PowersGerman Austria in the WarSecond Section: The UpheavalThe Formation of the "Nation-States"The Disintegration of the EmpireThe German-Austrian RepublicNational and Social RevolutionThird Section: The Predominance of the Working ClassRevolutionary and Counter-Revolutionary ForcesBetween Imperialism and BolshevismThe Revolution in the FactoriesThe State and the Working ClassFourth Section: The Period of Equilibrium Between Class ForcesEconomic Upheaval and Social RegroupingThe Struggle for Republican InstitutionsThe Battle Against the Counter-RevolutionThe People’s RepublicFifth Section: The Restoration of the BourgeoisieThe Monetary CatastropheThe Geneva TreatyThe Outcome of the Revolution and the Tasks of Social DemocracIndex

    1 in stock

    £22.49

  • 1 in stock

    £19.90

  • Culloden: Battle & Aftermath

    Vintage Publishing Culloden: Battle & Aftermath

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'Excellent... It is a tremendous tale - one of the most dramatic in our island's history - and O'Keeffe tells it beautifully' The TimesCharles Edward Stuart's campaign to seize the British throne ended with one of the quickest defeats in history: on 16 April 1746, at Culloden, his Jacobite army was overpowered in under forty minutes. Its brutal repercussions, however, endured for years, its legacy for centuries.Paul O'Keeffe follows the Jacobite army from initial victories to calamitous defeat. Exploring the battle's aftermath, he chronicles the Jacobite prisoners paying for their treason on block and gibbet while those granted 'the King's mercy' suffered the fate of forced labour on plantations in the colonies. While Stuart's cause eventually acquired an aura of romanticism, the Jacobite Rising remains one of the most bloody and divisive conflicts in British domestic history, which resonates to this day.'Detailed, vivid - and not for the faint-hearted' Financial Times'Fascinating, meticulously researched... tremendous' Daily Mail'Intensely readable... and vividly written' Neal Ascherson, London Review of BooksTrade ReviewA tremendous tale - one of the most dramatic in our island's history - and O'Keeffe tells it beautifully, -- Saul David * The Times *Fascinating, meticulously researched, often brutally detailed ... without being there, those times could not be more vividly brought to life than in this tremendous book -- Roger Alton * Daily Mail *Brings the last battle on British soil to life with page-turning vivacity * Mail on Sunday *A fascinating portrait of 18th-century Britain as an age of elegance and brutality... I recommend this book strongly -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *A fascinating portrait of eighteenth-century Britain as an age of elegance and brutality... I recommend this book strongly -- Allan Massie * Scotsman, *Books of the Year* *Detailed, vivid - and not for the faint-hearted * Financial Times *Intensely readable... [and] vividly written -- Neal Ascherson * London Review of Books *A vibrant and vivid tale, of victory, defeat, savage retribution and 'high' art... In our field one is often inclined to think or say, 'Do we really we need yet another book on Culloden?' However, if they are written as well and as excitingly as Paul O'Keeffe's...then the answer is a resounding 'Yes!' -- Robert Woosnam-Savage FSA, Curator Emeritus, Royal Armouries, University of Leeds

    2 in stock

    £11.69

  • A Coup in Turkey: A Tale of Democracy, Despotism

    Vintage Publishing A Coup in Turkey: A Tale of Democracy, Despotism

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe most dramatic, revealing and little-known story in Turkey's history - which illuminates the nation'Through the spellbinding career of a single, ill-fated leader, Jeremy Seal illuminates a bitterly divided country' Colin Thubron'Read this book if you're interested in Turkey. Read it if you're interested in power, hubris and redemption. Read it' Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Islamic EnlightenmentIn the spring of 2016 travel writer Jeremy Seal went to Turkey to investigate perhaps the most dramatic, revealing and little-known episode in the country's history - the 'original' coup of 1960, which deposed the traditionalist Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. The story of Menderes - to his adoring supporters the country's founding democrat; to his sworn enemies its most infamous traitor - goes to the heart of the feud that continues to rage between the Western and secular ambitions of a minority elite and the religious and conservative instincts of the small-town majority. A Coup in Turkey is a thrilling account of the events leading up to the coup and the trials and executions that followed, a story of political subterfuge and score-settling, courtroom drama, state execution, authoritarian intolerance and ideological division. Seal travels through President Erdogan's Turkey, tracking down eye-witness accounts from survivors of the Menderes era in Istanbul, the historic metropolis, and the new capital at Ankara. As he expertly guides us through this extraordinary story, so the compelling parallels between past and present become strikingly clear, and he illuminates this troubled nation with a deep sympathy and love for the people and places he writes about. By focussing on one key event - one which many Turks regard with shame - this evocative, gripping portrait of Turkey recentres our understanding of the past and makes sense of one of Europe's most bewildering yet intriguing neighbours.'A wonderful writer' Robert MacfarlaneTrade ReviewAn excellent, occasionally disturbing and very original book -- Justin Marozzi * Sunday Times *In his [Seal's] enlightening book A Coup in Turkey, Menderes's story defies the simple political messages that are projected on to it . . . Seal's work is an excellent addition to any Turkey bookshelf, offering a beautifully wrought epitaph that Menderes's contradictory life, and the continuing aftershocks of his death, has long deserved -- Hannah Lucinda Smith * The Times *A compelling account of Menderes' rise and fall, part biography, part travelogue . . . The book's greatest strength is as a testament to the deep seam of authoritarianism that runs through Turkey's history, a reminder that Erdogan is a symptom as well as a cause of the country's current problems -- Laura Pitel * Financial Times *The coup of 1960 may seem remote, but the forces it unleashed are still at work - perhaps more than ever, which is what makes Mr Seal's book so timely * Economist *Through the spellbinding career of a single, ill-fated leader, Jeremy Seal illuminates a bitterly divided country -- Colin ThubronMeticulously researched and vivid book... Seal is an evocative writer... [and he] paints a nuanced and largely sympathetic portrait of Menderes -- Owen Matthews * Literary Review *Turkey's 1960 coup was a huge event that played out on an intimate scale. Interpreting it requires the tenacity of a reporter, the learning of an academic and the verve of a novelist. Luckily, Jeremy Seal possesses all these qualities, which he brings to bear on one of the most significant calamities of the modern Middle East. Read this book if you're interested in Turkey. Read it if you're interested in power, hubris and redemption. Read it -- Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Islamic EnlightenmentThe road from Menderes to Erdogan is a twisted one, full of shadows, ghouls and strange delights. And I cannot imagine a better guide to it than Jeremy Seal . . . it has enough drama in it for a James Bond film . . . Seal takes us on a journey into a history that still lives, in a land still worth loving -- Maureen Freely * The Oldie *A gripping, meticulously told political drama. With great skill, tenacity and genuine feeling, Jeremy Seal re-assembles the extraordinary build-up to Turkey's 1960 coup, its courtroom aftermath and its tragic denouement. In doing so, he presents a brilliant portrait of oscillating populism and pragmatism, military force and religious fervour, democracy and state brutality, that appears as relevant to today's world as it was sixty years ago -- Philip MarsdenAn excellent historical lens through which to view the country's political landscape -- Colin Freeman * Daily Telegraph *A page turning quest into the greatest judicial murder story of its time, but also a physical journey across Anatolia and into the violent passions of Turkish politics where "not taking sides" is not an option. Which is why this book is not just a revelation, but also a love letter to the contemporary nation, written by England's pre-eminent travel writer on Turkey -- Barnaby RogersonLucid and multi-layered, backed by brilliant scholarship lightly worn, Jeremy Seal's gripping narrative moves effortlessly from the personal to the political as it charts the rise and fall of the man who, after Ataturk, reset the direction of the Turkish republic. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand modern Turkey -- Jason GoodwinA deeply interesting meeting point between a historical account of a decisive period in the history of Turkey and a modern travelogue... A context that is vividly presented in Seal's impressive work. In A Coup in Turkey the reader will find a well-researched and thrilling book that provides a relevant approach to a relatively unknown period of Turkish history -- Marc Martorell * London School of Economics *

    1 in stock

    £15.29

  • A History of the Barricade

    Verso Books A History of the Barricade

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn the history of European revolutions, the barricade stands as a glorious emblem. Its symbolic importance arises principally from the barricades of Eric Hazan's native Paris, where they were instrumental in the revolts of the nineteenth century, helping to shape the political life of a continent.The barricade was always a makeshift construction (the word derives from barrique or barrel), and in working-class districts these ersatz fortifications could spread like wildfire. They doubled as a stage, from which insurgents could harangue soldiers and subvert their allegiance. Their symbolic power persisted into May 1968 and, more recently, the Occupy movements.Hazan traces the many stages in the barricade's evolution, from the Wars of Religion through to the Paris Commune, drawing on the work of thinkers throughout the periods examined to illustrate and bring to life the violent practicalities of revolutionary uprising.Trade ReviewHazan's account combines some fine vignettes about particular revolutionary episodes with a telling eye for detail; the maps of the different insurrections are also handy. -- Sudhir Hazareesingh * Times Literary Supplement *Indeed, until I read Eric Hazan's fascinating book, I too used to think that it was only during the French Revolution that the barricade stopped being a purely civilian object,designed primarily "to prevent admittance," like a modern swing-beam-type barrier or a turnstile. I was wrong. I feel like quoting endlessly from this revealing compact book, which, on top of everything else, is beautifully written and no-less beautifully translated. The idea of tracing centuries of tempestuous European history by looking just at one significant engineering object strikes me as brilliant. This little volume will find a prominent place in the 'golden shelf' of my favourite books of all time. -- Vitali Vitaliev * E&T Magazine *Hazan's short sharp book rises and falls like a battle cry and a keen of mourning both at once (...) For all the twilittonalities of Hazan's book, there is something joyous about it. It affirms that one of the options available to common people, one chosen over and over in the most desolate situations, is fighting back. -- Joshua Clover * LA Review of Books *

    1 in stock

    £8.99

  • The Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire,

    Verso Books The Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire,

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisVladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the October 1917 uprising, is one of the most misunderstood leaders of the twentieth century. In his own time, there were many, even among his enemies, who acknowledged the full magnitude of his intellectual and political achievements. But his legacy has been lost in misinterpretation; he is worshipped but rarely read.Tariq Ali explores the two major influences on Lenin's thought - the turbulent history of Tsarist Russia and the birth of the international labour movement - and explains how Lenin confronted dilemmas that still cast a shadow over the present. Is terrorism ever a viable strategy? Is support for imperial wars ever justified? Can politics be made without a party? Was the seizure of power in 1917 morally justified? Should he have parted company from his wife and lived with his lover?In The Dilemmas of Lenin, Ali provides an insightful portrait of Lenin's deepest preoccupations and underlines the clarity and vigour of his theoretical and political formulations. He concludes with an affecting account of Lenin's last two years, when he realized that "we knew nothing" and insisted that the revolution had to be renewed lest it wither and die.Trade ReviewReading this book on your vacation will make your life better and your mind broader. -- Branko Milanovic, * author of Global Inequalities *Ali encourages the reader to take a fresh look at Lenin's choices in the context of a repressive autocracy, the poverty and misery of the bulk of the population under tsarism and the industrialised slaughter of the first world war. What underpins his book is the view that October was an "innocent and utopian birth" that was subsequently "twisted" into Stalinism by three devastating years of civil war. -- Daniel Beer * Guardian *A powerful tool for those wanting to understand the real Lenin and therefore the real politics behind those revolutionaries who fought so hard but ultimately failed in their goal. -- Lindsey German * Counterfire *

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg Volume III:

    Verso Books The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg Volume III:

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis collection is the first of three volumes of the Complete Works devoted to the central theme of Rosa Luxemburg's life and work-revolution. Spanning the years 1897 to the end of 1905, they contain speeches, articles, and essays on the strikes, protests, and political debates that culminated in the 1905 Russian Revolution-one of the most important social upheavals of modern times. Luxemburg's near-daily articles and reports during 1905 on the ongoing revolution (which comprises the bulk of this volume) shed new light on such issues as the relation of spontaneity and organization, the role of national minorities in social revolution, and the inseparability ofthe struggle for socialism from revolutionary democracy. We become witness to Luxemburg's effort to respond to the impulses, challenges, and ideas arising from a living revolutionary process, which in turn becomes the source of much of her subsequent political theory-such as her writings on the mass strike, her strident internationalism, and her insistence that revolutionary struggle never take its eyes off of the need to transform the human personality.Virtually all of these writings appear in English for the first time (translated from both German and Polish) and many have only recently been identified as having been written by Luxemburg.Trade ReviewThe moment has clearly come for a return to Rosa Luxemburg. -- Jacqueline Rose * London Review of Books *Praise for The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg:Combining revolutionary fire, sharp polemics, biting irony, sparkling humour, broad historical vision, as well as profound humanity, intimate friendship and burning love, full of poetical images borrowed from Goethe, Mörike, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and other Romantics, these letters are an amazing testimony of the charm and fascination of her personality. -- Michael Löwy * Critique *One of the most emotionally intelligent socialists in modern history, a radical of luminous dimension whose intellect is informed by sensibility, and whose largeness of spirit places her in the company of the truly impressive. -- Vivian Gornick * Nation *One cannot read the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, even at this distance, without an acute yet mournful awareness of what Perry Anderson once termed 'the history of possibility.' -- Christopher Hitchens * Atlantic *Luxemburg's criticism of Marxism as dogma and her stress on consciousness exerted an influence on the women's liberation movement which emerged in the late '60s and early '70s. -- Sheila Rowbotham * Guardian *Rosa goes on being our source of fresh water in thirsty times. -- Eduardo GaleanoIntrepid, incorruptible, passionate and gentle. Imagine as you read between the lines of what she wrote, the expression of her eyes. She loved workers and birds. She danced with a limp. Everything about her fascinates and rings true. One of the immortals. -- John Berger

    1 in stock

    £26.99

  • Hul! Hul!: The Suppression of the Santal

    C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Hul! Hul!: The Suppression of the Santal

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIf not for the famous Indian mutiny-rebellion of 1857, the Santal 'Hul' (rebellion) of 1855 would today be remembered as the most serious uprising that the East India Company ever faced. Instead, this rebellion-to which 10 per cent of the Bengal Army's infantry was committed and in which at least 10,000 Santals died-has been forgotten. While its memory lived among Santals, British officers published little about it, and most of the sepoys involved died in 1857. In the words of one British officer, the Hul was 'not war ... but execution', and perhaps thus was dismissed as unworthy of attention by military historians. Drawing for the first time on the Bengal officers' voluminous reports on its suppression, Peter Stanley has produced the first comprehensive interpretation of the Hul, investigating why it occurred, how it was fought and why it ended as it did. Despite the Bengal Army virtually inventing counterinsurgency operations in the field (and the Santals improvising their first war), the Hul came to an end amid starvation and disease. But between its bloody outbreak, its protracted suppression and its far-reaching effects, Stanley demonstrates that the Hul was more than just 'execution'-it was indeed a war.Trade Review‘Hul! Hul! provides a unique insight into the oft-overlooked Santal rebellion of 1855… For the first time, the rebellion… has been explored largely through the military records of the East India Company and has thrown new light upon the nature of the tribal uprising.’ -- Frontline'A gripping account of an important episode in India’s colonial history seen from a nuanced military-social perspective. The Hul was overshadowed by the events of the great uprising of 1857 but has finally been resurrected by the chronicler that it deserves.' -- Rana Chhina MBE, Editor, United Service Institution of India (USI) Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research'That Santals stood to be shot every time their drums beat for a Santal is both poignant and chilling, as is this book—the most comprehensive, riveting retelling of the rebellion—a history that continues to inform and define the Santals.' -- Ruby Hembrom, founder and Director of adivaani, and author of Disaibon Hul'A thorough study of the 1855 Santal Rebellion which rocked the Bengal Presidency. Stanley portrays the origin, course and consequences of the Adivasi insurgency and British counterinsurgency based on the British military records. Incisive and thought-provoking.' -- Kaushik Roy, Guru Nanak Chair Professor, Jadavpur University, and Global Fellow, Peace Research Institute Oslo'Lucidly written, imaginatively structured, and richly documented. This fascinating account of the Santal rebellion, which lies at the unusual intersection of Adivasi history and military history, is a must-read for scholars of both these fields.' -- Sangeeta Dasgupta, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University'Anchored in painstaking research undertaken in archives across several continents, Hul! Hul! is a thoughtful, judiciously balanced and richly textured account of the origins, events and legacies of one of the largest yet hitherto overlooked uprisings against colonial rule in India. A compelling narrative from which students of military history, Indian history and imperial history will all stand to profit.' -- Douglas Peers, Professor of History, University of Waterloo

    1 in stock

    £36.00

  • Red Friends: Internationalists in China's

    Verso Books Red Friends: Internationalists in China's

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisChina's resistance to Imperial Japan was the other great internationalist cause of the 'red 1930s', along with the Spanish Civil War. These desperate and bloody struggles were personified in the lives of Norman Bethune and others who volunteered in both conflicts. The story of Red Friends starts in the 1920s when, encouraged by the newly formed Communist International, Chinese nationalists and leftists united to fight warlords and foreign domination.John Sexton has unearthearthed the histories of foreigners who joined the Chinese revolution. He follows Comintern militants, journalists, spies, adventurers, Trotskyists, and mission kids whose involvement helped, and sometimes hindered, China's revolutionaries. Most were internationalists who, while strongly identifying with China's struggle, saw it as just one theatre in a world revolution. The present rulers in Beijing, however, buoyed by China's powerhouse economy, commemorate them as 'foreign friends' who aided China's 'peaceful rise' to great power status. Red Friends is part of Verso's growing China list, which includes China's Revolution in the Modern World and China in One Village. Founded on original research, it is a stirring story of idealists struggling against the odds to found a better future. The author's interviews with survivors and descendants add colour and humanity to lives both heroic and tragic.Trade ReviewA fascinating read, based on deep knowledge of the "red friends". People of all kinds and various nationalities, mostly Western, Sexton has an obvious sympathy with them, but also the ability to give the unvarnished truth where necessary. Sexton is sensitive, often witty and also innovative, uncovering hitherto unfamiliar material. Not only well written, but really excellent scholarship. -- Colin Mackerras, Professor Emeritus, Griffith University, AustraliaThis book is a comprehensive guide to an intricate history of the Chinese Communist movement seen through the eyes of foreign activists who contributed to its final victory. It is an enthralling collection of human stories well-written and captivating. Marked by abundant historical details and facts, yet elegantly designated for a general reader, it stands out as an extremely useful source of information for everyone who is interested in communist studies. It is an enchanting anthology of tales about foreign participants in the Chinese revolution - Russian, German, Dutch, American, Indian, New Zealand, British, Polish, and Japanese. Some of them are well-known, some others much less so. Some were staunch Stalinists, some others stubborn Trotskyists or Maoists, some were idealists, some others pure pragmatists. But all were inspired by a heroic struggle of the Chinese people for national and social liberation and were dedicated to the Chinese revolutionary course regardless of their political denominations. This book pays homage to every one of them shedding abundant light on their lives and fates. -- Alexander V. Pantsov, professor of history and holds the Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, OhioRed Friends is a kind of book I've been waiting for a long time. The indispensable international dimension of the otherwise indigenous Chinese revolutions deserves an honest and fully explored history. In particular, the communist revolution in China was profoundly internationalist, in its self-consciousness and engagements as much as its regional and global magnetism. John Sexton most skilfully recounts important personal and collective experiences of 'red' foreign participants in China's protracted liberation struggle. These fascinating stories, involving far reaching and complex contextual narratives across national and partisan boundaries, are told in an elegant prose with great historical sensibility. At a perilous time of capitalist nationalism and imperialism, this book is a powerful and refreshing reminder of a lost world where revolutionary nationalism and internationalism were born twins. -- Lin Chun, Professor in Comparative Politics at the LSE, author of Revolution and Counterrevolution in China (2021).

    1 in stock

    £22.50

  • Napoleon at Peace: How to End a Revolution

    Reaktion Books Napoleon at Peace: How to End a Revolution

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe French Revolution facilitated the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, but after gaining power he knew that his first task was to end it. In this book William Doyle describes how he did so, beginning with the three large issues that had destabilized revolutionary France: war, religion and monarchy. Doyle shows how, as First Consul of the Republic, Napoleon resolved these issues: first by winning the war, then by forging peace with the Church and finally by making himself a monarch. Napoleon at Peace ends by discussing Napoleon’s one great failure – his attempt to restore the colonial empire destroyed by war and slave rebellion. By the time this was abandoned, the fragile peace with Britain had broken down, and the Napoleonic wars had begun.

    1 in stock

    £16.20

  • Four Killings: Land Hunger, Murder and A Family

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Four Killings: Land Hunger, Murder and A Family

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe story of a single family during the Irish Revolution, Four Killings is a book about political murder, and the powerful hunger for land and the savagery it can unleash. 'A vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering' Roy Foster 'Marries acute storytelling skills with scholarship, fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humour' Michael Heney 'Narrative history, told through a unique prism' Irish Sunday Independent 'Dungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book' RTÉ Culture 'Sober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too' Business Post Myles Dungan's family was involved in four violent deaths between 1915 and 1922. Jack Clinton, an immigrant small farmer from County Meath, was murdered in the remote and lawless Arizona territory by a powerful rancher's hired assassin; three more died in Ireland, and each death is compellingly reconstructed in this extraordinary book. What unites these deaths is the violence that engulfed Ireland during the war of independence, but also the passions unleashed by arguments over the ownership of the soil. In focusing on one family, Four Killings offers an original perspective on this still controversial period: a prism through which the moral and personal costs of violence, and the elemental conflict over land, come alive in surprising ways.Trade ReviewDungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book' -- David McCullagh, RTÉ CultureA vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering' -- Roy Foster, Emeritus Professor of Irish History, University of OxfordSober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too' -- Andrew Lynch, Business PostNarrative history, told through a unique prism * Irish Sunday Independent *Marries acute storytelling skills with scholarship, fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humour -- Michael Heney, author of The Arms Crisis of 1970An engrossing account of the intimacies of political violence through the meticulous excavation of an Irish family's entanglements with struggles over land and nation across two continents -- Maurice Walsh, author of Bitter FreedomNot just a riveting story of the fortunes of an extended family, but an object lesson in the interrogation of changing versions of history over time -- Catriona Crowe, author of Dublin 1911The book is written in a lively and flowing style, and the selection of black and white family photos provides a fascinating peek into the lives of those whose stories are portrayed * Family Tree Magazine *The story, told skilfully and coherently, holds the attention throughout and draws attention to an often-neglected aspect of the independence struggle – land hunger. The killings are treated sensitively, as are the consequences for all concerned * Irish Times *

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Dic Penderyn: The Man and the Martyr

    Y Lolfa Dic Penderyn: The Man and the Martyr

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £12.00

  • Hands off Wales - Nationhood and Militancy

    Y Lolfa Hands off Wales - Nationhood and Militancy

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis new edition of ''Hands Off Wales'' addresses the campaign of militant activism which Wales witnessed between 1963 and 1969, showing that it was fuelled by both the contentious flooding of Cwm Tryweryn and the failure of Plaid Cymru to prevent the valley''s drowning via constitutional means.

    1 in stock

    £18.99

  • Not By Politics Alone: The Other Lenin

    Verso Books Not By Politics Alone: The Other Lenin

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis vivid selection, compiled and introduced by Tamara Deutscher, written by Lenin and those who knew him, brings us the revolution in his everyday life - the man who lived by politics but not by politics alone.Here, we see the Lenin of leisure as well as work, geared to his life's purpose and yet enjoying to the full all the pleasures of a healthy human existence - neither the humourless, monolithic cult hero of Soviet mythology nor the bogeyman of official anti-communism. What did Lenin read? How did he relax? What did he think and feel? This surprising collection, covering everything from his passionate baritone singing voice to his love of hunting wild game and beyond, reveals the man beyond the myth.

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Lenin's Childhood

    Verso Books Lenin's Childhood

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhen he died suddenly in 1967, Isaac Deutscher had completed only the compelling first chapter of a long-anticipated biography of Lenin, published here. It covers Lenin's family background, birth and early years in the backwater town of Simbirsk up to the execution of his brother, a traumatic formative event. Drawing on a lifetime of background research, including access to the closed section of Trotsky's archives, Lenin's Childhood gives a novel interpretation of the earliest influences on Lenin's personality and thinking. Most of all, it is a glimpse into an unfinished work which would have striven to save Lenin from fanatical anti-revolutionary condemnation and, perhaps more important, from uncritical communist beatification.This anniversary edition includes an introduction by Deutscher's biographer, Gonzalo Pozo, which situates the Lenin project within Deutscher's oeuvre and discusses the sources, influences and evolution of his never completed life of Lenin.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Anniversary Edition - Gonzalo PozoIntroduction - Tamara DeutscherLenin's Childhood

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Lenin Scenario

    Verso Books The Lenin Scenario

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisCommissioned by Oliver Stone in 2015 to commemorate the Russian Revolution, Tariq Ali's captivating screenplay of the life and times of Vladimir Lenin puts flesh on the bones of the historical record and gets its pulse racing. From the author of The Dilemmas of Lenin, the drama captures the enigma of its central character. Ali shows Lenin in his rush from Switzerland to Petrograd by train to grasp his moment in history and the force of his personality on the tumult he found there. He made a revolution and remade a nation. Interwoven with the politics is an exploration of Lenin's personal life, especially his love for Inessa Armand.In the introduction, Ali argues that, despite the difficulties, a serious cinematic assessment of Lenin is still needed. Unfortunately, two very different attempts to film one failed. This first draft provides the basis for something on a grander scale at some stage in the future. Praise for The Dilemmas of Lenin 'Aims to rescue Lenin from both liberal caricature and Soviet hag- iography by recovering the realism and dynamism of his political thought' David Sessions, Nation'An incredibly powerful, panoramic, and insightful study of the central revolutionary figure of the twentieth century' Paul LeBlanc, author of Lenin and the Revolutionary Party Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Lenin ScenarioChronology of Lenin's Life and WorksGlossary of Names

    1 in stock

    £12.34

  • Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus

    Verso Books Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 2016, a small protest encampment at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, initially established to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, grew to be the largest Indigenous protest movement in the twenty-first century, attracting tens of thousands of Indigenous and non-Native allies from around the world. Its slogan "Mni Wiconi"-Water is Life-was about more than just a pipeline. Water Protectors knew this battle for Native sovereignty had already been fought many times before, and that, even after the encampment was gone, their anti-colonial struggle would continue. In Our History is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance leading to the #NoDAPL movement from the days of the Missouri River trading forts through the Indian Wars, the Pick-Sloan dams, the American Indian Movement, and the campaign for Indigenous rights at the United Nations. While a historian by trade, Estes also draws on observations from the encampments and from growing up as a citizen of the Oceti Sakowin (the Nation of the Seven Council Fires), making Our History is the Future at once a work of history, a personal story, and a manifesto.Trade ReviewA touching and necessary manifesto and history featuring firsthand accounts of the recent Indigenous uprising against powerful oil companies...With an urgent voice, Estes reminds us that the greed of private corporations must never be allowed to endanger the health of the majority. An important read about Indigenous protesters fighting to protect their ancestral land and uphold their historic values of clean land and water for all humans. * Kirkus Reviews *A powerful blend of personal and historical narrative. A major contribution. -- Naomi Klein, author of This Changes EverythingEmbedded in the centuries-long struggle for Indigenous liberation resides our best hope for a safe and just future for everyone on this planet. Few events embody that truth as clearly as the resistance at Standing Rock, and the many deep currents that converged there. In this powerful blend of personal and historical narrative, Nick Estes skillfully weaves together transformative stories of resistance from these front lines, never losing sight of their enormous stakes. A major contribution. -- Naomi Klein, author of This Changes EverythingReading Our History is the Future is like standing in the middle of camp again. During the Standing Rock uprising, we witnessed what our ancestors always prayed for-making their dreams a reality. -- Bobbi Jean Three Legs, leader of the Standing Rock Youth RunnersIn Our History is the Future historian Nick Estes tells a spellbinding story of the 10 month Indigenous resistance at Standing Rock in 2016, animating the lives and characters of the leaders and organizers, emphasizing the powerful leadership of the women. Alone this would be a brilliant analysis of one of the most significant social movements of this century. But embedded in the story and inseparable from it is the centuries long history of the Oceti Sakowin' resistance to United States' genocidal wars and colonial institutions. And woven into these entwined stories of Indigenous resistance is the true history of the United States as a colonialist state and a global history of European colonialism. This book is a jewel-history and analysis that reads like the best poetry-certain to be a classic work as well as a study guide for continued and accelerated resistance. -- Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United StatesWhen state violence against peaceful protest at Standing Rock became part of the national consciousness, many noticed Native people for the first time -- again. Our History is necessary reading, documenting how Native resistance is met with settler erasure: an outcome shaped by land, resources, and the juggernaut of capitalism. Estes has written a powerful history of Seven Fires resolve that demonstrates how Standing Rock is the outcome of history and the beginning of the future. -- Louise Erdrich, author of the National Book Award winner The Round HouseA touching and necessary manifesto and history featuring firsthand accounts of the recent Indigenous uprising against powerful oil companies...With an urgent voice, Estes reminds us that the greed of private corporations must never be allowed to endanger the health of the majority. An important read about Indigenous protesters fighting to protect their ancestral land and uphold their historic values of clean land and water for all humans. * Kirkus Reviews *Our History is the Future offers a first draft of history that will serve as the last word for years to come. Combining the literary skill of the poet, the rich contextual knowledge of the historian, and the sharp edge of experience, Nick Estes has crafted a powerful account of the Standing Rock resistance, situating it in a struggle lodged deep in time and across the full reach of global solidarities. -- Philip J. Deloria, author of Playing IndianOur History is the Future brings the history of Native American anti-imperialism to the center of the study of racial capitalism while renewing the focus on political economy in Indigenous Studies; it brings the experience of the camp at Standing Rock to the study of history, and deep learning to the ongoing fight for sovereignty; it is a book by a young scholar that draws brilliantly on the wisdom of centuries of struggle. In short: you should read it. -- Walter Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton KingdomOur History is the Future is a game-changer. In addition to providing a thorough and cogent history of the long tradition of Indigenous resistance, it is also a personal memoir and homage to the Oceti Sakowin; an entreaty to all their relations that demands the "emancipation of the earth." Estes continues in the legacy of his ancestors, from Black Elk to Vine Deloria, he turns Indigenous history right-side up as a story of self-defense against settler invasion. In so doing, he is careful and judicious in his telling, working seamlessly across eras, movements, and scholarly literatures, to forge a collective vision for liberation that takes prophecy and revolutionary theory seriously. The book will be an instant classic and go-to text for students and educators working to understand the "structure" undergirding the "event" of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This is what history as Ghost Dance looks like. -- Sandy Grande, author of Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political ThoughtThis extraordinary history of resistance counters the myth of Indigenous disappearance and insignificance while calling into question the very notion that resistance itself is impossible in a world saturated by capital and atrophying inequality. This is a radical Indigenous history in its finest form -- that connects individual lives to global scales of political articulation while remaining attentive to intellectual formation and coalitional politics from the 19th Century to the present. Estes draws from multiple archives and intellectual traditions and seeks to not only connect past to present but also to transform futures and possibilities for justice. -- Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interrupts: Political Life Across the Borders of the Settler StatesNick Estes is a forceful writer whose work reflects the defiant spirit of the #NoDAPL movement. Our History is the Future braids together strands of history, theory, manifesto and memoir into a unique and compelling whole that will provoke activists, scholars and readers alike to think deeper, consider broader possibilities and mobilize for action on stolen land. -- Julian Brave Noisecat, 350.orgFearless and inspiring, Nick Estes delivers a powerful rebuke of Euro-American Manifest Destiny with an Indigenous perspective that is inclusive and ideological precise. This book correctly, if not necessarily, focuses its energy on the natural evolutionary and revolutionary pathway of Oceti Sakowin resistance. Respectful, brilliant, and insightful, This book should be considered a key ingredient to achieve the universal Native construct of balance-something we must all have to ensure our continued existence. -- Marcella Gilbert, Lakota Water Protector, Warrior Women Film ProjectOur History is the Future establishes Nick Estes as one of the leading scholars of our time. This dynamic book offers a careful, deeply researched, and even-handed account of the events at Standing Rock, placing them in a long continuum of Oceti Sakowin resistance. This is a war story that links the #NoDAPL movement in the present to anti-colonial and anti-capitalist struggles in the past to demonstrate the possibilities of liberated futures. -- Jordan T. Camp, author of Incarcerating the Crisis: Freedom Struggles and the Rise of the Neoliberal StateIt is customary to hail a bold young author as the voice of their generation. In Our History is the Future, Nick Estes gives voice to many generations, those who've come before and those still to come. The book slips through time, evoking the scent of campfire that once indicted Indigenous people in the 19th century, a smoke that still lingers on 21st century Water Protectors and marks them as enemies of the state. This utterly astonishing book imparts the long history of Indigenous people, their relatives, and their struggle for liberation against capitalist North America's settler colonial violence. The long memory of the people, Estes shows, cannot be clipped by the oblivion of empire. The people do not forget. -- Christina Heatherton, co-editor of Policing the Planet: How the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives MatterA mindful and dynamic text. Nick Estes' narrative power gives dynamism and detailed realism to some of the most formative movements of our time. The book is expansive in its isolation and focus. The book embodies resistance and shows the true effort it takes to maintain it. -- Terese Mailhot, author of HeartberriesWith scrupulous research and urgent prose, [Nick Estes] declares the DAPL protest a flowering of indigenous resistance with roots deep in history and Native sacred land...A powerful work, Estes's condemnation of the United States government is clear and resonant. * Publishers Weekly *This book is a mustread for anyone interested in the #NoDAPL movement. It works as an introduction - and a fearless analysis of - one of the biggest social movements of our times. -- Fiorella Lecoutteux * Peace News *Activist, scholar, and Lower Brule Sioux citizen Estes challenges the power systems that have attacked and disenfranchised Indigenous peoples for centuries with both the story of northern Plains peoples as well as a political philosophy of Indigenous empowerment. The author provides context for contemporary struggles against the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines. * Library Journal *Our History Is The Future traces not just an Indigenous politics of opposition, but a vibrant and omnipresent theory of decolonisation that strives to create and preserve as well as resist...Perhaps the most powerful argument of the book is the conceptualisation of Indigenous resistance as an omnipresent process that runs throughout the course of American history. -- Shelley Angelie Saggar * Hong Kong Review of Books *Nick Estes gives voice to the new wave of indigenous environmental mobilisation. -- Neha Shah * Guardian *Our History Is the Future should be on the reading lists of historians, social scientists, and members of the public interested in grasping the interconnections and continuity among the many efforts of Indigenous resistance to settler colonialism and corporate encroachments onto their lands, waters, and natural resources. -- Simone Poliandri * American Indian Culture and Research Journal *

    4 in stock

    £18.00

  • Paris in Turmoil: A City between Past and Future

    Verso Books Paris in Turmoil: A City between Past and Future

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisSince the disastrous Pompidou years, working-class Paris has been steadily nibbled away, either by destruction or more insidiously by a kind of internal colonization. Take for example a small outlying district populated by Arabs, blacks and poor whites twenty years ago, the L'Olive neighbourhood north of La Chapelle The area is noted as pleasant, people frequent it and explore it, and as the rents are low some settle there. Others follow, first friends and then anyone else. Rents go up, buildings are renovated, bars open, then an organic food shop, a vegan restaurant...The earlier indigenous inhabitants are driven out by the rising rents and settle further away, in Saint-Denis if they are lucky, or else in Garges-lès-Gonesse, Goussainville or God knows where.But new neighbourhoods are emerging, for example the Chinese quarter of Bas Belleville, which has grown since the 1970s to the point that in some streets, such as Rue Civiale or Rue Rampal, the restaurants and shops are all Chinese, with many Chinese sex workers on Boulevard de la Villette. These Chinese almost all come from Wenzhou, a large province south of Shanghai, whose inhabitants are reputedly known for their commercial skills.Paris is constantly changing as a living organism, both for better and for worse. This book is an incitement to open our eyes and lend an ear to the tumult of this incomparable capital, from the Périphérique to Place Vendôme, its markets of Aligre and Belleville, its cafés and tabacs, its history from Balzac to Sartre. In some thirty succinct vignettes, from bookshops to beggars, Art Nouveau to street sounds, Parisian writers to urban warts, Jacobins to Surrealism, Hazan offers a host of invaluable aperçus, illuminated by a matchless knowledge of his native city.Trade ReviewA jewel of a book. A must read for any aspirant Parisian flâneur or intellectually curious visitor to the city. Hazan reminds us that Paris is so much more than its wide boulevards and antiseptic tourist spots. He invites us to consider its multi-layered, multi-linguistic, multicultural, amorphous past and present. Paris in Turmoil is the perfect aperitif to the city and will enrich any visit. Better still, it can be read in one sitting on the Eurostar on your way there. -- Edward Chisholm, author of A Waiter in Paris: Adbentures in the Dark Heart of the CityHazan meshes history, architecture, philosophy, and social geography in this concise yet wide-ranging tribute to his native Paris. Throughout, Hazan expertly reflects on the city's cultural and intellectual transformations, and spotlights writers who "left their mark on the city," including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. The result is an astute and opinionated tour of one of the world's great cities. * Publishers Weekly *Hazan, a political activist and insatiable flâneur ("stroller," roughly), has compiled something far greater than musings on the City of Light. Read together, these pieces offer an extended invitation to the reader to take the many layers of Parisian life and history more seriously and give them the attention they merit...Readers already familiar with Paris will find this fiery and charming volume the perfect companion for a thought-provoking walk around the City of Light. -- Library JournalFascinating ... Hazan's focus on the detail, colour and texture of Paris has the effect of transporting you there. -- Rhian E. Jones * New Humanist *

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Paths of Revolution: Selected Essays

    Verso Books Paths of Revolution: Selected Essays

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Argentine-born writer Adolfo Gilly has directly observed many of Latin America's most dramatic events, from the Bolivian Revolution of the 1950s and Cuba during the Missile Crisis to the guerrilla wars of Central America and Mexico's Zapatista uprising. Paths of Revolution presents the first representative selection from across his extensive body of work, collecting close-quarters reportage, sharp political analyses and reflections on art and letters.A living link between the New Left of the 1960s and the Pink Tide of recent decades, Gilly once described the twentieth century as a series of lightning flashes which can illuminate our present-day predicament. The essay form is where he fully comes into his own, covering a truly impressive range of topics and places. This collection draws out the continuities within one of the world's more vibrant and politically successful left traditions. In the Introduction, Tony Wood (author of Russia Without Putin) offer an overall portrait of Gilly's life and work.Trade ReviewA long-awaited assemblage of the writings of one of Latin America's most important revolutionary intellectuals. -- Greg Grandin, author of The End of the MythCaptures the long arc of Gilly's political commitments and his rare combination of revolutionary principle and strategic agility. -- Jeffery R. Webber, co-author of The Impasse of the Latin American LeftGilly is a gifted journalist, deep thinker, and brilliant writer-activist. This rich selection begins to fill a lacuna in the Anglophone world. -- Suzi Weissman, biographer of Victor SergeA revolutionary militant whose commitments took him all the way across Latin America and to Europe, into clandestinity, exile and the Mexican jail where his classic study La revolución interrumpida was conceived and written. * New Left Review *Adolfo Gilly shows that intelligent criticism requires passion . . . and that the vision of struggle between heroes and villains belongs to a rudimentary and scholastic version of the events. -- Carlos Monsiváis, writer and cultural critic

    1 in stock

    £27.00

  • Radius: A Story of Feminist Revolution

    Verso Books Radius: A Story of Feminist Revolution

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 2012, the joyful hopes of the democratic Egyptian Revolution were tempered by revelations of mass sexual assault in Tahrir Square in Cairo, the revolution's symbolic birthplace. This is the story of the women and men who formed Opantish - Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment - who deployed hundreds of volunteers, scouts rescue teams, and getaway drivers to intervene in the spiraling cases of sexual violence against women protesters in the square. Organized and led by women during 2012-2013 - the final, chaotic months of Egypt's revolution - teams of volunteers fought their way into circles of men to pull the woman at the center to safety. Often, they risked assault themselves. Journalist Yasmin El-Rifae was one of Opantish's organizers, and this is her evocative, aching account of their work, as they raced to develop new tactics, struggled with a revolution bleeding into counter-revolution, and dealt with the long aftermath of assault and devastation. Told in a daring, hybrid narrative style drawn from years of interviews and her own, intimate experience, it is a story of overlapping circles: the circles of male attackers activists had to break through, the ways sexual violence can be circled off as "irrelevant" to political struggle, and the endless repetitive loops of living with trauma. Introducing a powerful new voice, a writer whose searchingly beautiful, spare prose cuts to the core of a story ever more urgent and relevant: of women's resistance when all else has failed.Trade ReviewA remarkable book which penetrates into the heart of feminist political activism without neglecting its roots in the complex lives of women or the harsh dynamics which can unfold in the midst of emancipatory struggle. -- Jacqueline Rose * New Statesman *This book is one of the most powerful reports on rescue work done in a revolutionary war zone that I have ever read; and the fact that it is work done by women on behalf of other women who've been sexually harassed (to put it mildly) not by the enemy but by their fellow revolutionaries makes it all the more gripping. I wish Radius a long life, with dazzling reviews and an ever-increasing readership. -- Vivian Gornick, author of Taking a Long LookAn intimate and revealing account of the post 2011 mosaic of contentious politics in Egypt. Rifae's narrative reveals important intersections between gender politics, collective organizing, and processes of becoming. -- Lina Attalah, founding editor of Mada MasrI devoured this book in one sitting. A must read not just for its gripping and complex depiction of feminist resistance during the Egyptian revolution from an organizer who was on the ground, but for those of us who care about feminism and radical movement-building all over the world. -- Katie J.M. Baker, award-winning investigative reporter and national correspondent at The New York TimesRadius fearlessly dives into the violent, disastrous omnishambles that transpired in Cairo in 2013 ... an urgent and timely study of what it means to lead, partake in and witness a revolution in the Middle East -- Mariam Elnozahy * Times Literary Supplement *Readers won't soon forget El-Rifae's captivating book; essential reading for feminists and historians. -- Library JournalPowerful testimony of the Egyptian Revolution destroying itself and the courageous people who hoped to save it. * Kirkus *The writing is beautiful and clean, carrying readers through harrowing and heartbreaking moments....This account of a brave, generous, and largely unacknowledged enterprise is not only an essential record of modern Egyptian history; it's a testament to what women are capable of, to what can be achieved through passionate collective action. -- Ursula Lindsey * New York Review of Books *A powerful book -- Amina Abdel-Halim * Egyptian Streets *A tapestry of trauma, revolution, healing, catharsis, and pain, replicating the spectrum of emotions unleashed by present-day activism in the Middle East...Calling out the patriarchy in the Arab world without succumbing to imperialist and racist tropes projected onto the Middle East is a fine balancing act, one that El-Rifae accomplishes in Radius. -- Tareq Baconi * Baffler *A unique account of a feminist revolutionary moment from the inside. Yasmin El-Rafae somehow manages to convey in graphic detail the inspirational struggle to protect women from the sexual violence that erupted at the heart of the Arab Spring, while remaining true to the difficulties and pain that can arise within any such movement, the whole story framed by her own first steps into the no less complex reality of motherhood. Beautifully negotiating the terrain between public and private worlds for women, Radius is a feminist manifesto for our times. -- Jacqueline Rose, author of The PlagueTable of ContentsIntroductionPart ICh 1-13Part IICh 14-17Part IIICh 18-25Part IVCh 26-38

    3 in stock

    £14.24

  • On Dangerous Ground

    The Lilliput Press Ltd On Dangerous Ground

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisOn Dangerous Ground is the revolutionary period memoir of Republican Máire Comerford (1893–1982). This striking memoir, one of the last of its era, includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive that also contains a wealth of photographs and memorabilia from the period. The memoir begins with Comerford’s recollection of Sunday strolls to Avondale, former home of Charles Stewart Parnell, who was a neighbour of her father, the mill owner James Comerford. As a young woman, she experiences a ‘political awakening’ at the hands of a fierce Unionist woman in a secretarial college in London. Máire Comerford (the only Catholic in the class) begins to engage with Irish history books to counterbalance this brush with religious sectarianism. On her return to County Wexford to live with her mother’s people – a move necessitated by the family’s change of fortune – she re-enters the genteel world of fox hunting and luncheon parties. The memoir paints an intriguing picture of rural life of the time heralding the arrival of the motorcar, social and economic conditions, the rise of the Gaelic League, debates about Home Rule, and the First World War. While the description of her surroundings as a young adult is intriguing and often charming, change is in the air in Ireland and a sharp and wide-ranging political analysis is ever present throughout her writing. Following Comerford’s witness account of Dublin during the 1916 Rising, she begins a life of political engagement, joining Cumann na mBan, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League. In 1919, she moves permanently to Dublin to live with and work for renowned historian and nationalist, Alice Stopford Green. There, she becomes immersed in Republican politics and the War of Independence. Comerford’s memoir gives voice to the experience of Republican women during revolutionary times, highlighting the immense contribution of women in the struggle for an Irish Republic. She works all over the country, moving arms, carrying dispatches, finding safe houses, researching atrocities and working assiduously for Ireland. She experiences raids, prison vigils, funerals of her comrades and dangers of all kinds, but nothing cuts as deep as the sense of utter betrayal following the signing of the Treaty in 1922. Comerford takes the anti-Treaty side, is imprisoned a number of times and endures a 27-day hunger strike. Following her release, she leaves Ireland on a tour of east coast American cities to raise funds for the Republican cause at the behest of de Valera. She returns to a harsh, poverty-stricken and lonely existence, eking out a living on a hilltop poultry farm in Wexford. But while her memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism – and that the fight will go on. An epilogue by the editor chronicles the years between 1927 and her death.Trade ReviewDescribed as the last comprehensive witness account of the revolutionary period, it is an absorbing read. In 1923, a Daily Mail report called her the Jeanne d’Arc of the Republican cause, the most daring woman working for the Republican movement. -- Mary Burke * The Tuam Herald *This first-hand account includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive. * The Journal *This is a fascinating diary written by a republican ‘true believer’. -- J. Anthony Gaughan * The Irish Catholic *In this decade of centenaries, some of those who made their mark 100 years ago have had their lives and contributions critically examined. However, there has also been an acceptance that a number of women who lived through those times had not heretofore been recognised for their contributions. Máire Comerford is one such woman and her recently published memoir is probably the last first-person account we are likely to see written by a witness and participant in extraordinary times. -- The Mick Clifford Podcast * Irish Examiner *This book does something important: it adds new insights and understanding to events in Ireland, 1916-mid 20s, the most analysed and described epoch in modern Irish history. -- John Kirkaldy * Books Ireland *Máire Comerford’s words are truly inspiring and no Republican home should be without this book. * An Phoblacht *Comerford’s memoir places the reader in the lived reality of the time, showing how ordinary lives crossed over with history. Editor Hilary Dully not only has access to original documents, photos and stories, but can also see the direct personal impact Comerford has on the lives of people around her. While Máire’s memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism. * Wexford Local *Having access to original documents, photos and stories, Hilary also knows directly personal impact Comerford had on the lives of people around her. -- Cathy Lee * The Independent *These memoirs took more than forty years to be published and are well written and most interesting for any student of Irish history. -- Eva Ó Cathaoir * National Graves Association *'Meticulously edited by Hilary Dully from the original typescript, it’s a terrific read, a page-turner … illustrated with richly evocative photos … Of all the first-person memoirs I’ve read, this is by far the most inspiring. Comerford has an unforgettable, idiosyncratic voice, her language rich with imagery, full of physical movement. Both astute and tender, she feels modern. I could identify with her. Was it her sense of humour? Her honesty? Her lack of self-aggrandisation? Her intense love for animals? I was certainly drawn to all of these qualities. And her characters hum with life.' Martina Evans, Irish Times

    1 in stock

    £17.10

  • Mayo: The Irish Revolution, 1912 - 23

    Four Courts Press Ltd Mayo: The Irish Revolution, 1912 - 23

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £21.38

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