Society and culture: general Books

Book SynopsisCities provide for people, not just functionally in terms of jobs, obligations and practical pursuits, but also, and above all, emotionally. We like some cities and detest others. Despite shared rationalizations and common modes of administration and design, each city has its own culture. A culture is typically human in that it contains all dimensions of the human, personal condition--from the lowest to the most sublime. Urban culture comprises both economic and civic culture, and is the source of a city's vitality. For today's urban sprawls, which have a weak and failing economic and civic culture, the task of the urban administration and various economic and civic organizations is to strengthen conditions that can prevent the emergence of urban anomie. With suburbanization, the edge city, and the emergence of cyberspace, some argue that cities, as integrated places of working and living, are things of the past. Zijderveld argues that people are and remain social animals, who like and need one another's company, particularly in their economic, socio-cultural, and political activities. Throughout the ages, cities have provided the environment in which people fulfill these needs. Anton Zijderveld discusses urban preferences, the organizations and ramifications of urbanity, the modernization of urban culture, the uneasy alliance between urbanity and the interventionist state, and the cultural dimensions of urban renewal. Zijderveld sees the economic and civic culture of the city as the centerpiece of contemporary urban management and contemporary urban democracy. In this sense, the new technology is an ally of the new urban renewal. Most postmodern treatises on the end of the city are impressionistic and unsystematic. In contrast, Zijderveld puts the qualitative dimensions of city life into focus, catching its pulse and cultural rhythms in a systematic context that prior studies have lacked. As such, it will be of great interest to urban administrators, planning experts, and students of urban studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Intuitions of Urbanity; 1: Urbanity: Origins and Ramifications; 2: Urbanity: Origins and Ramifications; 3: Urbanity and the Interventionist State: An Uneasy Alliance; 4: Modernity and the Fragmented City: The Differentiation of Urban Culture; 5: Urbanity and Urban Policy: The Cultural Dimensions of Urban Renewal; Postscript Urban Destinies

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Book SynopsisThe birth of modern science was linked to the rise in Western Europe of a new sensibility, that of the scientific intellectual. Such a person was no more technician, looking at science as just a job to be done, but one for whom the scientific stand-point is a philosophy in the fullest sense. In The Scientific Intellectual, Lewis S. Feuer traces the evolution of this new human type, seeking to define what ethic inspired him and the underlying emotions that created him.Under the influence of Max Weber, the rise of the scientific spirit has been viewed by sociologists as an offspring of the Protestant revolution, with its asceticism and sense of guilt acting as causative agents in the rise of capitalism and the growth of the scientific movement. Feuer takes strong issue with this view, pointing out how it is at odds with what we know of the psychological conditions of modern societies making for human curiosity and its expression in the observation of and experiment with nature.Feuer shows that wherever a scientific movement has begun, it has been based on emotions that issue in what might be called a hedonist-libertarian ethic. The scientific intellectual was a person for whom science was a 'new philosophy,' a third force rising above religious and political hatreds, seeking in the world of nature liberated vision, a intending to use and enjoy its knowledge. In his new introduction to this brilliantly readable volume, Professor Feuer reviews the book's critical reception and expands the scope of the original edition to include fascinating discussions of Francis Bacon, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, Thomas Hardy, and others. The Scientific Intellectual will be of interest to scientists and intellectual historians.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Transaction 'Edition, Preface, I. The Psychological Revolution: The Emotional Source of the Scientific Movement, II. The Royal Society and the Scientists of England, III. The Nominalist Recovery of the Sense of Reality, IV. The Ethic of the Copernican Revolution, V. Scientific Revolution and Counterrevolution in Italy, VI Vesalius and the Psychological Sources of the Anatomical Revolution, VII. The Comparative Sociology of Science, VIII. The Masochist Mode of Perception in AsianCivilizations, IX. The French Revolutionary Ethic and Science, X. The Scientific Revolution Among the Jews, XI. The Scientific Intellectual in the United States, Epilogue, Appendix A: Harvey and Gilbert: Precursors of the Royal Society, Appendix B: The Enigma of Newton, Appendix C: The Membership of the Royal Society, Index

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Book SynopsisIn An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law, Roscoe Pound shows how philosophy has been a powerful instrument throughout the history of law. He examines what philosophy has done for some of the chief problems of the science of law and how it is possible to look at those problems philosophically without treating them in terms of a particular time period. The function of legal philosophy, writes Pound, is to rationally formulate a general theory of law which conforms to the interests, the general security first and foremost, of society. Marshall DeRosa writes in his new introduction that in the light of twentieth-century judicial politics, Roscoe Pound's philosophy of law has prevailed to a significant extent. This book's relevance to appreciating the development of the American legal system in all its complexities - including liability law, contract law, and property law - is in itself notable. But, in terms of understanding the twentieth-century development of the American rule of law, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law is indispensable. It will make an invaluable addition to the personal libraries of legal theorists, philosophers, political scientists, and historians of American law.Table of ContentsI: The Function of Legal Philosophy; II: The End of Law; III: The Application of Law; IV: Liability; V: Property; VI: Contract

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Book Synopsis‘Mushrooms are having a moment. [A] natural sequel for the many readers who enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life.’—Library Journal ‘If you enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life . . . I highly recommend this book. . . . In the vein of Louis Theroux, Bierend journeys deep in the wonderfully strange subculture of the mushroom-mad.’—Idler magazine From ecology to fermentation, in pop culture through to medicine – mushrooms are quite literally everywhere! Author Doug Bierend guides readers through the weird, wonderful world of fungi and the amazing mycological movement. In Search of Mycotopia introduces us to an incredible, essential and oft-overlooked kingdom of life – fungi – and all the potential it holds for our future, through the work and research being done by an unforgettable community of mushroom-mad citizen scientists and microbe devotees. This engrossing and mind-expanding book will captivate readers who are curious about the hidden worlds and networks that make up our planet. Bierend uncovers a vanguard of mycologists: growers, independent researchers, ecologists, entrepreneurs and amateur enthusiasts exploring and advocating for fungi’s capacity to improve and heal. From decontaminating landscapes and waterways to achieving food security, In Search of Mycotopia demonstrates how humans can work with fungi to better live with nature – and with one another. ‘Comprehensive and enthusiastic. . . . This fascinating, informative look into a unique subculture and the fungi at its center is a real treat.’—Publishers WeeklyTrade ReviewLibrary Journal— “The author’s sharp ear for dialogue imbues his word portraits with vivid detail. . . . Mushrooms are having a moment. In Search of Mycotopia could be a natural sequel for the many readers who enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life.”Publishers Weekly— “Comprehensive and enthusiastic . . . This fascinating, informative look into a unique subculture and the fungi at its center is a real treat.”Booklist— “As well as gaining new respect for fungi, readers will master new vocabulary on the order of frass, saprophytic, and microrrhizal. It sounds perhaps bizarre now, but humanity’s future may depend on slime molds.”“In Search of Mycotopia is for mycophiles everywhere, from old hands to young enthusiasts, profiling in lively prose the kooky, brilliant, and inspiring folks who are changing the way we understand fungi, nature, and ourselves.”—Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia and Microbia“In Search of Mycotopia is as wondrous and hopeful as its awe-inspiring subject. Doug Bierend deftly extends the mycelial threads of his curiosity into the many communities that congregate around fungi, from academic researchers to hipster entrepreneurs to Indigenous groups engaged in cultural mycoremediation. The resultant book is a masterpiece of intersectional fungal anthropology that will send you running for the mushroom stand at your nearest farmers market—and may even inspire you to venture forth on some forest forays yourself.”—Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager“Fungi are nature’s alchemists, the circulatory and nervous system of the forest ecosystem, and the providers of nutrition, healing, remediation, and spiritual awakening. In this compelling book, Doug Bierend awakens the myco-nerd in each of us, uplifts the stories of queer, Black, and young citizen scientists, and challenges us to ameliorate our fungal illiteracy. Bierend convinces us that the healing of our planet requires that we remember the fringe and oft-forgotten fungal kingdom.”—Leah Penniman, cofounder of Soul Fire Farm, author of Farming While Black “What if our world were connected by unseen strands, by dynamic webs of life that maintain nature as we know it, a largely hidden substrate capable of healing us, feeding us, teaching us, churning death into life, sustaining the soil, plants, and animals? Well, it is, actually. Amiable, brilliant, and endlessly curious, Doug Bierend is the perfect guide to both the marvelous realm of fungi and to the radical human subcultures that have sprung up to celebrate it—citizen mycologists, cultivators, and activists from the Ecuadorian Amazon to the Pacific Northwest. In Search of Mycotopia is a fascinating, humble, and hopeful book, a glimpse at a cosmos of which we are not the center; in which everything is interconnected, and life humbly, quietly persists.”—Ben Ehrenreich, author of Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time“There’s a fungus among us, and it’s all good. As Doug Bierend’s engaging journey through mycoculture reveals, it’s time to make like a mushroom, join the club, and grow a distributed, curious, and sustainably prosperous world together—from the bottom up.”—Douglas Rushkoff, host and author of Team Human“Doug Bierend’s book is a vivid trip past the flora and fauna of this world and into the reigning kingdom of Fungi. The most mind-altering forays take readers far beyond psychedelic ‘shroomer culture, which turns out to be one in a collection of subversive subcultures of enthusiasts, scientists, and citizen scientists from all walks of life. Written by a playful and candid storyteller, In Search of Mycotopia vindicates the mushroom, the literal and symbolic fabric that tightly binds together all life.”—Caren Cooper, author of Citizen Science“In Search of Mycotopia is a must-read! Leaving no stone unturned, Bierend covers everything from cultivation to psychedelic studies, providing insight into how critical fungi are toward healing the planet and its inhabitants, and ultimately encouraging readers to become a part of the community. Nothing is impossible if you bring mushrooms into your life, and reading this book is a great way to begin your journey.”—Tradd Cotter, author of Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation“With a fresh and welcoming voice, Doug Bierend takes us on a journey through the far-reaching branches of the modern mycocultural movement. As his search for mycological knowledge expands across the pages, so do we also find ourselves enmeshed in the underground world of citizen scientists, DIY mushroom growers, and landscape healers. Bierend presents voices that are rarely heard elsewhere, and rarer still is his holistic approach to such a diverse and dynamic community. This book offers a rich glimpse into a rapidly growing culture, as well as inspiring insights on the many ways that you can get involved in the future of fungi. A much-needed compass for the ever-evolving landscape of mycology, and a vivid portrait of fungi and the humans who work with them, In Search of Mycotopia is a must-read for anyone wanting to join in the fungi fun.”—Peter McCoy, author of Radical Mycology"Bierend writes with sensual verve and specificity, enthusiasm, and humor. . . .[He] introduces us to the staggering variety of mushrooms, their mystery, their funk, and the way they captivate our imaginations, as well as to the array of characters involved in this 'mycological renaissance.'”—The Boston Globe"Bierend offers an engaging and entertaining introduction to the broad field of mycology, demonstrating how fungi epitomize the concept of ecological relations. [He] proves his skill as a science journalist through interviews and experiences shared with mushroom experts and citizen scientists. . . . Bierend’s budding enthusiasm and passion for everything related to fungi makes the text fun to read. Bierend introduces surprising edge topics that serve as jumping off points for deeper thought. This would make an excellent introduction to mycology for undergraduate students and all readers interested in learning more about an important kingdom uniquely positioned within the empire of life."—Choice

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Book SynopsisAlive with insight, wit and Dyer's characteristic irreverence, this collection of essays offers a guide around the cultural maze, mapping a route through the worlds of literature, art, photography and music. Besides exploring what it is that makes great art great, Working the Room ventures into more personal territory with extensive autobiographical pieces - 'On Being an Only Child', 'Sacked' and 'Reader's Block', among other gems. Dyer's breadth of vision and generosity of spirit combine to form a manual for ways of being in - and seeing - the world today.Trade ReviewShrewd, funny, original . . . very good company on the page. -- Andrew Motion * * Guardian * *A national treasure. -- Zadie SmithA seductively straightforward writer . . . like Orwell. Dyer writes engrossingly on everything from love of doughnuts to his sequestered working class childhood in Swindon. -- Will Self * * Financial Times * *One of my favourite of all contemporary writers. I love his sense of the absurd, his pessimism mixed with robust good cheer, his beautifully crafted sentences, his jokes and his intelligence. -- Alain de BottonLanguid, elegant, brilliantly conversational. -- Tim Adams * * Observer * *A true original - one of those rare voices in contemporary literature that never ceases to surprise, disturb and delight . . . Dyer is a must-read for our confused and perplexing times. * * William Boyd * *Dyer is becoming a character just as arch and seductive as that professional self-effacer from the previous generation, Alan Bennett. * * Observer * *Insightful, humorous, and . . . exemplifies his passion, wit and ability. -- Rob Sharp * * Independent * *An irresistibly funny storyteller, [Dyer] is adept at fiction, essay and reportage, but happiest when twisting all three into something entirely his own. * * New Yorker * *It's this ability to develop such passions that gives the literary flaneur his curious edge, a gift for turning both acute spasms of obsession and long-rumbling preoccupations into writing, a highly strung take on the journalistic necessity of burrowing into a subject like a worm in an apple, then moving on to a new fruit -- Victoria Segal * * Guardian * *Dyer's musings provide an intensely personal view of the world * * The Times * *It's this ability to develop such passions that gives the literary flaneur his curious edge, a gift for turning both acute spasms of obsession and long-rumbling preoccupations into writing, a highly strung take on the journalistic necessity of burrowing into a subject like a worm in an apple, then moving on to a new fruit. * * Guardian * *Essays and journalism, often very funny, from the author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. * * Sunday Telegraph * *Dyer's musings provide an intensely personal view of the world. * * Times * *

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Book SynopsisBeginning with the election of Donald Trump ("The Loneliest Man in the World") and expanding back and forth into American history, surveillance, violence against the individual, the denormalizing of misogyny and the rehumanizing of public space. The ultimate focus of the book is climate and feminist activism, bringing Solnit's trademark deep analysis to bear on a range of contemporary crises. And again, and spectacularly, she shows us how to hope.

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Book Synopsis'Ghost towns, corporate cruelty, the centuries-old relationship between humans and a species almost magical in its abilities ... fabulous.' The New York Times'Eye-opening' Geographical 'A beautifully written book on diamond smuggling, the universe, life and much of what lies in between.' Toby Muse, author of Kilo: Life and Death Inside the Secret World of the Cocaine CartelsFor nearly 80 years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed "overmined" and abandoned, journalist and author Matthew Gavin Frank set out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade - the smuggling of diamonds by carrier pigeon - that supplies a global market.Uncovering a long overlooked truecrime story dating back to the founding of the De Beers corporation, and blending elements of reportage, memoir and legend, he weaves interviews with local diamond divers, who extract mineral wealth from the seabed by day and raise pigeons in secret by night, with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters.A rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town.Trade ReviewGhost towns, corporate cruelty, the centuries-old relationship between humans and a species almost magical in its abilities ... fabulous. * The New York Times *An eye-opening account and one that's likely to make you reassess the role of diamonds in society today. * Geographical Magazine *Unforgettable. ... An outstanding adventure in its lyrical, utterly compelling, and heartbreaking investigations of the world of diamond smuggling. -- Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Oceanic and World of WondersA fascinating read...a perfect combination of memoir and investigative reporting...a page-turning tale of suspense.... Frank's reporting on mineworkers, their pigeons, the towns, communities, and the people that have struggled in the wake of mine closures makes for compelling reading. * The South African *A beautifully written book on diamond smuggling, the universe, life and much of what lies in between. -- Toby Muse, author of Kilo: Life and Death Inside the Secret World of the Cocaine CartelsA lyrical portrait of a resilient species caught in the grinding gears of a cruel industry of extraction and exploitation. -- Kirk Wallace Johnson, author of The Feather Thief

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Book SynopsisAnti-elitism has become a common staple of media commentary and political rhetoric. But we are taking aim at the wrong enemy. The populist right have diverted public anger away from the real corporate and financial elites and onto those who treat us when we are sick, champion our rights in court, represent our interests in Parliament and create and curate the best literature, art and ideas. This important book argues that the real elites escape scrutiny, while everything that makes our lives worth living becomes 'worthy' and dumbed down. Culture and education have been made to function as merely symbolic arenas of democratisation, but gross inequality remains intact. Liberals have lost their nerve, accepting the anti-elitism slur at face value and worrying that promoting cultural high standards means protecting social privilege. For too long, conservatives have had a monopoly on upholding aesthetic values. But now that they've become ruthless modernisers, it's time for progressives to take on that task. Elitism: A Progressive Defence provides powerful ammunition for the fight, arguing that, rich or poor, beauty and truth belong to us all.Trade Review"Eliane Glaser's polemic demolishes the canard that expertise, intellectual achievement and cultural excellence are somehow 'elitist' and, as such, undemocratic. Words matter. Glaser shows that we must distinguish quality from economic privilege, ability from mediocrity. Perhaps we cannot restore the word elitism to its just esteem, but we must guard what it represents." - Simon Jenkins “A seriously smart and audacious examination of what exactly we mean by ‘elites’, and whether the rhetoric of the populist right has encouraged the wrong ones to be demonised.” – Matthew d’Ancona

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Book SynopsisShowcasing a robust conceptual model primed for use in future studies, this work offers a close analysis of the culture of the fast-moving football club ownership world, football fandom and consumption, and what it might mean for the future of the sport.

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Book Synopsis'A kind of epic poem, one that moves in circular fashion from passionate denunciation to intense autobiographical reflection ... should be required reading for every MP, peer, councillor, civil servant and commentator. The fury and sense of powerlessness that so many people feel at government policy beam out of every page.' The Guardian'It is not enough to read Harry's record of the struggles and hopes of a generation - we have to re-assert his principles of common ownership and the welfare state. If Harry can do it, we should too!' Ken Loach, Director of I, Daniel Blake'As one of the last remaining survivors of the Great Depression and the Second World War, I will not go gently into that good night. I want to tell you what the world looks like through my eyes, so that you can help change it.' In November 2013, 91-year-old Yorkshireman, RAF veteran and ex-carpet salesman Harry Leslie Smith's Guardian article - 'This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time' - was shared over 80,000 times on Facebook and started a huge debate about the state of society.Now he brings his unique perspective to bear on NHS cutbacks, benefits policy, political corruption, food poverty, the cost of education - and much more. From the deprivation of 1930s Barnsley and the terror of war to the creation of our welfare state, Harry has experienced how a great civilisation can rise from the rubble. But at the end of his life, he fears how easily it is being eroded. Harry's Last Stand is a lyrical, searing modern invective that shows what the past can teach us, and how the future is ours for the taking.'Smith's unwavering will to turn things around makes for inspirational reading.' Big Issue North'[With] sheer emotional power ... Harry Leslie Smith reminds us what society without good public services actually looks and feels like.' New StatesmanTrade ReviewA kind of epic poem, one that moves in circular fashion from passionate denunciation to intense autobiographical reflection ... should be required reading for every MP, peer, councillor, civil servant and commentator. The fury and sense of powerlessness that so many people feel at government policy beam out of every page. * Melissa Benn, Guardian *Smith's unwavering will to turn things around makes for inspirational reading. * Big Issue North *[With] sheer emotional power ... Harry Leslie Smith reminds us what society without good public services actually looks and feels like. -- Melissa Benn * Books of the Year *Mr Smith's is a rousing, earthy writing that's part Tony Harrison, part Dennis Skinner * NudgeMeNow.com *This hymn of wrath against the toxic nexus of money and power in austerity UK from a Bradford pauper's son, excommunicated from the Catholic church for marrying an "enemy" woman in post-war Germany, is a compelling life-verdict. * Paul Routledge, The Tablet *Harry's Last Stand is fast becoming a well-deserved publishing phenomenon. It is a breathtaking argument, brilliantly delivered, who said only the new generation have the capacity to make a difference? -- Mark Perryman * Left Futures *A moving first-person account from 91-year-old Harry Leslie Smith of growing up before the creation of the welfare state and NHS. Making a simple, emotive case for progressive politics, Smith was the star turn at this year's Labour party conference. * Guardian [Best Political Books of 2014] *Harry Leslie Smith is absolutely one of my heroes. Everyone should read this and be humbled. -- Annie LennoxIt is not enough to read Harry's record of the struggles and hopes of a generation - we have to re-assert his principles of common ownership and the welfare state. If Harry can do it, we should too! -- Ken LoachI read Harry's Last Stand in a single sitting. Labour should read to get fire in bellies. Tories should read in shame. -- Alastair CampbellSeek this one out. If it doesn't make you angry there's something wrong with you. It's inspirational stuff. -- Rick O'Shea * Radio 1 Presenter *

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Book SynopsisThe nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented transformation, and nowhere was this more apparent than on the streets of London. In only a few decades, London grew from a Regency town to the biggest city the world had ever seen, with more than 6.5 million people and railways, street-lighting and new buildings at every turn.Charles Dickens obsessively walked London's streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, Judith Flanders follows in his footsteps, leading us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, slums, cemeteries, gin palaces and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London. The Victorian City is a revelatory portrait of everyday life on the streets, bringing to life the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. No one who reads it will view London in the same light again.Trade ReviewA quite extraordinary book, which I read with much enjoyment: an intoxicating blend of London, life and literature... I think it's Judith Flanders' best book yet, which is saying something. -- Andrew TaylorMeticulous and gripping... Flanders says that Dickens appealed to contemporaries because he gave them a voyage into the unknown: into parts of London they did not know and where they would not venture. She does something similar for us. The strangeness remains, but the voyage is unforgettable. * Independent *The teeming, bustling, hand-to-mouth and often smelly facts of mid-19th century urban life have seldom been more vividly presented than in this book. * Literary Review *Outstanding * Sunday Times *With infectious enthusiasm Judith Flanders dives into the sights, smells, sounds and grit of what was then the largest city the world had ever known: London * Sunday Telegraph *Flanders captures the variety and colour of 19th-century London, stirring admiration and indignation by turns. To lead us through the Victorian capital, through its hustle and sprawl, its dangers and entertainments, you couldn't hope for a better guide. * New Statesman *Recreates the textures of everyday life with an anthropologist's understanding of human behaviour alongside a storyteller's eye for character. * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn UK society, there are cultural norms and assumptions that affect many marginalised groups and this book aims to address and challenge these through the lens of the people who have lived these experiences. Social Exclusion in the UK presents a range of lived experiences alongside a critical commentary on the impact of social stigma, exclusion and marginalisation on people's lives. This book's chapters are co-authored by people with lived experience and academics and are all underpinned by the Transformative Learning Theory developed by scholar Mezirow. The marginalised experiences discussed in this book include different types of substance users, care leavers, asylum seekers, offenders, HIV positive, those living in poverty or those who identify as transgender. What makes this book unique is that it gives a voice to those who have been the most affected by inequality - whether it's economic or social and health inequalities. Those affected are the least likely to be involved in shaping and informing responses to it and this lack of involvement risks the further exclusion of those who are already marginalised. A few of the ways this book aims to challenge this include: legitimising and prioritising lived experience expertise; fostering critical reflection of our own beliefs and assumptions and drawing on lived experience expertise to inform responses and solutions. Trade Review"At a time of rising poverty, inequality and social injustice, this book nails what needs to be done by listening to the people at the sharp end – in all their diversity. First hand voices supported to speak out highlight the extent of what’s wrong – from prison to child protection, and a vision of what’s needed for us all – from Gypsies to trans people. Read it now!" -- Peter Beresford OBE * Visiting Professor University of East Anglia and Co-Chair of Shaping Our Lives *Table of ContentsIntroduction Understanding social exclusion Understanding social stigma Being a care leaver Being HIV positive Being a Heroin and Crack Cocaine user Being Transgender Being in prison being a teenage parent Being Romany Gypsy Being an asylum seeker Being a parent in the child protection system Using your voice and platform to make a difference Conclusion

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Book SynopsisNothing is as it seems. Illusion is their means, and façade is their power. Humans are first and foremost storytellers, and expatriates tend to be the best at it. The ones in this book have colourful experiences, complex personalities, real struggles, astonishing resilience, big dreams, and in many cases, a remarkable grasp of reality. There is the German who came to the Middle East to hide from her past, the French housewife whose husband left her for a younger woman, but she managed to turn it all around and emerge stronger and happier than ever, the Slovak who traded herself for big promises that proved to be lies, the Filipina who wanted to kill herself after her nude pictures were posted online, the European man who has several wives, and the Pole who made a home in Arabia. Then, there are the locals who fight against corruption and the renowned intellectuals who resigned themselves to servitude and duplicity. Alongside these true stories, the book provides facts and analysis that should provoke cause for concern, because what happened in this oil rich state is being imitated in different countries worldwide. The book debunks the theory of rentier states, demonstrating that the oil wealth did not impede development or democracy in Gulf states. It provides an alternative perspective on human rights reports about Middle Eastern countries, suggesting that they are often misleading and, as a result, fail to resonate with local populations. This is a story of how a small, impoverished country was transformed almost overnight into a rich, powerful welfare state controlled by a few shrewd families. We see what happened to the people who found themselves wealthy all of a sudden. We also see how foreigners flocked from all corners of the world to work hard there, or to exploit others. How a system was created to serve the few at the expense of the many. How a society was brainwashed into accepting a thinly veiled caste system and a Big Brother rule.

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Book SynopsisCentred around the bold voices of millennials and Gen Zs, Smashing the Patriarchy explores how young Indian women from diverse backgrounds ingeniously overcome the patriarchy in their everydayives. From beauty, body politics, and sexuality, to caste, power, and the paradox of choice, the book explores a wide range of women''s issues and draws important connections between these. In the chapter On Beauty'' the author examines why women pursue or reject mainstream beauty standards and the real-life repercussions of their choices. Ishq in the Times of Tinder'' considers the conundrum that isove and what women want (and don''t want) from partnerships. The chapter Women at Work'' focuses on how young hyper-informed (and tech-savvy) women have shifted work culture across industries. Demystifying the Feminine'' examines how women across the socio-cultural spectrum define and express femininity. Society, Sanskar, and Choice'' dives into society''s conception of honour and the backlash dissenting women face when they go against the norm. Taking its inspiration from multi-disciplinary theories, grounded and deepened by interviews with a variety of experts and numerous women, Smashing the Patriarchy is an astonishingly insightful exploration of the collective psyche of modern Indian women.

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Book SynopsisIn Defence of Separatism is a timely book. When it was first written in 1976, although it was an important subject of conversation among many feminists it was not welcomed by academics or publishers. When a political group wants to strategise so that its members can arrive at agreed-on political tactics and ideas, they call for, and create, separate spaces. These might be in coffee shops, in community centres, in one another's homes or in semi-public spaces such as workers clubs, even cinemas. When the proletariat was rebelling, they did not ask the capitalists and aristocracy to join them (even if a few did); when the civil rights movement started it was not thanks to the ideas and politics of white people (even though some whites joined to support the cause); when the women's liberation movement sprang into life, it was women joining together to fight against their oppression. The difference is that women are supposed to love men. Through careful argument, Susan Hawthorne takes us through the ideas which are central to her argument. She analyses the nature of power, oppression, domination and institutions and applies these to heterosexuality, rape and romantic love. She concludes with a call for women, all women no matter their sexuality, to have separate spaces so they can work together to change the world and end patriarchy. This 2019 edition includes a Preface, Afterword and additional commentary in italicised footnotes that bring the reader up to date on changes, developments and controversies in feminist theory.Trade ReviewIn Defence of Separatism is a powerful lesbian feminist manifesto. It was written by Susan Hawthorne in 1976, when the second wave of feminism was in full flow, as the thesis of her Honours degree in Philosophy. And now – over four decades later – it is more relevant than ever before. Her work is a must-read for any lesbian figuring out feminist politics. ⁠— Claire Heuchan, AFTERELLENTable of ContentsAcknowledgements, 1976 Preface to the 2019 edition Statement of the Argument 1 Introduction 1.1 Power 1.2 Oppression 1.3 Domination 1.4 Institutions 2 Things Peculiar to Women’s Oppression 2.1 Heterosexuality 2.2 Rape 2.3 Romantic Love 3 Strategies 3.1 Separatism 3.2 Lesbian Feminism 3.3 Critiques of Separatism and Responses Afterword

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Book SynopsisIn a context of contemporary warfare, drones are increasingly used as tools and machines for control, surveillance, and repression, becoming more and more technologically sophisticated. Through a selection of images collected from various channels, active in most modern conflicts (Syria, Libya, Mali, Central Africa and Ukraine), the book questions the ways war is represented. Where journalistic images are often framed, if not suppressed, by the belligerents and tend to lose relevance, they are gradually being replaced by these machine-produced images. The book brings together documentary images on which the author intervenes only minimally. It is not question of creation here but more on how representing reality.

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Book SynopsisAn antiracist theory of cleaning.In Making the World Clean: Wasted Lives, Wasted Environment, and Racial Capitalism, Françoise Vergès examines the racial and gendered politics of wasting lands, bodies, and resources and the organized deprivation of clean water, shelter, and access to health services?in other words, the structural denial, along racial lines, of vital needs. Through 38 short sections, she looks at the social relations that have made cleaning into drudgery and into a racialized, gendered, poorly paid job that is nevertheless necessary for any society to function. She concludes with the proposition of a feminist, decolonial, antiracist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-capitalist politics of cleaning. Or, simply put, of ?decolonial cleaning.?To Vergès, the structural denial of the elemental needs of women of color (sanitary pads, access to water, and privacy for basic washing), and why these needs are considered insignificant and trivial, shows how racism and class war are gendered. By examining the banal, the trivial, and the elemental, the author addresses cleaning as a necessity rather than the maintenance of a consumerist lifestyle, a condition of basic care of the body and the mind that is considered with indifference by racial capitalism, white environmentalism, and even, too often, by humanitarian organizations. She argues that by building ?life-affirming institutions,? as Ruth Wilson Gilmore advocates, struggles against the whitening of cleaning create sites of freedom. ?Decolonial cleaning? imagines cleaning as taking care of land, humans, plants, animals, and rivers, not seeking to discipline them or transform them into commodities or objects of conservation but cleaning as a practice dedicated to sustaining the living world.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefacePrison Notebooks Notebook 6 (1930–1932)Notebook 7 (1930–1931)Notebook 8 (1930–1932)Notes Notebook 6: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextNotebook 7: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextNotebook 8: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextSequence of Notes by Title or Opening Phrase

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Book SynopsisTraditional dissertations aiming to illuminate the landscapes of education are often too turgid and poorly written to have far-reaching readership. This book examines the inner workings of a doctoral course focused on teaching qualitative researchers strong narrative writing.Table of Contents Contents Foreword Susan Groundwater-Smith  vii Introduction: Student Voice: Reframing School Change by Repositioning Educational Research  1 Marc Brasof and Joseph Levitan PART I: The Student Voice Research Framework and Philosophical Underpinnings 1.  The Student Voice Research Framework  13 Marc Brasof and Joseph Levitan 2.  Epistemological Issues in Student Voice Research  38 Joseph Levitan and Marc Brasof PART II: Preparing for Student Voice Work 3.  The Ethics of Student Voice Research  57 William C. Frick 4.  Considering Space and Time: Power Dynamics and Relationships Between Children and Adults  68 Kate Wall, Claire Cassidy, Carol Robinson, Mhairi C. Beaton, Lorna Arnott, and Elaine Hall 5.  Student Voice: Assessing Research in the Field  84 Lindsay Lyons, Ellen MacCannell, and Vanessa Gold 6.  Reflection and Reflexion on Student Participation and System Change  100 Pat Thomson PART III: Student Voice Methods in Action 7.  Making Meaning and Planning Change with Students Using Photo-Cued Interviewing  117 Kayla M. Johnson 8.  Participatory Visual Data Analysis: Tools for Empowering Students Toward Social Change  138 Lisa J. Starr 9.  Listening to Relations of Power and Potential with Material Methods  153 Eve Mayes 10.  Balancing Breadth and Depth: Using Mixed Methods in Scale Development Research  168 Lindsay Lyons 11.  Intersecting Voices: An Integrative Approach to Applying the Student Voice Research Framework in Teacher Education  183 Alison Cook-Sather, Heather Curl, and Chanelle Wilson Conclusion: The Past, Present, and Future of Student Voice Research  201 Joseph Levitan and Marc Brasof References  207 About the Editors and Contributors  231 Index  235

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Book SynopsisWinner of the John Boswell Prize from the American Historical Association 2018 Winner of the William Sanders Scarborough Prize from the Modern Language Association 2018 Winner of an American Library Association Stonewall Honor 2018 Winner of Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction 2018 Winner of the Sylvia Rivera Award in Transgender Studies from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies The story of Christine Jorgensen, America’s first prominent transsexual, famously narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives—ones lived by African Americans such as Lucy Hicks Anderson and James McHarris. Their erasure from trans history masks the profound ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. In Black on Both Sides, C. Riley Snorton identifies multiple intersections between blackness and transness from the mid-nineteenth century to present-day anti-black and anti-trans legislation and violence.Drawing on a deep and varied archive of materials—early sexological texts, fugitive slave narratives, Afro-modernist literature, sensationalist journalism, Hollywood films—Snorton attends to how slavery and the production of racialized gender provided the foundations for an understanding of gender as mutable. In tracing the twinned genealogies of blackness and transness, Snorton follows multiple trajectories, from the medical experiments conducted on enslaved black women by J. Marion Sims, the “father of American gynecology,” to the negation of blackness that makes transnormativity possible.Revealing instances of personal sovereignty among blacks living in the antebellum North that were mapped in terms of “cross dressing” and canonical black literary works that express black men’s access to the “female within,” Black on Both Sides concludes with a reading of the fate of Phillip DeVine, who was murdered alongside Brandon Teena in 1993, a fact omitted from the film Boys Don’t Cry out of narrative convenience. Reconstructing these theoretical and historical trajectories furthers our imaginative capacities to conceive more livable black and trans worlds.Trade Review"Black on Both Sides challenges the historical account of trans studies invention by excavating a black trans presence and persona long before modern articulations of such. C. Riley Snorton offers us a way to read the historical record in a fashion that requires the unthought to be the basis of the foundation for our claims of newness, demonstrating that there is no revision of what it means to be human without coming through blackness, past and present."—Rinaldo Walcott, author of Queer Returns: Essays on Multiculturalism, Diaspora, and Black Studies"C. Riley Snorton's Black on Both Sides is a welcome contribution to black studies with the potential to influence future directions in the burgeoning field of transgender studies. It is rigorous scholarship that manages to be imaginative and timely."—Kara Keeling, author of The Witch’s Flight: The Cinematic, the Black Femme, and the Image of Common Sense"In a beautifully written and brilliant intervention and extension—the first full length book ‘to examine the historical and contemporary importance of race to the constitution of “trans gender”’—C. Riley Snorton identifies and performs a black trans reading practice, from Anarcha to Transgender Days of Remembrance."—Christina Sharpe, author of In the Wake: On Blackness and Being"The research done here is stellar."—Washington Blade"This book is an outstanding contribution to conversations about black and trans studies; it will transform scholarly understandings of both fields and the intersections between them."—CHOICE"Black on Both Sides reminds us that when we are careful about how we tell stories, we get new, nuanced stories that expose systems for what they are and that honor historically ignored populations."—Autostraddle"Black on Both Sides offers a new imagining of both black and trans history beginning in the early 19th century through the present."—Into News"Black on Both Sides is both important and timely. In an era where transgender acceptance and violence are both at an all-time high, the book reiterates the need for a historical analysis of all disenfranchised and overlooked people. Snorton offers a unique perspective into the burgeoning field of transgender history."—H-Net Reviews"Explores how such important scientific advances as the development of modern gynaecology, for example, took place through and with repeated experimentation on enslaved Black women."—Wear Your Voice Magazine"C. Riley Snorton’s book Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity is a field-changing, paradigm-shifting, once-in-a-generation book that will be read and reckoned with for years to come."—American Historical Review"Carried by an extensive archive of materials such as fugitive slave narratives, sensationalist journalism, and Afro-modernist literature, Snorton gives insight into the importance of black history in relation to of transgender topics. Snorton illuminates how the foundations for "understanding gender as mutable" derive from the horrifics of slavery. Snorton's research proves to be an outstanding and well-needed addition to the conversation of black and trans communities."—PopSugar"It is unquestionable that Black On Both Sides will quickly become necessary reading for anyone thinking about blackness, transness, gender, or historiography. Implicit in its argument is how integral questions of blackness and transness are to numerous other “unrelated” fields: emblematic of such is the sheer number of citations in each chapter (in multiple chapters citation count is in excess of 125), which is less a citational overload and instead an indication of black/trans’s relevance to scholars in fields from black studies to transgender studies, continental philosophy to history to journalism. Snorton’s articulation of such an original historiographical theorization, and serious advancement of the analytic properties (rather than strictly identificatory) of blackness and transness, makes this book a groundbreaking text with which anyone in the aforementioned fields, among numerous others, would be remiss not to grapple rigorously."—Journal of African American History"Black on Both Sides holds a needed critique of the real, lived dangers of liberal inclusion and an identity politics that stubbornly refuses to address ongoing systemic forces that feed into dangerous and deadly circumstances for Black and trans people, including interpersonal violence as well as systemic forces of policing and incarceration, job discrimination, and social isolation. Beyond this, it offers and prioritizes the beauty of those lives that move through the interstices and oversights of categorization, holding a resonant claim to life and meaning."—Gender and Women’s Studies"Black on Both Sides is a rigorous historical and theoretical project that seeks to complicate how we understand blackness at an onto- logical level. What Snorton does exceptionally well is to offer readers the opportunity to consider the ways in which the narrowness of disciplinary boundaries within the academy have rendered queerness and transness as periphery subjects in black history. In this way the book functions as a call to think more expansively about trans studies and black studies."—Journal of the History of Sexuality"C. Riley Snorton ambitiously develops a capacious trans genealogy, which culminates in transgender but arrives there through the motion across categories contained in such derivatives as transitivity and transversality. Not a conventional history, the book is more a set of associative assemblages, a racial poetics of transness, a densely theoretical challenge to historical method."—Journal of American History"C. Riley Snorton’s Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity is an outstanding theorization and history of the interdependence and co- construction of race and gender in the United States."—Oxford University Press Journals"Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity provides an intricate and well-developed weaving of the past to the present."—QED: A Journal in LGBTQ "An incredible insight to how Black people pioneered being out as transgender... A great source and reference for historical events that took place that could help readers with awareness and understanding of the trans community."—Outvoices Nashville Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction Part I. Blacken1. Anatomically Speaking: Ungendered Flesh and the Science of Sex2. Trans Capable: Fungibility, Fugitivity, and the Matter of Being Part II. Transit3. Reading the Trans- in Transatlantic Literature: On the “Female” Within the Three Negro ClassicsPart III. Blackout4. A Nightmarish Silhouette: Racialization and the Long Exposure of Transition5. DeVine's Cut: Public Memory and the Politics of MartydomAcknowledgementsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Iraqi city of Fallujah has become an epicenter of geopolitical conflict, where foreign powers and non-state actors have repeatedly waged war in residential neighborhoods with staggering humanitarian consequences. The Sacking of Fallujah is the first comprehensive study of the three recent sieges of this city, including those by the United States in 2004 and the Iraqi-led operation to defeat ISIS in 2016.Unlike dominant military accounts that focus on American soldiers and U.S. leaders and perpetuate the myth that the United States ""liberated"" the city, this book argues that Fallujah was destroyed by coalition forces, leaving public health crises, political destabilization, and mass civilian casualties in their wake. This meticulously researched account cuts through the propaganda to uncover the lived experiences of Fallujans under siege and occupation, and contextualizes these events within a broader history of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Relying on testimony from Iraqi civilians, the work of independent journalists, and documentation from human rights organizations, Ross Caputi, Richard Hil, and Donna Mulhearn place the experiences of Fallujah's residents at the center of this city's recent history.

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Book SynopsisAnthropologist Jean L. Briggs spent seventeen months living on a remote Arctic shore as the “adopted daughter” of an Inuit family. Through vignettes of daily life she unfolds a warm and perceptive tale of the behavioral patterns of the Utku people, their way of training children, and their handling of deviations from desired behavior.Trade ReviewAbsorbingly and affectingly written. A remarkable book…one that bids to become an anthropological classic. * Publishers’ Weekly *Table of ContentsSpelling and Pronunciation Note People Introduction I. The Study II. The Setting III. Arrival IV. The Seasons V. Nomadism VI. The Society

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Book SynopsisA young entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of capitalism.The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, corporate elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we lack both.Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He's founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century.But this book not only rips back the curtain on the new corporatist agenda, it offers a better way forward. Corporate elites may want to sort us into demographic boxes, but we don't have to stay there. Woke, Inc. begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be a member of society in 2021 a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.

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Book SynopsisIntelligent algorithms are already well on their way to making white collar jobs obsolete: travel agents, data-analysts, and paralegals are currently in the firing line. In the near future, doctors, taxi-drivers and ironically even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by ‘robots’. Without a radical reassessment of our economic and political structures, we risk the very implosion of the capitalist economy itself. In The Rise of the Robots, technology expert Martin Ford systematically outlines the achievements of artificial intelligence and uses a wealth of economic data to illustrate the terrifying societal implications. From health and education to finance and technology, his warning is stark – all jobs that are on some level routine are likely to eventually be automated, resulting in the death of traditional careers and a hollowed-out middle class. The robots are coming and we have to decide – now – whether the future will bring prosperity or catastrophe.Trade Review'Required reading'. * GQ *'Ford paints his prediction that "the robots are coming" with certainty and his case is backed up by significant research'. * Director Magazine *'The Rise of the Robots should come with a warning sticker saying: "This books will provoke a lot of soul-searching"'. * Cambridge Business *'What Ford does well…is take that deep-set historical techno fear, unpack it and play it back to us on the intellectual big screen, magnified and with plenty of hard-hitting stats thrown in to boost the special effects and make sure the volume is turned up to 11'. * Management Today *'Alarming... surreal... it is time to be afraid, very afraid... For the moment there is no hope that the rise of the robots will not be accompanied by the fall of the humans' * Sunday Times Culture *'The elephant in the room of artificial intelligence is mass obsolescence of the human workforce it threatens to supplant. Ford stares the elephant in the face'. * Observer *‘Perhaps the clearest example of genre-hopping to be found in 2015 was the boom in books by journalists and technology writers on what has long been one of the central concerns of science fiction: the implications of artificial intelligence and automation… Few captured the mood as well as Martin Ford in The Rise of the Robots... which painted a bleak picture of the upheavals that would come as ever-greater numbers of even highly skilled workers were displaced by machines.’ * Financial Times, Best Books of 2015 *'Frightening and important...the more people that read it, the better for all of us'. * Destructive Music *'Packed with irresistible gee-whizz facts but...also anxious about what might happen next, especially to human employment...well worth reading'. * Guardian *“Well researched and disturbingly persuasive.” * Financial Times *“Everyone concerned with the future of work must read this book.” -- Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick“[The Rise of the Robots is] about as scary as the title suggests. It’s not science fiction, but rather a vision (almost) of economic Armageddon.” -- Frank Bruni, New York Times“A fascinating journey into the near future world of unemployment. Ford issues a stark warning that automation in the form of robotics is moving beyond the menial jobs to put the rest of us out of work. Read it now before it is too late.” -- Noel Sharkey, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, University of Sheffield“Lucid, comprehensive and unafraid to grapple fairly with those who dispute Ford’s basic thesis, Rise of the Robots is an indispensable contribution to a long-running argument.” * Los Angeles Times *“Finally someone is addressing this important topic that has both a grasp on the economic issues and a grounded understanding of what AI and robotics technology is really capable of now and in the near future. This is combined with a clarity of explanation that can help anyone understand the significant societal changes that will soon be upon us.” -- Dr. Nick Hawes, Reader in Autonomous Intelligent Robotics, University of Birmingham‘The real existential threat of AI is not biological extinction but philosophical identity, as even (or perhaps especially) humanity’s greatest thinkers have to come to terms with the fact that their abilities can be not only understood, but replicated in machines. Martin Ford addresses this new reality with exceptional insight and clarity. He doesn’t shy away from recognizing the many positive outcomes of intelligent technology, while exposing the negative consequences of the very real impacts our society is already experiencing.’ -- Dr Joanna Bryson, Department of Computer Science, University of Bath“As Martin Ford documents in Rise of the Robots, the job-eating maw of technology now threatens even the nimblest and most expensively educated...the human consequences of robotization are already upon us, and skillfully chronicled here.” * New York Times Book Review *“Mr. Ford lucidly sets out myriad examples of how focused applications of versatile machines (coupled with human helpers where necessary) could displace or de-skill many jobs… His answer to a sharp decline in employment is a guaranteed basic income, a safety net that he suggests would both cushion the effect on the newly unemployable and encourage entrepreneurship among those creative enough to make a new way for themselves. This is a drastic prescription for the ills of modern industrialization—ills whose severity and very existence are hotly contested. Rise of the Robots provides a compelling case that they are real, even if its more dire predictions are harder to accept.” * Wall Street Journal *“Compelling and well-written… In his conception, the answer is a combination of short-term policies and longer-term initiatives, one of which is a radical idea that may gain some purchase among gloomier techno-profits: a guaranteed income for all citizens. If that stirs up controversy, that's the point. The book is both lucid and bold, and certainly a starting point for robust debate about the future of all workers in an age of advancing robotics and looming artificial intelligence systems.” * ZDNet *“In Rise of the Robots, Ford coolly and clearly considers what work is under threat from automation.” * New Scientist *“Speaks with special credibility, insight, and verve. Business people, policy makers, and professionals of all sorts should read this book right away—before the 'bots steal their jobs.” -- Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor for the Economist“An alarming new book.” * Esquire *“Ford offers ideas on changes in social policies, including guaranteed income, to keep our economy humming and prepare ourselves for a more automated future.” * Booklist *“If the robots are coming for my job (too), then Martin Ford is the person I want on my side, not to fend them off but to construct a better world where we can all—humans and our machines—live more prosperously together. Rise of the Robots goes far beyond the usual fear-mongering punditry to suggest an action plan for a better future.” -- Cathy N. Davidson, Distinguished Professor and Director, The Futures Initiative, The Graduate Center, CUNY and author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn“Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots is a very important, timely, and well-informed book. Smart machines, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and the ‘Internet of things’ are transforming every sector of the economy. Machines can outperform workers in a rapidly widening arc of activities. Will smart machines lead to a world of plenty, leisure, health care, and education for all; or to a world of inequality, mass unemployment, and a war between the haves and have-nots, and between the machines and the workers left behind? Ford doesn’t claim to have all of the answers, but he asks the right questions and offers a highly informed and panoramic view of the debate. This is an excellent book that offers us a sophisticated glimpse into our possible futures.” -- Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University and author of The Age of Sustainable Development“A careful and courageous examination of automation and its possible impact on society.” * Kirkus Reviews *“Of all the moderns who have written on automation and rising joblessness, Martin Ford is the original. The Rise of the Robots is self-recommending.” * Marginal Revolution *“It's not easy to accept, but it's true. Education and hard work will no longer guarantee success for huge numbers of people as technology advances. The time for denial is over. Now it's time to consider solutions and there are very few proposals on the table. Rise of the Robots presents one idea, the basic income model, with clarity and force. No one who cares about the future of human dignity can afford to skip this book.” -- Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future?

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Book SynopsisJoin John Rogers as he ventures out into an uncharted London like a redbrick Indiana Jones in search of the lost meaning of our metropolitan existence. Nursing two reluctant knees and a can of Stella, he perambulates through the seasons seeking adventure in our city's remote and forgotten reaches.When John Rogers packed away his rucksack to start a family in London he didn't stop travelling. But instead of canoeing up the Rejang River to find retired headhunters in Sarawak, he caught the ferry to Woolwich in search of the edge of the city at Crayford Marshes.This Other London recounts that journey and many others all on foot and epic in their own cartilage-crunching way. Clutching a samosa and a handful of out-of-date A-Zs, he heads out into the wilderness of isolated luxury apartment blocks in Brentford, the ruins of Lesnes Abbey near Thamesmead, and the ancient Lammas Lands in Leyton.Denounced by his young sons as a hippy wizard', Rogers delves into some of the overlooked stories ruTrade Review‘Leave the Oyster card at home and set out in your walking shoes with Rogers as a companion – and be prepared to see London in a whole new way.’ Time Out ‘Rich with surprises …Rogers conjured up magical little worlds that we would otherwise pass by.’ Metro ‘The author’s love of exploration is infectious. Anyone who reads This Other London will find themselves with an unexpected itch to visit the Welsh Harp Reservoir or Hounslow Heath … [John Rogers is] the Brian Cox of topology, inspiring wonder and curiosity.’ Londonist

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