Verso Books

Book SynopsisOn April 21, 1971, hundreds of Vietnam veterans fell asleep on the National Mall, wondering whether they would be arrested by daybreak. Veterans had fought the courts for the right to sleep in public while demonstrating against the war. When the Supreme Court denied their petition, they decided to break the law and turned sleep into a form of direct action. During and after the Second World War, military psychiatrists used sleep therapies to treat an epidemic of "combat fatigue." Inducing deep and twilight sleep in clinical settings, they studied the effects of war violence on the mind and developed the techniques of brainwashing that would weaponize both memory and sleep. In the Vietnam War era, radical veterans reclaimed the authority to interpret their own traumatic symptoms-nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia-and pioneered new methods of protest. In Fighting Sleep, Franny Nudelman recounts the struggle over sleep in the postwar world, revealing that sleep was instrumental to the development of military science, professional psychiatry, and antiwar activism. Traversing the fields of military and mainstream psychiatry, popular and institutional film, documentary sound technology, brain warfare, and postwar social movements, she demonstrates that sleep-far from being passive, empty, or null-is a site of contention and a source of political agency.Trade ReviewPraise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:"John Brown's Body explains the enormous role of Brown's martyrdom in the visual and literary rhetoric of the Civil War" -- Adam Gopnik * The New Yorker *Praise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:John Brown's Body critiques the long-held idea, from Richard Slotkin forward, that violence must be the price of profound social change -- Jane E. Schultz * The Journal of American History *Praise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:John Brown's Body is a cultural history of great originality and depth. By interweaving histories and literatures that have often been kept separate, it sheds new light on the meaning of the devastation of the Civil War and, more generally, on violence as a form of cultural expression. -- Karen Flood * The North Carolina Historical Review *Sleep seems to mark a realm wholly separate from public affairs, but Sleeping Soldiers reveals its methodical colonization by the US national security state and its surprising centrality to Cold War American politics and culture. Moving deftly between film and public protest, military psychiatry and veteran experience, documentation and reality, Franny Nudelman charts a fascinating pathway from the CIA mind-control experiments and the "brainwashing" scare of the Korean War era to the troubled sleep of the traumatized veteran, the endless wakefulness of the POW, and the emergence of a veteran's movement focused on the right to sleep in public. -- Timothy Melley, author of The Covert Sphere: Secrecy, Fiction, and the National Security State (Cornell 2012), Professor of English and Director of the Miami University Humanities Center.In this lucid and moving cultural history of the US from the end of WW2 through the Vietnam War, Franny Nudelman explores the problematic status of sleep for soldiers damaged by the trauma of warfare. Writing against the instrumental logic of sleep as the recuperation necessary for a return to service and combat, she poses the passivity and vulnerability of sleep as an interval of refusal, of healing, or of oblivion in relation to the imperatives of a militaristic society. A revelatory book. -- Jonathan Crary, Author of 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of SleepIf you've never thought of sleep as direct action, Franny Nudelman's marvelous tale of the struggles over soldiers' sleep will awaken you to the mundane tactics of peaceable assembly in the face of the nightmares of militarism. A riveting re-imagination of antiwar activism for our post-traumatic times. -- Michael Denning, author of Noise Uprising and The Cultural Front[Insurgent Empire] sets out to celebrate the political agency of colonised peoples, its importance in bringing an end to empire and the impact it had on metropolitan liberal and radical thinking. -- Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *Haunting and lovingly researched. -- Benjamin Reiss * Los Angeles Review of Books *Fighting Sleep shows that interpreting trauma by ourselves is vital to resisting the violence committed in our names. In a world of war, inequality, repression, and environmental degradation, we must explore our discomfort and question our role in this violence. -- Joey Mitchell * Mobilization *

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Book SynopsisA People's History of Scotland looks beyond the kings and queens, the battles and bloody defeats of the past. It captures the history that matters today, stories of freedom fighters, suffragettes, the workers of Red Clydeside, and the hardship and protest of the treacherous Thatcher era. With riveting storytelling, Chris Bambery recounts the struggles for nationhood. He charts the lives of Scots who changed the world, as well as those who fought for the cause of ordinary people at home, from the poets Robbie Burns and Hugh MacDiarmid to campaigners such as John Maclean and Helen Crawfurd. This is a passionate cry for more than just independence but also for a nation based on social justice. Fully updated to include the rise of the SNP post 2014.Trade ReviewSplendid...The careful social and economic analysis in A People's History of Scotland offers a close reading of the rise and fall of industry and mining, resulting in consequences which were scarcely cheerful. -- Paul Buhle * Monthly Review *Offers a Scottish version of EP Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class. * Scotsman *

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Book Synopsis"They demolish our houses while we build theirs." This is how a Palestinian stonemason, in line at a checkpoint outside a Jerusalem suburb, described his life to Andrew Ross. Palestinian "stone men", utilizing some of the best quality dolomitic limestone deposits in the world and drawing on generations of artisanal knowledge, have built almost every state in the Middle East except their own. Today the business of quarrying, cutting, fabrication, and dressing is Palestine's largest employer and generator of revenue, supplying the construction industry in Israel, along with other Middle East countries and even more overseas.Drawing on hundreds of interviews in Palestine and Israel, Ross's engrossing, surprising, and gracefully written story of this fascinating, ancient trade shows how the stones of Palestine, and Palestinian labor, have been used to build out the state of Israel-in the process, constructing "facts on the ground"--even while the industry is central to Palestinians' own efforts to erect bulwarks against the Occupation. For decades, the hands that built Israel's houses, schools, offices, bridges, and even its separation barriers have been Palestinian. Looking at the Palestine-Israel conflict in a new light, this book asks how this record of achievement and labor can be recognized.Trade ReviewBooks by Andrew Ross are always exhilarating adventures at the cutting edge of social thought... Ross is a shrewd cross between Jonathan Swift and C. Wright Mills -- Mike DavisAndrew Ross is the very model for a scholar-activist -- David GraeberRoss is a raconteur with delicious--and telling--anecdotes * The New York Times Book Review *When a writer as original and committed as Andrew Ross turns his attention to Palestine, we know we are up for a unique set of observations. Ross uses the stone quarries of palestine to weave a story that brings together geology, politics, military occupation, water, and environment. It is a story that is at once specific in its attention to details of matter and place and expansive as it takes us across the tragic history of this late manifestation of colonial domination. -- Eyal Weizman, author of Hollow LandJust when you thought that there was no other way to amplify the atrocity of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, along comes Andrew Ross with Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel. Here is a refreshingly clear picture of the labour that it takes to produce and reproduce Israeli society and the Israeli occupation. Ordinary Palestinians who break and lay the stones tell Andrew Ross their stories, and he offers them to us as a gift of their resilience -- Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer NationsMeet 'Michelangelo of Beit Fajjar' and the other Palestinian stone-masons whose superb craft has fashioned Israel's famous 'white cities.' Their hidden labor is the starting point for Ross's brilliantly original exploration of how dispossession and exploitation continue to define the relationship of Israeli and Palestinian societies. This is radical journalism at its best - and I mean Pulitzer-Prize-quality best. -- Mike Davis, author of Planet of SlumsAndrew Ross sheds a brilliant light on what he calls the 'sweat equity' of Palestinian laborers who were deprived by Israel's system of occupation and apartheid of their land and livelihood and pushed as a result to build Israeli housing and infrastructure to survive and to resist ethnic cleansing. Ross enriches us not just with a meticulously-researched dose of history and a logical argument for a post-colonial reality of ethical co-existence in historic Palestine. He takes us on a perspicacious journey of human stories, ethical arguments and socioeconomic realities, consciously refraining from speaking on behalf of Palestinians or depicting us as pitiful victims, as many well-meaning white academics still do, and thus contributing to understanding what justice in this land truly means and entails. -- Omar Barghouti, Palestinian human rights defender.Scrupulous ... Andrew Ross has left a portentous mark on what will be, if it happens, a profound debate for the civil rights of indigenous Palestinians in a single-state, a principal share Palestinians have already built themselves. * Palestine Chronicle *Stone Men ... consistently provides insights into the troubled and troubling relationships between Israelis and Palestinians that are hard to come by elsewhere. -- Ben Ehrenreich * Guardian *Ross moves continuously and seamlessly between the broad picture and the intimate individual experience, elucidating crucial points as he does so. * Morning Star *A moving story of craft, material and culture. -- Edwin Heathcote * Financial Times *Stone Men provides an in-depth assessment of the coercive and exploitative dynamics which have the potential to open new ways of looking at Palestinian rights to land and territory. * The New Arab *Combines quality journalism with a solid critique of what's been laid down ever since Zionism met capitalism. * Middle East Monitor *A unique record of the voices of the Palestinian workers who - quite literally - built Israel ... path-breaking * Race & Class *

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Book SynopsisWe've all been tourists at some point in our lives. How is it we look so condescendingly at people taking selfies in front of the Tower of Pisa? Is there really much to distinguish the package holiday from hipster city-breaks to Berlin or Brooklyn? Why do we engage our free time in an activity we profess to despise?The World in a Selfie dissects a global cultural phenomenon. For Marco D'Eramo, tourism is not just the most important industry of the century, generating huge waves of people and capital, calling forth a dedicated infrastructure, and upsetting and repurposing the architecture and topography of our cities. It also encapsulates the problem of modernity: the search for authenticity in a world of ersatz pleasures.D'Eramo retraces the grand tours of the first globetrotters - from Francis Bacon and Samuel Johnson to Arthur de Gobineau and Mark Twain - before assessing the cultural meaning of the beach holiday and the 'UNESCO-cide' of major heritage sites. The tourist selfie will never look the same again.Trade ReviewA sophisticated, engaging, clever book -- Sabine Peters * Berliner Zeitung *Provocative and entertaining -- Andrea Dernbach * Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin *A work of intelligence and wit: the history and phenomenology of the tourist, from Hegel to Tripadvisor * La Repubblica *Accumulates surprising and unsettling data, interpretations and testimonies, putting certainties we take for granted into crisis: the distinction between material and immaterial values, between commodities and fetishes, between modernity and post-modernity -- Giuliano Milani * Internazionale, Rome *Chicago, America's megalopolis-as-metaphor, has found its leftward de Toqueville in Marco d'Eramo. His book is as rare as an Indian Head penny and as hard as truth. It is a book that Algren, Dreiser, Altgeld and Darrow would have acclaimed as 'on the button' -- Studs Terkel * for The Pig and the Skyscraper *Fun and challenging, The World in a Selfie mixes the flavors of Mark Twain, Karl Marx, and theme parks to result in a real and welcome trip elsewhere. -- Meredith Grahl Counts * Foreword Reviews *Marco D'Eramo deconstructs the politics of sightseeing, and the search for authenticity within it. * New York Times Book Review *A sophisticated, engaging, clever book * Berliner Zeitung *Surprising and unsettling, putting certainties we take for granted into crisis * Internazionale *Provocative and entertaining * Der Tagesspiegel *A work of intelligence and wit * la Repubblica *The World in a Selfie is digressive, the chapters like a series of meditations that touch on various aspects of travel and tourism. -- Sophie Haigney * The New Republic *Readable, well-researched and well-written. -- Mik Sabiers * Morning Star *Thought-provoking . This is an intriguing book for sociologists and economists, as well as for serious travelers wishing to understand their impact as they once again move about the globe. -- Cindy Pauldine * Shelf Awareness (Starred Review) *A bracing, provocative examination of an all-too-human pastime. -- Benjamin Shull * Wall Street Journal *A fascinating journalistic approach to one the biggest influences on our economy and imaginations, The World in a Selfie spellbinds. A wonderful read for travelers and non-travelers in the new world of a pandemic. * Champagne Living *The truth is that tourists have always been unpopular ... The root of the stigmatisation, argues Marco D'Eramo, is the resentment of rattrapage, one social class catching up with another. -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times *A provocative take on the meanings of contemporary travel. -- Jim Gladstone * Passport Magazine *In a summer when all our assumptions about travel and tourism are being called into question, this engrossing book, newly translated from Italian, is the ideal guide. -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times: Summer books of 2021 *Andras's novel reaches for imaginative inner connections and syntheses across scale and time. He is no stranger to sociological contradiction, nor to psychological complexity. -- Jeffery R. Webber * Spectre *

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Book SynopsisClimate engineering is a dystopian project. But as the human species hurtles ever faster towards its own extinction, geoengineering as a temporary fix, to buy time for carbon removal, is a seductive idea. We are right to fear that geoengineering will be used to maintain the status quo, but is there another possible future after geoengineering? Can these technologies and practices be used to bring carbon levels back down to pre-industrial levels? Are there possibilities for massive intentional intervention in the climate that are democratic, decentralised, or participatory?These questions are provocative, because they go against a binary that has become common sense: geoengineering is assumed to be on the side of industrial agriculture, inequality and ecomodernism, in opposition to degrowth, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and climate justice. After Geoengineering rejects this binary, to ask: what if the people seized the means of climate production? Both critical and utopian, the book examines the possible futures after geoengineering. Rejecting the idea that geoengineering is some kind of easy work-around, Holly Buck outlines the kind of social transformation that would be necessary to enact a programme of geoengineering in the first place.Trade ReviewIn the face of rapid climate change, how should we think about geoengineering? In this timely and bold book, Holly Jean Buck lays out a case for approaching geoengineering from the Left. Blending journalistic insight with scientific speculation, After Geoenginneeringinspires much-needed thought experiments about the changes coming to our warmer and weirder world. -- Joel Wainwright, author of Decolonizing Development, Geopiracy, and Climate Leviathan (with Geoff Mann)With After Geoengineering, Holly Buck offers a sobering, prescient vision of a climate realism that we should heed. She decisively alters how the Left might understand the challenges of Planetarity and what anthropogenic intervention may require, both technologically and ethically. There are no easy solutions on offer, only difficult paths to cross while they are still open. -- Benjamin H. Bratton, University of California, San DiegoThis is the guide to the future. There's hardly anything scarier than geoengineering, but it is coming towards us, closer for every day of CO2 spewed into the air. It can no longer be wished away - and thankfully, we have Holly Jean Buck to explain what it might look like and how it could be survived, perhaps even used for the good of the planet. Written in graceful prose, combining the latest science with the crystal ball of a sci-fi author, this book shines. Anyone worried about what comes next should read it. -- Andreas Malm, author of The Progress of This Storm and Fossil CapitalGeoengineering is the 'third rail' of left green politics that no one dares to touch. Holly Buck transcends stale debates and allows us to imagine a hopeful world beyond both capitalism and climate catastrophe. Providing a rigorous (and joyful!) look at technological options to buy time, adapt to change, and renew the planet, this radical book is long overdue. -- Paul Robbins, Nelson Institute for Environmental StudiesClimate is now an unmitigated disaster. Talk is already turning from reducing carbon outputs to more drastic solutions. Progressive activists are going to need to get up to speed on the emerging geoengineering industrial complex. Holly Jean Buck walks us briskly through what we need to know to engage with this deepening planetary crisis. -- McKenzie Wark, author of Molecular RedThe topic of geoengineering usually merits a quick dismissal among environmentalists, but Holly Buck's After Geoengineeringshows it is extremely complex with multiple available options. As emissions continue to rise and warming continues, this topic needs serious attention on the left since revolutionizing our energy system is likely not enough given what we've already emitted. Buck's brilliant - and hopeful - overview is not merely technical or economic, but addresses head-on the implications for climate justice. Beautifully written, including creative 'sketches' imagining future scenarios, this book is required reading for how to navigate the crisis ahead. -- Matt Huber, author of Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom and the Forces of CapitalA limpid synthesis of elegy and urgency. Unflinching about what looms for the world, Holly Buck outlines radical, transformative demands and agendas for a least-bad way forward, in the service of better ways thereafter. -- China Miéville, author of October: the Story of the Russian RevolutionA really fantastic book; as if Ursula K. LeGuin wrote a definitive study of carbon management options for the 21st century. A meticulously researched, beautifully drawn portrait of dozens of possible futures and how to make them reality. A must-read for anyone who cares about making a cooler and more just future for generations to come. -- Emma Marris, author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild WorldOriginal, thought-provoking...Accounts of cutting-edge technologies...are shot through with interludes of speculative fiction, which inject human nuance into risk-laden scenarios. * Nature *After Geoengineering...hints, though, that the movement is at last starting to offer strategic thinking commensurate with the crisis at hand. -- Troy Vettese * Boston Review *Original, thought-provoking * Nature *A book to be read on its own terms...Buck's eloquent and useful text seeks to disentangle a varied and complex cluster of technologies from the intimidating labels of 'climate intervention' or 'geoengineering'. * New Socialist *Buck expertly the nuance and complexity of figuring out what to do with the remains of an industry on which the entire global economy currently depends. * Issues in Science and Technology *Besides her exemplary and comprehensive survey of current and near-future decarbonization technologies, one of the strengths of Buck's approach to narrative nonfiction is the treatment of an issue often too complex for individual imaginations.Incisive commentary and strong prose. -- Issues in Science and Technology * Elizabeth Garbee *

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Book SynopsisOn September 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. On route to a protest, local police intercepted the students and a confrontation ensued. By the morning, they had disappeared without a trace. Hernández reconstructs almost minute-by-minute the events of those nights in late September 2014, giving us what is surely the most complete picture available: her sources are unparalleled, since she has secured access to internal government documents that have not been made public, and to video surveillance footage the government has tried to hide and destroy. Hernández demolishes the Mexican state's official version, which the Peña Nieto government cynically dubbed the "historic truth". As her research shows, state officials at all levels, from police and prosecutors to the upper echelons of the PRI administration, conspired to put together a fake case, concealing or manipulating evidence, and arresting and torturing dozens of "suspects" who then obliged with full "confessions" that matched the official lie. By following the role of the various Mexican state agencies through the events in such remarkable detail, Massacre in Mexico shows with exacting precision who is responsible for which component of this monumental crime.Trade Review[A] detailed coverage of the government's horrifying and often clumsy attempt at a cover-up... her sources are clear and convincing. -- Rachel Nolan * London Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisThe historiography of modern India is largely a pageant of presumed virtues: harmonious territorial unity, religious impartiality, the miraculous survival of electoral norms in the world's most populous democracy. Even critics of injustices within Indian society still underwrite such claims. But how well does the 'Idea of India' correspond to the realities of the Union?In an iconoclastic intervention, Marxist historian Perry Anderson provides an unforgettable reading of the Subcontinent's passage through Independence and the catastrophe of Partition, the idiosyncratic and corrosive vanities of Gandhi and Nehru, and the close interrelationship of Indian democracy and caste inequality. The Indian Ideology caused uproar on first publication in 2012, not least for breaking with euphemisms for Delhi's occupation of Kashmir. This new, expanded edition includes the author's reply to his critics, an interview with the late Praful Bidwai of the Indian weekly Outlook, and a postscript on India under the rule of Narendra Modi. Anderson considers whether his regime is as much of a break with the practices and thought processes of Congress rule as is generally supposed.Trade ReviewA magnificent achievement. It is a product of his ability, near-unique in today's world of ideas, to distill a country's history and politics into a few thousand words that are at once combative and informative * Business Standard, New Delhi *Anderson's scepticism towards India's claim to be a postcolonial democracy uniquely untainted by repression, emergency powers and other dark arts of territorial "unity" is timely -- Maria Misra * Prospect *Perry Anderson brings together a set of arguments that will be received with disquiet by the scholars and ideologues who have constructed a celebratory, self-righteous consensus about the Indian Republic. Instead of writing off the unspeakable violence and egregious injustice in our society as aberrations in an otherwise successful model, Anderson points to serious structural flaws and the deep seated social prejudices of those who have administered the Indian State in the decades since Independence. It is important to read this book seriously, with equanimity and an open mind, instead of flinching and turning away from it -- Arundhati RoyWell sourced and artfully crafted, offering a comprehensive history of India's ideology -- Yahya Chaudhry * Jacobin *Anderson is unanswerable when he points to a consistent Indian pattern of silence, evasion, and distortion about India's military occupation of Kashmir and its attendant regime of extrajudicial execution, torture, and detention. Many readers will be struck by the evidence Anderson adduces of the insidious dominance of upper-caste Hindus in every realm of social and political life and by his portrait of the primordial politics of caste and religion, which have enshrined a patrimonial state built on nepotism and dynasty worship. Admirers of Gandhi and Nehru will encounter many awkward facts, especially regarding their roles in the partition of India, a calamity usually blamed on British colonial administrators and Indian Muslim leaders -- Pankaj Mishra * Foreign Affairs *Exposes some substantial faultlines in recent Indian writing about India and with some justice questions the emerging consensus around India's democratic successes -- David Arnold * Times Literary Supplement *With his sharp and lucid prose, Anderson strips away many of the liberal myths surrounding Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Indian democracy itself. His incisive insights, his sweeping vision, his invocation of telling detail are all here in full measure -- Ravi Palat * Critical Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisWho was Jacques Derrida? For some, he is responsible, at least in part, for the contemporary crisis of truth. For the far right, he is one of the architects of Cultural Marxism. To his academic critics, he reduced French philosophy to 'little more than an object of ridicule'. For his fans, he is an intellectual rock star who ranged across literature, politics, and linguistics. In An Event Perhaps, Peter Salmon presents this misunderstood and misappropriated figure as a deeply humane and urgent thinker for our times. Accessible, provocative and beautifully written, this biography will introduce to a new readership to the life and work of a philosopher whose influence over the way we think will continue long into the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewThis is a compulsively readable intellectual biography of Derrida that teases out his endlessly fascinating thought, even when it is at its knottiest, with admirable patience and lucidity. Salmon's book, in vividly transmitting the intellectual excitement of Derrida's times, reminds the reader that, especially in his thinking about ethics, he remains a philosopher who is urgently, politically relevant to our times too. -- Matthew Beaumont, Professor at English at University College, LondonThe life of Jacques Derrida has never been told as elegantly or engagingly as it is in Peter Salmon's new book. In delightfully readable, often laconic prose, Salmon helped me to understand Derrida as never before and demonstrated why he is not, as some detractors called him, the Devil but much more cherishable. A wonderful book. -- Stuart Jeffries, author of Grand Hotel AbyssA precise intellectual biography ... Salmon's ability to render the man and the mind behind Derrida's "notoriously difficult" style accessible make this volume a rich resource for both newcomers to, and fans of, "one of the great philosophers of this or any age. * Publishers Weekly *Peter Salmon's clear-sighted, engaging guide to Derrida's life and ideas is an excellent way to learn about how one of the twentieth century's most complex thinkers continues to influence our world -- Daniel Trilling, author of Lights in the DistanceA scintillating new biography . . . Derrida's life story provides a frame and background for an intellectual biography of his ideas and their development. In the process it also serves as one of the clearest introductions to 20th-century continental philosophy available. -- Julian Baggini * Prospect Magazine *[An Event, Perhaps] comes as manna from heaven ... It's dizzyingly good. * Expressen *

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Book SynopsisIn 1946 many Jewish soldiers returned to their homes in England imagining that they had fought and defeated the forces of fascism in Europe. Yet in London they found a revived fascist movement inspired by Sir Oswald Mosley and stirring up agitation against Jews and communists. Many felt that the government, the police and even the Jewish Board of Deputies were ignoring the threat; so they had to take matters into their own hands, by any means necessary.Forty-three Jewish servicemen met together and set up a group that tirelessly organised, infiltrated meetings, and broke up street demonstrations to stop the rebirth of the far right. The group included returned war heroes; women who went undercover; and young Jews, such as hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, seeking adventure. From 1947, the 43 Group grew into a powerful troop that could muster hundreds of fighters turning meetings into mass street brawls at short notice.The history of the 43 Group is not just a gripping story of a forgotten moment in Britain's postwar history; it is also a timely lesson in how to confront fascism, and how to win.Trade ReviewThrough interviews with veterans, and material from antifascist and Jewish community archives, Sonabend vividly reconstructs this story. It is a story both inspiring and uncomfortable, and the fundamental questions it raises have yet to disappear from our political landscape. -- Daniel Trilling * Guardian *A new, comprehensive history of the group. * The Economist *Brilliant, compelling and very timely. This is the sort of history we should all know about, especially in these troubled times, but were never taught at school. * Keith Lowe, author of The Fear and the Freedom *A great reminder of a post-war resistance to fascism amongst Jewish Londoners. It's a little-known story as it tends to get hidden behind the pre-war appearance of Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists but, as we read here, Mosley wasn't finished with his Jew-baiting. My own grandparents lived two hundred yards from the scene of action of most of this book and reading it brought it all to life for me. * Michael Rosen, author of So They Call You Pisher! *brilliantly chronicles the 43 Group's lightning-fast progress from a homespun organization with a handful of Jewish ex-servicemen...to a surprisingly sophisticated one with up to 2,000 members and intelligence and surveillance branches. * Haaretz *Sonabend combines academic rigour with an easy, readable style, all of which helps to throw into sharp relief the difficult questions the story raises. * New Statesman *This important book is not simply a trip down memory lane, but a warning from history. It should be mandatory for those who do not see themselves as bystanders. * Jewish Chronicle *Thrilling...full of unforgettable characters, clandestine activities, deception, surveillance and more than a few full-blooded street brawls...A must read for all antifascists * Hope Not Hate *

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Book SynopsisIt is twenty-five years since the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda when in the course of three terrible months more than 1 million people were murdered. In the intervening years a pernicious campaign has been waged by the perpetrators to deny this crime, with attempts to falsify history and blame the victims for their fate. Facts are reversed, fake news promulgated, and phoney science given credence. Intent to Deceive tells the story of this campaign of genocide denial from its origins with those who planned the massacres. With unprecedented access to government archives including in Rwanda Linda Melvern explains how, from the moment the killers seized the power of the state, they determined to distort reality of events. Disinformation was an integral part of their genocidal conspiracy. The génocidaires and their supporters continue to peddle falsehoods. These masters of deceit have found new and receptive audiences, have fooled gullible journalists and unwary academics. With their seemingly sound research methods, the Rwandan génocidaires continue to pose a threat, especially to those who might not be aware of the true nature of their crime. The book is a testament to the survivors who still live the horrors of the past. Denial causes them the gravest offence and ensures that the crime continues. This is a call for justice that remains perpetually delayed.Trade Review"The best overall account of the background to the genocide, and the failure to prevent it." -- General Romeo Dallaire * [For Conspiracy to Murder] *An epic and shaming story of culpability and missed opportunities... in the finest traditions of investigative journalism. -- John Pilger * [For Conspiracy to Murder] *Melvern offers a vivid picture of the role of Western nations in abetting, ignoring and allowing Rwanda's genocide. * New York Times Book Review [for A People Betrayed] *An important book by an important investigative journalist. It is thanks to the patience and dedication with which Linda Melvern works and her well earned international reputation for excellence in journalism, that she gained access to new, crucial information. Linda Melvern gets us closer to the truth and the truth gets us closer to a better world. Only when we know how and why genocide happens, can we hope to stop it from happening again. -- Linda Polman, author of We Did Nothing * [For A People Betrayed] *A very sensitive and crucial reading [of the Rwandan genocide]. -- Brad Evans * Los Angeles Review of Books *Exposes wilful deception - on the part of countries and individuals with everything to lose - to manipulate the next generation into revisionists and genocide deniers. These duped academics, journalists and other "experts" continue to propagate self-serving lies onto the victims, aiming to wreak damage as repugnant as that of the earliest colonialists. Her book does not delve in gossip-mongering, hearsay or bias. It presents the facts. And it behoves us every one to remember them. It is our moral imperative. In Intent to Deceive, Melvern clearly and concisely details the indisputable evidence of a planned genocide. -- Lt. General Rome Dallaire, * Globe and Mail *Exposes how genocide deniers have crafted an alternative history of the Rwandan genocide. This first exhaustive analysis of the history of Tutsi genocide denial is an essential resource which helps guide readers through the labyrinth of literature on Rwanda's history. * The Africa Report *Linda Melvern has made it something of a life mission to take on the Rwandan genocide deniers and debunk their poisonous fact-muddying claims. . . A clear, crisp and important contribution to the literature on the genocide. In particular Melvern forensically rebuts attempts by apologists for the genocidaires, including western academics, to suggest a moral equivalence between the parties in Rwanda. -- Alec Russell * Financial Times *A brilliant & incisive book about those who continue to deny the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. -- Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to ProtectA scathing indictment of those 'experts' who feed off of each other's bias and persistently ignore (and perhaps even benefit from) the lack of reflexivity on and awareness of the harm done by Western-centred knowledge on Rwanda. She shows how most of the knowledge and expertise on Rwanda disproportionately favours non-Rwandan voices, along the way distorting the experiences of survivors and victims and ignoring the expertise of Rwandans altogether. -- Alice Musabende * Wasafiri *Linda Melvern is the foremost expert on the Rwandan genocide, and her latest book picks apart the lies propagated about the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi ethnic group. ... This matters in an age when political leaders, aided by their media cronies, sacrifice the truth to enhance their re-election chances. -- Rebecca Tinsley * Independent Catholic News *

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Book SynopsisOne day in the spring of 2013, a box appeared outside a fourth-floor apartment door in Brooklyn, New York. The recipient, who didn't know the sender, only knew she was supposed to bring this box to a friend, who would ferry it to another friend. This was Edward Snowden's box-printouts of documents proving that the US government had built a massive surveillance apparatus and used it to spy on its own people-and the friend on the end of this chain was filmmaker Laura Poitras.Thus the biggest national security leak of the digital era was launched via a remarkably analog network, the US Postal Service. This is just one of the odd, ironic details that emerges from the story of how Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge, two experienced journalists but security novices (and the friends who received and ferried the box) got drawn into the Snowden story as behind-the-scenes players. Their initially stumbling, increasingly paranoid, and sometimes comic efforts to help bring Snowden's leaks to light, and ultimately, to understand their significance, unfold in an engrossing narrative that includes emails and diary entries from Poitras. This is an illuminating essay on the status of transparency, privacy, and trust in the age of surveillance.Trade ReviewI've read virtually all of the books about the Snowden leaks, but this one stands apart.A beautifully written, gripping new book. -- Cory Doctorow * Boing Boing *A short, yet fluent and well-researched, work from a duo of US-based investigative journalists...despite the title, 'Snowden's Box' is essentially not about the box as such, but, as the authors themselves, acknowledge, about some of the most powerful analogue technology in the world: human relationships. -- Vitali Vitaliev * Engineering & Technology *The story of Edward Snowden's disclosure of NSA secrets to the press has been told and retold in books, films, and countless articles. Left unreported has been the quiet role of [Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge] who literally had Snowden material mailed to them in a cardboard box.[In Snowden's Box], the duo finally tells their story of beginners' encryption, convoluted codewords, and extreme paranoia. -- Sam Biddle * The Intercept *A gonzo story, told with a sense of humour...Bruder and Maharidge tell a good yarn and make a strong case against government surveillance. They argue that everybody should have something to hide. * Morning Star *The simplest human connections are sometimes vitally important for journalists to carry out their work beyond the gaze of the spying agencies. Bruder and Maharige's book is a timely reminder of this fact. * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisIn this personal portrait of Edward Said written by a close friend, Dominique Eddé offers a fascinating and fresh presentation of his oeuvre from his earliest writings on Joseph Conrad to his most famous texts, Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism. Eddé weaves together accounts of the genesis and content of Said's work, his intellectual development, and her own reflections and personal recollections of their friendship, which began in 1979 and lasted until Said's death in 2003. Throughout, she traces the connection between personal history and theoretical options, illuminating the evolution of Said's thought. Both specialists of Said's work and newcomers will find much to learn in this rich portrait of one of the twentieth century's most important intellectuals.Trade ReviewPraise for Kamal Jann:A beautiful book, beautifully written with a pen dipped in line accuracy, the accuracy of the look, the talent of the sketch, without sacrificing the complexity of thought that underlies. This powerful fresco exposes the relationship between power and family, corruption and repression, sheds new light on what was believed to [be known of] Syria and the Middle East. * Huffington Post *Praise for Kamal Jann:This novel is masterfully impressive. * Marie-Claire *Praise for Kamal Jann:Beautifully written. * Times Literary Supplement *Praise for The Crime of Jean Genet:Eddé's book is an intelligent but not reverential account of the way in which Jean Genet fascinated and intimidated her. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe cold-blooded murder of revolutionary icons Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in the pitched political battles of post-WWI Germany marks one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. No other political assassination inflamed popular passions and transformed Germany's political climate as that killing in the night of 15-16 January 1919 in front of the luxurious Hotel Eden. It not only cut short the lives of two of the country's most brilliant political leaders, but also inaugurated a series of further political assassinations designed to snuff out the revolutionary flame and, ultimately, pave the way for the ultra-reactionary forces that would take power in 1933. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of their untimely deaths, Klaus Gietinger has carefully reconstructed the events on that fateful night, digging deep into the archives to identify who exactly was responsible for the murder, and what forces in high-placed positions had a hand in facilitating it and protecting the culprits.Trade ReviewThe Murder of Rosa Luxemburgis the most painstaking account of the events, drawing on meticulous archival research and interviews with some of the last surviving participants in the events. * rs21 *History repeats itself "first as tragedy and then as farce", as Marx said, and Gietinger is good at bringing out the absurdity of the farce that followed the murder. * The Guardian *[Gietinger] tells a gripping if unsavoury tale of collusion, duplicity and mendacity. * Morning Star *Gietinger's book serves as a powerful historical document; a meta-narrative that seeks to right the wrongs of the past. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe extent and irreversibility of US decline is becoming ever more obvious as America loses war after war and as one industry after another loses its technological edge. Lachmann explains why the United States will not be able to sustain its global dominance. He contrasts America's relatively brief period of hegemony with the Netherlands' similarly short primacy and Britain's far longer era of leadership.Decline in all those cases was not inevitable and did not respond to global capitalist cycles. Rather, decline is the product of elites' success in grabbing control of resources and governmental powers. Not only are ordinary people harmed, but also capitalists become increasingly unable to coordinate their interests and adopt policies and make investments necessary to counter economic and geopolitical competitors elsewhere in the world.Conflicts among elites and challenges by non-elites determine the timing and mould the contours of decline. Lachmann traces the transformation of US politics from an era of elite consensus to present-day paralysis combined with neoliberal plunder, explains the paradox of an American military with an unprecedented technological edge unable to subdue even the weakest enemies, and the consequences of finance's cannibalisation of the US economy.Trade ReviewPraise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Received 2003 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award (i.e. best book of the year) of the American Sociological Association. * American Sociological Association *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):The volume is an exemplar of comparative analysis. Lachmann's work is an excellent recent treatment of the transition to capitalism. -- Rebecca Emigh * American Journal of Sociology *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Lachmann's analysis of historical economic change is astute and pathbreaking. Empirically, this is comparative historical sociology at its best. An important book that is essential reading for those interested in understanding social change. -- Rosemary Hopcroft * Contemporary Sociology *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Capitalists in Spite of Themselves synthesizes and extends elite theory and Marxian class analysis in a remarkably inventive way. Capitalists in Spite of Themselves is historically rich, theoretically rigorous and architecturally elegant. -- Julia Adams * Trajectories *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Capitalists in Spite of Themselves is a major tour de force, which will lead scholars to think very differently than they have until now about the making of modern Europe. -- Samuel Clark * Trajectories *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):This is an excellent book. It is all the more remarkable because in spite of its relative brevity (little more than 200 pp. of text) it addresses its theme in a manner characterized among other things by its scope. Lachmann's substantial and original book is also characterized by an exacting methodological approach. -- Gianfranco Poggi * Sociologica *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):States and Power provides a wonderful starting point for someone seeking to understand the development of states and political power. An entertaining and informative read. * Contemporary Sociology *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):Richard Lachmann provides the reader with a comprehensive sociological analysis of state formation from antiquity to modernity. This text is an excellent read and would certainly be of interest to individuals studying power, state formation, political sociology and nationalism. -- James Baker * Nations and Nationalism *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):A mini-classic, indispensible for those who are interested in the history and future of the nation-state and the international system. Essential. * Choice *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):In this highly readable and informative book, Richard Lachmann provides a wide-ranging survey over 500 years of state formation and transformation. He covers many epochs and five continents, addresses many theorists and numerous forms of state and regime, and explores multiple aspects of state capacities from war-making and taxation through public works and social benefits to changing forms of political legitimacy. Beginning with the distant origins of states, States and Power ends with informed speculation on the likely future of states and the state system. In short, this is an excellent introduction to a complex topic in historical sociology. -- Bob Jessop, Lancaster UniversityPraise for States and Power (Polity 2010):This book is concise, marvelously erudite and clearly written. Lachmann succeeds in presenting both the diverse theoretical constructs regarding state power and the analytically organized historical narratives which flesh out his own synthetic understanding of state power. To the best of my knowledge, Lachmann's achievement has no peer - States and Power has all the elements of an intellectual bestseller. -- Georgi Derluguian, Northwestern UniversityPraise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):Petitions for a sociology that takes social change as its central object. * Revue française de science politique *Praise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):Richard Lachmann's excellent, readable short survey of historical sociology gets to the heart of the enterprise: understanding the ongoing transformations that have created the world in which we live. Lachmann provides incisive reviews of the major fields of research to which historical sociologists have contributed. The book will be a very useful text for those who would bring the concerns and approaches of historical sociology to the larger discipline - who want to historicize sociology in order to render it more vital and more grounded. -- Ann Shola Orloff, Northwestern UniversityPraise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):One of the major contributors to the 'historical turn' in late twentieth-century social sciences guides us through a fascinating journey in a discipline. By examining exemplary works in different sociological domains, Lachmann skillfully sketches the varied concerns of historical sociology. Written in a readable and engaging style, What is Historical Sociology? is a must read, and not just for those interested in (historical) sociology. -- Roberto Franzosi, Emory University'Hegemonic decline,' to borrow a phrase from one of Trump's ancestors, makes one want to release the safety catch on one's Browning. A petrified debate whose time had come and gone.... or so I believed until I opened Lachmann. This is a highly original synthesis that blends world systems theory and comparative history with an astute analysis of contemporary US politics to draw powerful and uncomfortable conclusions. -- Mike DavisIn this historically deep and richly cross-national study of empires and hegemons, Richard Lachmann brings forth new information and a highly original analysis to cast a bright light on the United States and its likely future. Whether social scientists and historians are inclined to agree with him or not, they will have to deal with the fact that his analysis shows that all of them are at least partially wrong about empires and hegemons in one way or another. -- G. William Domhoff, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor, University of California, Santa CruzWorking on a strikingly broad comparative canvass Lachmann bridges two genres that are usually widely separate: serious comparative historical sociology, and public engagement. His book asks "what is the connection between the structure of elite relations and the durability of hegemony, understood as a form of power in which the leadership of the dominant group is 'perceived by subordinate groups as serving a more general interest'?" Hegemons, unlike simple empires, set the global rules of the game. Their power "thus...extends beyond their formal and informal territorial possessions to encompass the entire world". Lachmann's answer to this question is that hegemony is possible where there exist plural elites combined with a low level of elite conflict. Where, in contrast, elites are singular (as in the Nazi or Napoleonic empires) or where there is a high level of conflict (as in the Absolutist cases), hegemony is impossible. In the first sort of case elites simply dominate the lands that they conquer in order to extract resources without gaining any local allies. In the second case elites entrench their own interests at the expense of the general interest; they thus become "autarkic" and their own interests split apart from the general interest. This brilliant book, written in the venerable tradition of C. Wright Mills, will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and to the educated public at large. Lachmann shows that comparative and historical sociology is alive and kicking. Bravo! -- Dylan RileyThis is a powerful, often brilliant, comparative account of the rise and especially the decline of hegemonic powers, focusing most on the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States. Emphasis is placed on the way in which competing elites within the hegemon pursue their own narrow interests to block effective coping with decline. Particularly sobering and convincing is the bleak outlook presented for the future of the United States. -- Michael Mann, Author of The Sources of Social Power, Distinguisher Research Professor, UCLAOne of the most important developments in recent times is the American elites' loss of influence in global affairs, concurrent with its consolidation of power at home. In this brilliant, sweeping analysis, Richard Lachmann connects the dots and explains how the two processes are related. Placing the United States in the context of its imperial predecessors, he helps us understand America's place in the rogues' gallery of global powers. And most importantly, he helps us see that the American oligarchs will be perfectly happy to see the rest of the nation sink, if that's what it takes to hold on to their dwindling possessions. A work of great depth and moral clarity, it deserves the widest possible audience -- Vivek ChibberThis provocative and sobering indictment often hits its targets. * Publishers Weekly *Masterful...Lachmann shows us that, far from being unique to the period of British denouement, the destructive pursuit of such narrow self-interest by elites has repeatedly caused the decline of great powers throughout historical capitalism. * Journal of World-Systems Research *

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Book SynopsisTidings of a shrinking middle class in one part of the world and its expansion in another absorb our attention, but seldom do we question the category itself. We Have Never Been Middle Class proposes that the middle class is an ideology. Tracing this ideology up to the age of financialisation, it exposes the fallacy in the belief that we can all ascend or descend as a result of our aspirational and precautionary investments in property and education. Ethnographic accounts from Germany, Israel, the United States and elsewhere illustrate how this belief orients us, in our private lives as much as in our politics, toward accumulation-enhancing yet self-undermining goals. This meshing of anthropology and critical theory elucidates capitalism by way of its archetypal actors.Trade ReviewThis is a subtle contribution to the emerging anthropology of social class. In a wide-ranging and thoughtful contribution, Hadas Weiss shows how notions of investment, accumulation and property undergird the appeal of middle class ideology across the globe. -- Michael Savage, Director of LSE International Inequalities Institute and author of Social Class in the 21st centuryWith a wink to Postone, Lukacs and the classical Frankfurt School, anthropologist Hadas Weiss tells us that our embrace of the middle class bespeaks our collective powerlessness in the face of financialized capital. Reflecting on her own ethnographic research in Germany and Israel, as well as on the current literature, she has lots of understanding but little patience for the myths we have come to live by. -- Don Kalb, University of Bergen and Utrecht UniversityMaybe we already knew the middle class to be a myth, just as a child may have an inkling that Santa Claus isn't real. But when the adults in the room keep telling you that good boys and girls will keep getting presents, it can be hard to give up the faith. We Have Never Been Middle Classputs the matter to rest. In this extraordinary book, as relentlessly smart as it is astonishingly moving, Hadas Weiss tells us not only who put the presents under the tree but why. With remarkable grace and acuity, she is able to simultaneously conjure up and deconstruct the ideology of today's financialised capitalism. The lessons are unnerving, but they are neither melancholy nor nostalgic. Just because things are worse now doesn't mean they were better then. -- Ivan Ascher, author of Portfolio Society: On the Capitalist Mode of Prediction

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Book SynopsisThe word 'populism' has come to cover all manner of sins. Yet despite the prevalence of its use, it is often difficult to understand what connects its various supposed expressions. From Syriza to Trump and from Podemos to Brexit, the electoral earthquakes of recent years have often been grouped under this term. But what actually defines 'populism'? Is it an ideology, a form of organisation, or a mentality? Marco Revelli seeks to answer this question by getting to grips with the historical dynamics of so-called 'populist' movements. While in the early days of democracy, populism sought to represent classes and social layers who asserted their political role for the first time, in today's post-democratic climate, it instead expresses the grievances of those who had until recently felt that they were included.Having lost their power, the disinherited embrace not a political alternative to -isms like liberalism or socialism, but a populist mood of discontent. The new populism is the 'formless form' that protest and grievance assume in the era of financialisation, in the era where the atomised masses lack voice or organisation. For Revelli, this new populism the child of an age in which the Left has been hollowed out and lost its capacity to offer an alternative.Trade ReviewIn his book, Marco Revelli aptly defines today's right-wing populism as a 'senile disorder' of liberal democracy, a 'revolt of the included' who have been pushed to the margins. -- Enzo TraversoFor whoever wants to find their bearings and guard against the seductive power of empty words, I recommend Marco Revelli's book. -- Gustavo ZagrebelskyIf we want to place Trump's victory in its proper context, I think a good book to read is Marco Revelli's book. -- Rossana RossandaMarco Revelli weaves political theory with sociological analysis to provide the first definitive analysis of post-2008 populism. The New Populism demonstrates that, with the right critical and empirical mindset, it is possible to understand these movements, without either deploring or embracing them. -- William Davies, author of Nervous States: How Feeling Took Over the WorldMarco Revelli accurately sees a new populism arising out of the ashes of Social Democracy in Europe and liberalism in the United States. His book is a tour of the rising populist parties and movements and a tour de force in his trenchant analysis of how they came about and where they may be headed. -- John B. Judis, author of The Populist Explosion and The Nationalist RevivalA very timely and lucid introduction from one of Italy's most distinguished social scientists -- Paul GinsborgEnlightening. -- Rob Doyle * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisArnovis couldn't stay in El Salvador. If he didn't leave, a local gangster promised that his family would dress in mourning, that he would wake up with flies in his mouth. "It was like a bomb exploded in my life," Arnovis said. The Dispossessed tells the story of a twenty-four-year-old Salvadoran man, Arnovis, whose family's search for safety shows how the United States - in concert with other Western nations - has gutted asylum protections for the world's most vulnerable. Crisscrossing the border and Central America, John Washington traces one man's quest for asylum. Arnovis is separated from his daughter by US Border Patrol agents and struggles to find security after being repeatedly deported to a gang-ruled community in El Salvador, traumatic experiences relayed by Washington with vivid intensity.Adding historical, literary, and current political context to the discussion of migration today, Washington tells the history of asylum law and practice through ages to the present day. Packed with information and reflection, The Dispossessed is more than a human portrait of those who cross borders - it is an urgent and persuasive case for sharing the country we call home.Trade ReviewIn an era of massive and unprecedented human migration, John Washington documents in his poignant book, The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexico Border and Beyond, how the poverty and violence powerful nations inflict on poor countries is a major reason so many flee their lives and families. Offering expansive historical analysis of how ancient religions, cultures, and societies understood the imperative of welcoming the outsider, particularly those seeking safety from harm or death, and contrasting it with our current world order, Washington has written one of the most important books of our time on one of the most dire systematic injustices on our planet. I read this book in one sitting because I simply couldn't put it down. -- Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty WarsJohn Washington delivers an absorbing, harrowing, and deeply moving reportage that renders the most thorough and critical assessment of the U.S. asylum system that I have ever read. -- Todd Miller, author of Empire of BordersJohn is a rarity in the world of Central American migration. He travels with humility and seeks to understand, not to reaffirm his hypotheses. He keeps at it, he's been doing it for years, he doesn't parachute into tragedy. When he asks questions, he seeks answers. If there's an American should say something about asylum, it is him. John is a Caronte, he crosses the river and understands both sides, which is why this book should be read, because there are few people who understand this story's complexity. I've been covering migration in Central America, Mexico, and the United States for 13 years, and I can say with complete conviction: read this book--someone wrote it who has a lot to tell, and has told it masterfully.Nobody would have read my book in the United States if it weren't for John. Ten years ago he understood that I had something to say about migration. He understood a decade ago something that I didn't. John is patient, meticulous, obsessive. First he understands--like few do--and then he writes. This is a book from someone who has been understanding for a long time, and now that he's come to write this book, he's done so with mastery, with patience, with humility, and without cliché. This book was written by a true expert about a topic that many pretend to understand -- Óscar Martinez, author of The BeastThe Dispossessed is one of the most beautiful and wrenching books I've read in a long time. We are becoming a stateless world, as the combined effects of climate change, war, and struggles of resources push people from their land and their homes. John Washington's book offers no easy answers, but in its empathy, it is a guide for how we confront the crisis with decency. -- Greg Grandin, author of The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of AmericaThe Dispossessed is one book that you will not soon forget. -- Skye Anderson * Patch *Even if so much of what makes the book riveting is patently awful or evil, Washington's narrative is a crucial read for anyone interested in immigration policy or border dynamics. -- Russell Crandall * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *

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Book SynopsisA revolutionary practice of production-the knowledge economy-has emerged in our time. It appears in every sector, not just in high-tech industry, but so far only as a series of insular vanguards that exclude the vast majority of workers and businesses. In this book Roberto Mangabeira Unger explores the hidden workings and the transformative potential of the knowledge economy. He describes the radical changes in economic and political institutions, and in ways of thinking, that could bring knowledge-intensive production to the whole economy-and inaugurate a period of accelerated and socially inclusive economic growth.Trade ReviewA restless visionary. * New York Times *A philosophical mind out of the Third World turning the tables, to become a synoptist and seer of the First. -- Perry AndersonOne of the few living philosophers whose thinking has the range of the great philosophers of the past. * Times Higher Education Supplement *Brazil's answer to John Stuart Mill ... a political philosopher extraordinaire. * Chronicle of Higher Education *His work may someday make possible a new national romance, and a hitherto undreamt-of national future. -- Richard RortyThe visionary program this new book sets out for universalizing the knowledge economy is not just a nice-to-have, but necessary. The Knowledge Economy is indispensable as a study of how to remedy the political polarization inequality has brought. -- Martin Sandbu * Financial Times *An intelligent examination of policy ideas which dare to challenge economic norms. -- Ruth F. Hunt * Morning Star *Unger's work can offer progressives key resources for exposing the false necessity of the American liberal status quo and thinking constructively about a different progressive vision for the United States. -- Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins * The Nation *

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Book SynopsisAdam Smith and Karl Marx recognized that the best way to understand the economy is to study the most advanced practice of production. Today that practice is no longer conventional manufacturing: it is the radically innovative vanguard known as the knowledge economy. This book explores the hidden nature of the knowledge economy and its possible futures.In every part of the production system, the knowledge economy remains a fringe excluding the vast majority of workers and businesses. This confinement has become a driver of economic stagnation and inequality throughout the world. Traditional mass production has stopped working as a shortcut to economic growth. But the alternative-a deepened and socially inclusive form of the knowledge economy-continues to lie beyond reach in even the richest countries. Unger sets out the route to a knowledge economy for the many: changes not just in economic institutions but also in education, culture, and politics. Just as Smith and Marx did in their time, he uses an understanding of the most advanced practice of production to rethink both economics and the economy as a whole.Trade ReviewA restless visionary. * New York Times *The visionary program this new book sets out for universalizing the knowledge economy is not just a nice-to-have, but necessary. The Knowledge Economy is indispensable as a study of how to remedy the political polarization inequality has brought. -- Martin Sandbu * Financial Times *One of the few living philosophers whose thinking has the range of the great philosophers of the past. * Times Higher Education Supplement *Unger's work can offer progressives key resources for exposing the false necessity of the American liberal status quo and thinking constructively about a different progressive vision for the United States. -- Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins * The Nation *A philosophical mind out of the Third World turning the tables, to become a synoptist and seer of the First. -- Perry AndersonBrazil's answer to John Stuart Mill ... a political philosopher extraordinaire. * Chronicle of Higher Education *His work may someday make possible a new national romance, and a hitherto undreamt-of national future. -- Richard Rorty

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Book SynopsisSince the referendum, Scottish independence has been captured by conservative forces. Scotland After Britain argues for fidelity to the true meaning of the word independence. It should mean not only a break from the failing British state, but also from the prison of free trade and militarism that has delivered successive crises. Most of all, independence must honestly address the huge injustices of income, wealth and power that continue to define Scottish society, by restoring agency to working class communities and voters.Scotland After Britain shines a spotlight on pro-independence politics since Brexit and the pandemic. The Scottish national question has emerged as the biggest fracture in the British state after Brexit. The independence movement emerged from mass public disenchantment at the status quo, yet the SNP continues governing as if that disenchantment never happened, and the party leadership appears increasingly ambivalent about the risks of demanding independence. Most of all, the British state remains hostile to allowing a second referendum, while the SNP leadership has been unwilling to sanction protest beyond the ballot box.Where do we go from here? Scotland After Britain argues Brexit could force the movement to engage in a reckoning with the true stakes of independence, a process that will inevitably require a breach with the SNP's establishment vision.Trade ReviewThe Scottish independence movement, as the authors show in this tour d'force analysis, has two contending souls. On one hand, the SNP provides yet another classic illustration of Robert Michel's 'iron law of oligarchy' - the tendency following electoral successes for progressive party leaders and politicians to build their own bureaucratic machines based on patronage and more conservative goals. On the other hand, the independence movement, still vividly alive at the grassroots, is the most realistic platform for socialist renewal in the ruins of UKania. -- Mike DavisThe late Peter Mair, who had a period at Strathclyde University and retained a keen interest in Scottish politics long after his departure, was one of the most distinguished students of political parties and movements in Europe. This book would appeal to him, not only because it explores the 'void' between citizens and organised social interests in Scotland that he wrote about but does so eloquently and with precision. While the campaign for an independent Scotland has been stuck in doldrums, the intellectual left associated with the cause has been remarkably fertile, thoughtful and intellectually provocative. This is a book that will be of interest to all, regardless of political or constitutional preference, interested in understanding Scottish and British politics today but also those interested in this 'void'. -- Peter MitchellScotland After Britain is a searching indictment of the complacent dreamworld of Scottish nationalism. As a faltering attempt to escape from the noxious British state, constitutional cretinism put into cold storage the deep-seated class divisions and social inequalities afflicting Scottish society. Davidson, Foley and Wray are dissatisfied with the comforting consolations of the Left in Scotland. Instead they engage in a forensic analysis of the politics of class and nation in order to begin the business of breaking through the frozen ideology of Scottish nationalism towards popular democratic mobilisation. -- Alexander Law, Professor of Sociology at Abertay UniversitySCOTLAND AFTER BRITAIN is a particularly timely book as the rhetoric around a 2023 referendum intensifies. The independence movement is having to live with no convincing strategy to get us to a vote in 2023 and no fresh and coherent programme for post-independence to inspire the public and the movement. Dragging out the decayed corpse of the Growth Commission couldn't be further from what we need.James Foley and Ben Wray (with a tribute to the late Neil Davidson) bring intellectual substance to the left case for Scottish independence. They place it in the context of the various crises in the global economy, the pervasive democratic deficits which have left most populations feeling powerless, and the break-down of class-based politics. They analyse the damage done to the movement and the 'spirit of 2014' by the development of the SNP into a 'cartel' party holding the reins of patronage in Scotland and the extensive cultivation of the party leadership by elite interests who may not support independence but are trying to ensure that they will control it in case it happens. On the positive side, they try to map out how we can make independence work for ordinary Scots and also make us an encouraging example for others. -- Isobel Lindsay, vice-chair of Scottish CND and co-convener of the Scottish Independence Convention.Scottish independence would deserve leftwing support only if it promised popular sovereignty and anti-capitalist social transformation. It could then prove a historic milestone for the whole of Britain currently suffocating under a privileged elite and its reactionary state. Foley and Wray make the case with exemplary clarity. -- Costas LapavitsasExcellent ... those of us on the pro-independence radical left need to build an ideological pole of attraction which gives a critique of the Scottish government and SNP leadership's neoliberal policies, and outlines what needs to be done to build an independent Scotland ... Scotland After Britain does just that and is to be welcomed. -- Chris Bambery * Counterfire *Exceptional ... a rousing cry with a clear strategy for a radical independence movement * rs21 *Very readable * Scottish Left Review *

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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).

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Book SynopsisThe world is out of joint, so much so that disobeying should be an urgent act for everyone. In this provocative essay, Frédéric Gros explores the roots of political obedience, social conformity, economic subjection, respect for authorities, constitutional consensus. Examining the various styles of obedience provides tools to study, invent and induce new forms of civic disobedience and lyrical protest. Nothing can be taken for granted: neither supposed certainties nor social conventions, economic injustice or moral conviction. Thinking philosophically requires us to never accept truths and generalities that seem obvious-it restores a sense of political responsibility. At a time when the decisions of experts are presented as the result of icy statistics and anonymous calculations, disobeying becomes an assertion of humanity. To philosophise is to disobey. This book is a call for critical democracy and ethical resistance.Trade ReviewIn this personal reflection of remarkable clarity and intelligence, the author shows above all how the decision between obedience and disobedience ultimately remains a personal matter. * Le Monde *The philosopher Frédéric Gros analyses the wellsprings of our passivity. Citizens submit out of fear, social conformity, or pleasure, but also to escape their own responsibility. Yet disobedience is not incompatible with democracy. * Libération *This specialist in political philosophy dissects the mechanisms of obedience. * Télérama *Inspiring! * Elle *A masterly political and ethical reflection. This essay examines the inner condition of the political and social subject, asking why it is hard to disobey even when the world imposes desperate conditions of life. * Les Inrockuptibles *A call to resist conformity and tyranny. -- Alain Finkielkraut * Philosophie magazine *

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Book SynopsisAccording to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Depicted there in suprising and contradicting ways, and both for and against his people, bringer of the tablets of law which he then breaks.By way of a series of possible portraits-including one of a female Moses-Jean-Christophe Attias follows the metamorphoses of the Hebrew liberator through ages and cultures. Drawing on rabbinical sources as well as the Bible itself, he examines the words of the texts and especially their silences. He discovers here a fragile prophet, teacher of a Judaism of the spirit, of wandering, and of incompleteness. The Judaism of Moses speaks to believers and others-to Jews, of course, but also far beyond them, inviting its hearers to have done with tribal pride, the violence of weapons, and the tyranny of a special place.Trade ReviewA sparkling essay. -- Maurice Sartre * L’Histoire *A very sure erudition, an experienced exchange with the Scriptures, a joyous freedom of expression, reflection and analysis, moments of poetic grace alongside high-level linguistic analysis, a writing with wings. -- Pierre Assouline * La République des Livres *A very personal Moses. -- Dominique Greiner * La Croix *The reader is left free to draw political lessons. Moses left no lineage, and it is unreasonable to claim this in the name of an improbable genealogy. There can therefore be no "Judaism of blood" that crossed centuries and continents to establish a right of ownership over an idolatrous land. Contemporary relevance is not far away. -- Denis Sieffert * Politis *We should immerse ourselves in this fragile Moses, rescued from the bland waters of the Sulpicians or the burning waters of "holy fools". -- Nicolas Weill * Le Monde *Jean-Christophe Attias, a specialist in medieval Jewish thought, has freed himself from the academic straitjacket and drawn in a beautiful and evocative style a portrait of Moses as an "uncertain prophet". -- David Fontaine * Le Canard enchaîné *Regenerated by reflection, revived by the power of the mind, Jean-Christophe Attias's Moses emerges from the pages as a young man, freed at last of Charlton Heston's granite features and relieved of the gigantic weight that the three monotheistic religions imposed on him. -- Christian Makarian * L’Express *A brilliant book, as decidedly original as it is disturbing. -- Catherine Golliaud * Le Point *Praise for The Jews and the Bible: This beautifully written (and translated) monograph casts profound doubt on attempts to simplistically characterize the terms Jews and Bible or to view the relationship between them one dimensionally... Highly recommended. -- L. J. Greenspoon * Choice *Praise for The Jews and the Bible:Professor Attias, a significant French intellectual and scholar of medieval Judaism, has written the first book that explores broadly the place of the Bible in Jewish culture throughout the ages. Engagingly written, this is an important initial foray into this broad and significant topic that raises important questions concerning the place of the Bible within contemporary Jewish culture. -- Marc Brettler, Brandeis UniversityPraise for The Jews and the Bible:A study of the Jews' peculiar relationships with the Bible, Jean-Christophe Attias's The Jews and the Bible is an excellent companion to the recent crop of books on the Bible's construction... [They] tell us how the Bible came to be, Attias focuses on how it came to be regarded. -- Jay Michaelson * Forward *Praise for The Jews and the Other:This is a rich summation of the resources and challenges of Jewish identity and difference at the turn of the third Christian millennium. Committed, lucid, critical, and informed, it exemplifies a vibrantly human science of Jewishness. -- Jonathan Boyarin, author of Storm from Paradise: The Politics of Jewish Memory and Thinking in JewishPraise for Israel, the Impossible Land: Jean-Christophe Attias and Esther Benbassa have written an elegant and erudite book demonstrating the complex relationship to the land of Israel throughout Jewish history. * American Historical Review *In one of the most imaginative and creative works of contemporary Jewish thought, Jean Christophe Attias presents a fascinating interpretation of Moses as a woman. Building on intriguing suggestions in the Bible, Arttias inspires us to wonder how our understandings of the Bible and its sacred history might change if we think of Moses as female. -- Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth CollegeIn this original and magical portrait of Moses, Attias takes the stock figure of the stern lawgiver and transforms him into 'one of us'. His Moses combines humility and grandeur, frailty and strength. He is a Jew and a non-Jew, 'and all the more of a human being because he is both'. Likewise, 'fully a man because he is also a woman'. Even his death emphasizes his humanity: he 'dies likes the rest of us, prematurely'. 'We do not know who buried him.' But we do know who brings him back to life: Attias the scribe. In this inspired, humane and deeply moving book, the 'Woman called Moses' speaks also to 'those of us who are secular'. She is truly 'a prophet for our times'. -- Brian KlugWho was Moses? Not the historical Moses or the Moses of tradition, but the biblical Moses without apologetics, Moses in his most contradictory and obscure configuration. In A Woman Called Moses Attias presents us with a provocative, evocative, and courageous reading of Moses, seamlessly drawing from the biblical imaginary and classical commentaries combined with modern sensibilities and literary finesse that brings this imaginary figure to life. Attias' pen sparkles with literary insight and poetic breadth. This work should be enjoyed slowly, like fine French wine. -- Shaul Magid, Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth CollegeAttias's respect and attention to Moses's example and legacy shines through. ... Open-minded readers are in for a thought-provoking treat. * Publishers Weekly *Thoughtful and thought-provoking, informative and iconoclastic, and an impressively detailed work of original scholarship, Woman Called Moses: Prophet for Our Time is extraordinary and inherently fascinating reading. -- John Burroughs * Midwest Book Review *Anybody with an interest in theology, or indeed Jewish history should enjoy A Woman Called Moses and be stimulated by it. Work like this underlines once more the extent to which the Bible has formed western thought, for Christians worshipping the deity, and equally for atheists in their vehement rejection. -- Drew Ratter * Shetland Times *Attias's portrayal of Moses reveals the author's respect, tenderness, and even love for the figure. ... Ultimately, through his imaginative depiction of Moses, Attias discloses a poignant longing and hope. -- Mahri Leonard-Fleckman * Commonweal Magazine *

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Book SynopsisWith an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, and several states with only one abortion clinic, many reproductive rights activists are on the defensive, hoping to hold on to abortion in a few places and cases. This spirited book shows how we can start winning again. Jenny Brown uncovers a century of legal abortion in the U.S.-until 1873-the century of illegal abortion that followed, and how the women's liberation movement of the 1960s really won abortion rights. Drawing inspiration and lessons from that radical movement, the successful fight to make the morning-after pill available over the counter, and the recent mass movement to repeal Ireland's abortion ban, Without Apology is an indispensable guide for organizers today. Brown argues that we need to stop emphasizing rare, tragic cases and deferring to experts and pollsters, and get back to the basic ideas that won us abortion in the first place: Women telling the full truth of their own experience, arguing to change minds, and making abortion and birth control a keystone demand in the movement for women's freedom.Trade ReviewBy examining the failings and triumphs of previous movements for abortion rights, Without Apology manages to make perfect sense of the current political moment. This book will turn concerned individuals into activists and help beleaguered activists remember how it feels to believe that we can win. -- Amelia Bonow, author of Shout Your AbortionWithout Apology draws an exhilarating line in the sand between reformers and visionaries, between near-sighted regulation and true reproductive freedom. Jenny Brown has given us a frank, full-throated gift in an era when abortion rights are threatened by hostility and timidity both. Without Apology made me want to tweet about my abortion 'til the day I die.' -- Nona Willis AronowitzHer call to "move feminism toward bolder, more universal demands" is likely to strike a chord with young progressives. This laser-focused polemic makes its case effectively. * Publisher's Weekly *A powerful and extensively researched case for a militant approach to winning reproductive rights -- Emily Janakiram * The Baffler *

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Book SynopsisThese essays from the 1970s mark the inception of the distinctive project that Jacques Rancière has pursued across forty years, with four interwoven themes: the study of working-class identity, of its philosophical interpretation, of "heretical" knowledge and of the relationship between work and leisure.Trade ReviewOne of our most stimulating thinkers. * Paris Match *"The essays in Staging the People provide both empirical-historical instantiations and the intellectual road map to the later explicit theoretical formulation in Disagreement for which he is more renowned in the anglophone world. What is evident in this collection of articles is that his more recent political theory must be understood as coming intentionally out of the earlier post '68 empirical and historical works undertaken in an attempt to return 'speech' to the mere 'voice' of the oppressed, exploited, and marginalised, in whose name the intellectuals of the left have repeatedly spoken, with disastrous consequences" -- Capital & Class

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Book SynopsisCo-author of the groundbreaking Empire and Multitude, Michael Hardt examines The Declaration of Independence and other texts by Thomas Jefferson, arguing that his powerful concept of democracy provides a biting critique of the current American administration. Introducing this collection of Jefferson's writings, Michael Hardt makes a powerful case for re-examining the foundational writings of this American revolutionary in order to reignite the dialogue that first conceived of a "land of the free".Trade Review"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure."--Thomas Jefferson

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Book SynopsisDecades of violence and chaos have generated a political and intellectual hysteria-ranging from imperial atavism to paranoia about invading or hectically breeding Muslim hordes-that has affected even the most intelligent in Anglo-America. In Bland Fanatics, Pankaj Mishra examines this hysteria and its fantasists, taking on its arguments and the atmosphere in which it has festered and become influential. In essays that grapple with colonialism, human rights, and the doubling down of liberalism against a background of faltering economies and weakening Anglo-American hegemony, Mishra confronts writers from Jordan Peterson and Niall Ferguson to Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. With a newly written introduction, these essays provide a vantage point from which to look seriously at the current crisis.Trade Reviewliterary iconoclast [and] maverick political thinker-edgy, sly and idiosyncratic-weaving a kind of witchcraft with the wounded frankness of prose -- (praise for Pankaj Mishra) * Financial Express *Bracing ... The first essential read of the Trump Era -- (Praise for Age of Anger) * Vogue *This important, erudite book proves the deepest roots of our inflamed moment -- (in praise of Age of Anger) * New York Times *An original attempt to explain today's paranoid hatreds ... Insightful ... Iconoclastic ... Mishra shocks on many levels -- (Praise for Age of Anger) * The Economist *A searing attack on the assumption that modernity is synonymous with progress -- (Praise for Age of Anger) * Wall Street Journal *Urgently vigorous ... It is Age of Anger's singular ambition to give the world as we have it a past, a how-we-got-here, a where-the-mistakes-lie ... The book marks an important advance in our most urgent discourse -- (Praise for Age of Anger) * The National *A bowel-churning kick in the guts ... [Pankaj Mishra's] vision is unusually broad, accommodating and resistant to categorisation. It is the kind of vision the world needs right now -- (Praise for Age of Anger) * Financial Times *The ideal writer to diagnose our current moment * Los Angeles Review of Books *Bracing and illuminating ... Mishra writes with ... style, energy and incision ... [He] dwells in the realm of ideas and emotions, which get short shrift in most accounts of global politics ... A decent liberalism would read sharp critics like Mishra and learn. * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisEconomics for the Many, edited and with an introduction by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell, features contributions from the participants in his New Economics conferences, including Barry Gardiner, Ann Pettifor, Prem Sikka, and Guy Standing. It covers topics from housing, public ownership, and fairer international trading systems to industrial policy for the twenty-first century and how to tackle tax avoidance and regional imbalances. Together, the essays in this volume lay out a vision for a new economics, one that works for the many, not the few.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Senator Bernie Sanders explains where he comes from. He describes in detail how, after cutting his teeth in the Civil Rights movement, Sanders helped build an extraordinary grassroots political movement in Vermont, making it possible for him to become the first independent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in forty years and now the longest-serving independent in U.S. political history. An extensive afterword by The Nation's National Affairs correspondent John Nichols continues the story with Sanders's entrance into the Senate, the drama of the 2016 Democratic Primary, his ongoing resistance to Trump, and the thrilling launch of his 2020 bid for the White House. A new foreword by Nina Turner, former president of Our Revolution and co-chair of the Sanders for President campaign, provides a rare glimpse of Bernie as a person. Outsider in the White House tells the story of a passionate and principled political life.Trade Review"I endorse Brother Bernie Sanders because he is a long-distance runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over fifty years. Now is the time for his prophetic voice to be heard across our crisisridden country." --Cornel West, author of Race Matters "Bernie's been in the forefront of all the crucial environmental fights of recent years." --Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org "Bernie is the real thing. He's not about reading the polls and finding out what he needs to say in order to get elected. He's about an unwavering commitment to basic justice, equality and sound financial sense." --Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's and founder of Stampede: Stamp Money out of Politics "I feel weird using words like 'values' and 'morals' because those are words that have been co-opted to justify terrible things like bigotry and greed. I'd like to take those words back and use them to describe Bernie Sanders because his moral compass and sense of values inspire me." --Sarah Silverman, comedian and social commentator Praise for the original edition, Outsider in the House "A clear, compelling and comprehensive vision for reinvigorating democracy, reducing poverty, rebuilding the middle class and restructuring our health care and education systems. Sanders gives us a vision of the day when 'we will no longer be outsiders in the House.'" --In These Times "Outsider in the House is a rare achievement: a concise, compelling book that both tells an interesting story and provides a readable, down-to-earth blueprint for political change." --The Onion "A road map for how progressives can win elections and not be a part of the two party duopoly." --Ralph Nader "A grass-roots 'how-to' guide, especially helpful and inspirational for prospective independent candidates--a firsthand description of the career of the most successful American socialist politician in modern times." --The Hill

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Book SynopsisThe Israeli army, officially named the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), was established in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, who believed that 'the whole nation is the army'. In his mind, the IDF was to be an army like no other. It was the instrument that might transform a diverse population into a new people. Since the foundation of Israel, therefore, the IDF has been the largest, richest and most influential institution in Israel's Jewish society and is the nursery of its social, economic and political ruling class.In this fascinating history, Bresheeth charts the evolution of the IDF from the Nakba to wars in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and the continued assaults upon Gaza, and shows that the state of Israel has been formed out of its wars. He also gives an account of his own experiences as a young conscript during the 1967 war. He argues that the army is embedded in all aspects of daily life and identity. And that we should not merely see it as a fighting force enjoying an international reputation, but as the central ideological, political and financial institution of Israeli society. As a consequence, we have to reconsider our assumptions on what any kind of peace might look like.Trade ReviewBresheeth-one of the most important anti-colonial intellectuals of our era-takes the Israeli army as an entry point to undertake a deep analysis of Jewish-Israeli society. The original contribution of the book lies in its ambitions and scope: Bresheeth brilliantly describes the way an army whose ethos is rooted in Jewish historical trauma, has grown to become the occupation arm of zionism, the motor of its settler-colonial domination and the basis of its politics of separation.' -- Eyal Weizman, author of HollowlandsThis book places the Israeli army under an uncompromising lens. It reveals a yawning gap between the propaganda about "the most moral army in the world" and the dark reality. Through a wide-ranging historical survey, studded with little known facts, it exposes the army for what it really is: a brutal police force of a brutal settler-colonial state. Essential for understanding the political sociology of Israel today and the reasons for the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian so-called 'peace process'. -- Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World.Israel's drive to become a modern-day nuclear Sparta could only be ensured by An Army Like No Other-an army at the centre of illegal occupation, the creation of settler-colonial facts on the ground and Israeli identity self-fashioning. Thoroughly researched and painstakingly documented, this book is a must for those seeking to understand the centrality of the most powerful institution of Israel and for those who wish to see a just and lasting solution in Palestine-Israel. -- Nur Masahla, author of Palestine: A Four Thousand Year HistoryIsraeli left-wing critics of the Zionist state have long described it as "an army with a state, instead of a state with an army". And yet they have produced very few studies of the Israeli military-industrial complex over the years. In helping to fill this gap, Haim Bresheeth makes a crucial contribution to the critical study of the Zionist enterprise.' -- Gilbert Achar, author of The Arabs and the HolocaustA hard-eyed look at the role of Israel's army in the creation of the Jewish state. * Kirkus Reviews *It is said that Israel is an army with a state. This book validates fully this assumption. With a clear and accessible style and with illuminating of many hidden chapters in Israel's history, Bresheeth exposes fully the militarizationof the Jewish State. The book unpacks successfully the military grip of the IDF on every aspect of life in Israel and Palestine, from crucial decisions of going to war to the formulation the policies towards the Palestinians. Even if you are a knowledgeable reader on the topic, this book will be an essential contribution to your library. -- Ilan Pappe, author of 10 Myths About IsraelAn original and a remarkable interpretation of the wide-ranging impact of the military on Israeli society and one of the most insightful and challenging works on Israeli society from 1948 to our days. His book traces the ways in which military power acquired legitimacy in the civilian society and how the use of organized violence became an acceptable solution to all conflicts in the Arab-Israeli history. Anyone interested in understanding the Middle East should read this book. * Shlomo Sands, author of The Invention of the Jewish People *This is a very important book, offering a highly timely and rigorously documented view of the military/nation-state nexus in Israel, its links and dynamics, and its global sources of power. In the process it unavoidably affords us a view of the workings of the contemporary global order, in which Israel's role as policeman and instrument is becoming more critical to the repressive, discriminatory and surveillance operations that are being increasingly developed and deployed today. -- Lena Jayyusi * Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies *Bresheeth-Zabner has written a comprehensive and well-researched history of the Israeli military. In doing so, he has also issued an indictment of its brutal tactics, its political power and its destructive effects on the Israeli state. -- Ron Jacobs * Counterpunch *An Army Like No Other is a real page-turner, combining history and analysis with firsthand tidbits from within the belly of the beast. ... Bresheeth-Zabner deserves substantial praise for his pursuit of truth. -- Belén Fernández * Jacobin *An insightful look into the history of Israeli militarism and the military ethos that marks both state and society. -- Rod Such * Electronic Intifada *Discredits the propaganda of "the most moral army" meticulously, revealing an institution that is historically violent and which needs the perpetuation of further violence to sustain itself. This is a must-read book. -- Ramona Wadi * Middle East Monitor *Carefully argued ... part polemic, part history, part cry for justice. -- Mehul Srivastava * Financial Times *By looking at the army as a way to understand Jewish-Israeli society, Bresheeth-Zabner has produced an insightful analysis, a key to why this state is a problem for the Palestinians, the region and for a world where a militarised, racist nuclear state will not look for peace. -- Miriam Scharf * Socialist Review *

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1974, Kojin Karatani's Marx: Towards the Centre of Possibility has been among his most enduring and pioneering works in critical theory. Written at a time when the political sequences of the New Left had collapsed into crisis and violence, with widespread political exhaustion for the competing sectarian visions of Marxism from 1968, Karatani's Marx laid the groundwork for a new reading, unfamiliar to the existing Marxist discourse in Japan at the time.Karatani's Marx takes on insights from semiotics, deconstruction, and the reading of Marx as a literary thinker, treating Capital as an intervention in philosophy that could be read as itself a theory of signs. Marx is unique in this sense, not only because of its importance in post-'68 Japanese thought, but also because the heterodox reading of Marx that Karatani debuts in this text, centred on his theory of the value-form, will go on to form the basis of his globally influential work.

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Book SynopsisIn this short and accessible book, Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union, presents the case for joining a trade union. Drawing on anecdotes from his own long involvement in unions, he looks at the history of trade unions, what they do and how they give a voice to working people, as democratic organisations.He considers the changing world of work, the challenges and opportunities of automation and why being trade unionists can enable us to help shape the future. He sets out why being a trade unionist is as much a political role as it is an industrial one and why the historic links between the labour movement and the Labour Party matter.Ultimately, McCluskey explains how being a trade unionist means putting equality at work and in society front and centre, fighting for an end to discrimination, and to inequality in wages and power.Trade ReviewLen McCluskey is Britain's best known, and arguably most powerful, trade union leader for good reason. He engagingly mixes personal experiences with unflinching conviction to present a compelling argument for the value of organised labour - whichever political party is Government. * Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror *A brilliant, accessible and thought-provoking book - and a reminder that unions will always be the best way for working-class people to win justice. Featuring a wealth of historical material, this lively and personal account shows how organised labour can thrive in the future. A must-read for trade unionists, activists and anybody who wants to build a more equal society. -- Frances O'Grady, General Secretary TUCAn absolute pleasure to read: it's part Len's personal history, part argument for an active, participatory trade union movement. In drawing out the lessons of recent trade union disputes and campaigns, such as the Gate Gourmet strike, the British Airways dispute and the various battles round precarious work, this book will be a vital resource for young activists in particular. I think it should be on everyone's reading list, in the Labour Party and beyond. * Laura Pidcock, Former Labour MP *Len McCluskey's little red book -- Niall Paterson * Sky News *Excellent, clear, contemporary in its examples and historically informed. * Manchester Review of Books *

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