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Newest Politics and Society Reviews (view source)
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[[Category:Politics and Society|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Politics and Society]]==Politics and society==__NOTOC__{{newreview|author=Polly Morland|title=The Society of Timid Souls: Or, How to be Brave|rating=3.5|genre=Reference|summary='I see no reason why the shy and timid in any community couldn’t get together and help each other.' The above words were uttered in 1943 by a gentleman called Bernard Gabriel. Mr Gabriel was a piano player who founded a unique club, ''The Society of Timid Souls'' that encouraged timid performers and fear <!-- Remove --wracked musicians to come in out of the cold 'to play, to criticise and be criticised in order to conquer that old bogey of stage fright.' The method evidently worked, as many a timid soul claimed to be cured by these unorthodox methods and club membership grew considerably in the years that followed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251908</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rithy PanhAriel Saramandi|title=The EliminationPortrait of an Island on Fire
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Three years ago I went In this powerful collection of essays, Saramandi seeks to Cambodia. I went to S21intradermally dissect the sociopolitical fabric of Mauritius, because you cannot go to Phnom Penh tunneling deep into the wounds left by colonialism and not go slavery to expose how these legacies still shape modern life. Saramandi describes the former high school Tuol Sleng (Tuol Slav Prey country at one stage as it had been) and see what it became. I went to Choeung Ek''rotting'', because you cannot NOT know a blunt yet apt metaphor for the systemic decay brought about by the killing fieldsmalignant forces of racism, patriarchy, environmental degradation and you cannot really know about them until you have stood theregovernmental dysfunction. Each essay in this collection serves as a kind of diagnostic, charting the various diseases afflicting the island state.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846689295</amazonuk>1804271616
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ivo MosleyGregor Hens and Jen Calleja (translator)|title=In the Name of the People: Pseudo-Democracy The City and the Spoiling of Our World
|rating=4
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=On In ''The City and the spectrum ranging between democracy and totalitarianismWorld'', Ivo Mosley upholds Gregor Hens reveals how cities are as much imagined spaces as they are physical ones. With a deep affection for the urban landscapes that have shaped his life, Hens reflects on places like Cologne, Berlin, and Goch on the system Lower Rhine with a blend of elective oligarchy lies closer personal memory and thoughtful observation. His writing, at times abstract, captures not just architectural features but the emotional and mental geographies tied to the latter. And yeteach location, he essentially saysfor example, Western democracy his perspectives as a child as we know it today is ''nothing'' but this form opposed to as an adult. From Belgium and Germany to Berkeley and Columbus, Hens traces a map of representative governmentexperiences, excluding a large proportion turning cities into reflections of the people whose freedoms it claims to protectidentity and belonging.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1845402626</amazonuk>1804271691
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Paul B Preciado
|title=Dysphoria Mundi
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''It is never too late to embrace the revolutionary optimism of childhood''
Through this hybrid text, consisting of arias, letters, essays and autofiction, Preciado expresses his own hybrid self, and brings forth a new sensorium as an offering to the new generation, a new feeling mechanism in which detachment is not considered a sign of political apathy. Rather, it is the proportional, valid response to ''the epistemological and political crack we are living through, and the tension between emancipatory forces and conservative resistances that characterize our present'' which Preciado calls ''dysphoria mundi''. The whole text is framed against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic as that which has catalysed this revolution, when dysphoria began to emerge on a global scale, or as ''pangea covidica''. Rather than taking this extreme dysphoria as a sign of weakness, or mistaking detachment or withdrawal for political paralysis, Preciado urges his readers to ''use dysphoria as your revolutionary platform''. |isbn=1804271454}}{{Frontpage|author=Jacqueline Feldman|title=Precarious Lease|rating=3.5|genre=Biography|summary=The title of this novel refers to a French legal term (''bail précaire'') associated with squatters in France, affording them temporary suspension from eviction charges and processes, but few scant property rights. Among mentions of other squats dotted around Paris like Le Carrosse and La Miroiterie, Feldman takes particular interest in one squat of massive proportions which adopted an almost mythical status for its inhabitants, admirers and detractors alike: Le Bloc. Something like a haven for artists and marginal members of society (as one character, Le Général, repeats throughout, ''I live on the margins of the margins of the margins''), Le Bloc was subject to the continual threat of eviction and the pressures from above which oppressed its inhabitants' lives. We follow Le Bloc from its opening in 2012 until its eventual dissolution, framed as a tragedy in this book. |isbn=1804271403}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Paul McMahonClaire Dederer|title=Feeding FrenzyMonsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People?|rating=3|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Dederer sets out to unveil what she calls a ''biography of the audience'' in a deconstructed, thoroughly nitpicked, exploration of the old aphorism of separating the art from the artist in the context of contemporary ''cancel culture''. Dederer's work is original and expressive. The New Politics reader gets the impression that the thoughts simply sprang and leapt from her brilliant mind and onto the page. In particular, the prologue packs a punch: she simultaneously condemns and exalts the director Roman Polanski, an artist she personally admires for his art, and yet despises for his actions. This model of ''monstrous men'' as she calls them, is consistent for the first few chapters, interrogating the likes of FoodWoody Allen, Michael Jackson and Pablo Picasso. Her critical voice is acutely present throughout, never slipping into anonymity and maintaining her own subjectivity, as she holds it so dearly, and a personal, rather than collective voice.|isbn=1399715070}}{{Frontpage|author=Virginie Despentes|title=King Kong Theory
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.
|isbn=191309734X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1009473085
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=ItSometimes it's predicted simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the worldbook for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's population will reach nine billion by 2050 a compelling read and given that there are regular appeals should be compulsory for money anyone who thinks Johnson should return to relieve politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a famine series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in some part of 2024.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alastair Humphreys|title=Local|rating=5|genre=Travel |summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world . And then written about it's not unreasonable . For this book he walked and cycled very close to wonder whether or not we will be able to feed nine billion peoplehome and then wrote about it. Recent turmoil As he says in food markets adds his introduction, the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the worryfood system, but rewilding…'' One of the joys of the truth is book for me was that we could feed the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that number people there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong'now, that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.|isbn=1785633678}}{{Frontpage|author=Edel Rodriguez|title=Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=We're in childhood, and we' if different approaches re in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the country, has proven himself a Communist, and not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of his were taken and there was cooperation rather than kind of taking his time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the happiest of places here, an unseemly scramble uncle refusing to secure access be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to food even if this results in starvation some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not liked for the neighbourhis successful photography business, success being frowned upon. Paul McMahon looks at how The mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of the heat, but in this very readable book.sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781250340</amazonuk>1474616720
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Sarah Wilson
|title=This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world
|rating=3.5
|genre= Lifestyle
|summary= My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks ''What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?'' I get to love that line so much because my answer is ''This! Precisely this.'' I'm lucky enough to be living my one wild and precious life the way I want to. Sarah Wilson is equally lucky. In her book that takes Oliver's words as her title (though I can't see that she acknowledges the source) she pushes us to think about whether we really ''are'' living the life we want – the best life that we could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not''. Don't care what you're doing, she thinks you (we, I) could be doing more…And she's effing furious about the fact that we are not.
|isbn=1785633848
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1785633457
|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car
|author=Clive Wilkinson
|rating=5
|genre=Travel
|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529153050
|title=Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022
|author=Tim Benson
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is coming to seem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards ''Britain's Best Political Cartoons of 2022''. Sharp eyes will have noted that we're not yet through the year: the cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. Who can imagine what there will be to come in the 2023 edition?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B0B7289HKQ
|title=Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America
|author=Kari Loya
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
|summary=Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1739593901
|title=22 Ideas About The Future
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.''
I've got a couple of confessions to make. I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it. }}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mac CartyJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |title=The Book of Hope |rating=5|genre=Politics and Society |summary= The done thing is to read a book all the way through before you sit down to review it. I’m making an exception here, because I don’t want to lose any of the experience of reading this amazing book, I want to capture it as it hits me. And it is hitting me. This beautiful book has me in tears. |isbn=024147857X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1788360737|title=Artivism: The Vagaries Of Swing Battle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism|author=Alexander Adams|rating=2|genre= Politics and Society|summary= Can art ever be apolitical? All art is political because art is not made in a vacuum. It is made by people. Antonio Gramsci stated that ‘’Every man… contributes to modifying the social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all art must be political, even implicitly. Alexander Adams in his new book ‘Artivism: The Battle for Museum in the Era of Postmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. The recent trend of so-called artivism has caused artists to become more overtly political (Footprints read: left wing). Their seemingly grass roots movements have been astroturfed by large “left-wing” donors and media elites hoping to create a more globalist and progressive regime. Or at least that’s what Alexander Adams believes.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398508632|title=The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It had been on the Margate Sands cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of Time)terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529149800|title=Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and Sara Boccaccini Meadows
|rating=4
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=We begin with a telling story. All the birds and animals fled when the forest fire took hold and most of them stood and watched, unable to think of anything they could do. The tiny hummingbird flew to the river and began taking tiny amounts of water and flying back to drop them into the fire. The animals laughed: what good was that doing. ''I'm doing the best I can'', said the hummingbird. And that, really, is the only way that we will solve the problem of climate change – by each of us doing what we can, however small that might be.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1638485216
|title=Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement
|author=Frederick Reynolds
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Mac Carty tells us that the catalyst for 'The Vagaries of Swing' was the BBC television series 'True Love' which portrayed a series of romantic encounters all set by the sea in his home town of MargateCorruption is not department, gender or race specific. But Carty It has taken the original idea - about relationships between people - and run everything to do with it, extending character. Period.''love '' into One more body just wouldn''passiont matter''. The murder of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, say for cricketon 25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, or (at a forty-four-year-old police officer, in the other end US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the scale) as world. We rarely see pictures of a human encounter which ends in violencemurder taking place but Floyd's death was an exception. Whilst The image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I'll ever forget and the television series might protests which followed cannot have been unexpected. There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''all'' tarred by the catalyst for Chauvin brush.}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthieu Aikins|title=The Naked Don't Fear the book there was another Water|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and probably more compelling reasonSociety|summary=It's easy to forget at times that The Naked Don't Fear the Water isn't actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-paced thriller at times. When This is not by any means a criticism, but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a Canadian citizen who decided to accompany his friend Mike died he realised that he had no one with whom to share his fund of stories about growing up in Margate, all as a refugee from Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a vast and at times painful journey. There are tense moments and gripping accounts of border crossings which had been revisited me on edge the whole way through. But it's written with a regular basis haunting and usually over a pint. I've just read almost lyrical quality that allows the reader to perfectly envisage the resultenvironments and people described.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1291336761</amazonuk>B09N9157T6
}}
{{Frontpage|isbn=1785633074|title=Staggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=Members of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister - the ''primus inter pares'' (that's for those of you who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the reality is that the ''prime'' movers are the special advisers - the SPADS - who are the driving force behind the government. We are in the privileged position of having access to the memoirs of Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watch.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Emily Cockayne1846276772|title=Cheek by JowlThe End of Bias: A History of NeighboursHow We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell
|rating=4.5
|genre=HistoryPolitics and Society|summary=As Emily Cockayne emphasises at Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the beginning extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. White men will always come first. The able will come before the first chapterdisabled. Jobs, promotions, almost everyone has higher salaries are the preserve of the white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a neighbour; if you have a neighbourpart of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, you that their concerns are one yourself; and neighbours can enrich or ruin our livesacknowledged. In this engaging book, she takes various case studies It's personally appalling and anecdotes degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of living side by side in Britain from around 1200 to the present daybias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546949</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529148251
|title=Misfits: A Personal Manifesto
|author=Michaela Coel
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''How am I able to be so transparent on paper about rape, malpractice and poverty, yet still compartmentalise? It's as though I were telling the truth whilst simultaneously running away from it.''
Before you start reading ''Misfits'' you need to be in a certain frame of mind. You're not going to read a book of essays or a self-help book. You're going to read writing which was inspired by Michaela Coel's 2018 MacTaggart Lecture to professionals within the television industry at the Edinburgh TV Festival. You might be ''reading'' the book but you need to ''listen'' to the words as though you're in the lecture theatre. The disjointedness will fade away and you'll be carried on a cloud of exquisite writing.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan M Katz0008350388|title=The Big Truck That Went ByWe Need to Talk About Money|author=Otegha Uwagba|rating=45
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=It was January 12''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, 2010 less intelligent and AP correspondent Jonathan Multimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts... Katz was preparing '' ''We Need to ship out Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba ''0.7% of Haiti after spending the last two and English Literature GCSE students in England study a half years reporting about political instability, riots and disasters. He was preparing for book by a change writer of scene, colour while only 7% study a book by a stint in Afghanistan, concluding that woman.'' ''It sounded like a good place for a breakThe Bookseller''. Nature had other plans.29 June 2021
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean M Twenge and W Keith CampbellRichard Brook|title=The Narcissism EpidemicUnderstanding Human Nature: Living in the Age of EntitlementA User's Guide to Life
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary= I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and sometimes books choose us. In my case, this is one of the latter. Not so very long ago, if I had come across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of it interesting, but it would not have 'hit home' in the way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to give it a favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that people chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, right now.
|isbn=1800461682
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1787332098
|title=How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World
|author=Henry Mance
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Twenge ''When we do think about animals, we break them down into species and groups: cows, dogs, foxes, elephants and Campbell have been studying the rise so on. And we assign them places in narcissism as a social trend. They are well-qualified to commentsociety: cows go on plates, dogs on sofas, having worked since 1998 with social psychologist Roy Baumeisterfoxes in rubbish bins, who pioneered research elephants in this fieldzoos, and millions of wild animals stay out there, ''somewhere,'' hopefully on the next David Attenborough series.'' I was going to argue. At more than three hundred pages itI mean, cows are for cheese (I couldn's rather weighty t consider eating red meat...) and I much prefer my elephants in the wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for the popular market at which sake of it's aimed. Essentially that quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. If I had to choose between the company of humans and the company of animals, but even if you only dip into I would probably choose the animals. I insisted that I read this book: no one was trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. I eat cheese, eggs, chicken and fish and I think you'll take home their messageneeded to either do so without guilt or change my choices. I suspected that making the decision would not be comfortable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1416575987</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1523092734
|title=A Women's Guide to Claiming Space
|author=Eliza Van Cort
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, former CMO, Cirque du Soleil RSD)
''To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. It is to live the life you've always wanted.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lucy Birmingham and David McNeillPolly Barton|title=Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear DisasterFifty Sounds
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=In 2011Where do I start? I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the question ''Why Japan?'' Japan was hit has been on my radar for a while and if the world hadn't gone into melt-down I would have visited by a 9now.0 magnitude earthquakeI may get there later this year, followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdownbut I am not hopeful. The tale And like Barton, I don't know the answer to the question ''why Japan?'' She explains her feelings in respect of this devastating trio of tragedies the question in the first essay, which is told by two journalists whoon the sound ''giro' ''ve lived in Tokyo for years– which she describes as being, among other things, and the pairing sound of Birmingham and McNeil give us a real insight into just how this could ''every party where you have happened and the way that half a dozen people, from all walks of life, responded to itintroduce yourself''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230341861</amazonuk>1913097501
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Selina GuinnessStephen Fabes|title=The Crocodile by the Door: The Story Signs of a House, a Farm and a FamilyLife
|rating=5
|genre=BiographyTravel|summary=Selina Guinness lived at Tibradden as a child and in 2002 she I was brought up on maps and her husbandfirst-toperson narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-berighted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, Colin Graham, moved back I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to the house when her elderly uncle Charles became frailsimply go out and do it. The surname might lead you to suspect that there were brewery millions in the background but this wasnI also didn't inherit the case. The couple were young academics kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and doing what needed to be done at Tibradden basic practicality that would have meant that I would need to be done in addition to full-time jobshave survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. The house was on In order words I'm not the outskirts sort of Dublin - 'derelict fields' if you were person who will get on a bike outside a property developer or the last defence against the encroaching city if you were London hospital and notcome home for six years. Fabes did precisely that.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1844881571</amazonuk>1788161211
}}