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{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor=Stephen Fabes|title=Signs of Life|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary="15" <!I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it. I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years. Fabes did precisely that.|isbn=1788161211}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1504321383|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Again|author=Louisa Pateman|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man''.

<!-- Bremner -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Bremner_UsThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0525533184/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Us vs Them: The Failure of Globalism by Ian Bremmer]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]  It wasn't supposed to be like this, unkind: it was it? Every day seems to bring yet more news of doom and gloom. The spectre of terrorism hangs over most of simply the world, fuelling refugee crises and worries about national security. People keep saying that robots are coming adults in her life advising her as to take all our jobswhat they thought would be best for her. Anti-establishment political parties are making huge gains in countries It was reinforced by all around those fairy tales where the world. And inequality girl (she's usually fairly young) is as much of a problem as it ever was – if not more so. [[Us vs Them: The Failure of Globalism rescued by Ian Bremmer|Full Review]] <!-- Wolff -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Wolff Trump.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408711400?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408711400]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff]]=== [[image:4handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] As I began listening Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White Housewithout'' we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of the President of the United States taking to Twitter to establish expectation that he they will marry and have children. It was ''a stable genius'', as opposed, we must belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude to being an unstable... Well, letthat 's not go there. It's a little too frightening: this belief is the most powerful man in the world. So what made me listen to this book? Well, Donald Trump didna choice't want me to read it: US presidents don't often go down that road and rarely to a good destination (I'm thinking of Richard Nixon here) and that made me really want to know what was between the covers. But how did the book stack up? [[Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff|Full Review]]<br>}} <!-- Anderson -->{{Frontpage|-| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Sakinu Ahronglong[[image:Anderson_Fantasyland.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785038656?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCodetitle=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785038656]] Hunter School| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Fantasyland covers the history of America from 1517 to 2017 in awesome detail. Covering five centuries of tempestuous history, Andersen paints the conjuring of America in vivid relief. Discussing everything from pilgrims to politicians, the exhilarating gold rush to alternative facts, seminal episodes are explored in forensic detail with razor sharp wit. [[Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen|Full Review]] <!-- Connolly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Connolly_working4.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1911585363?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1911585363]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working Class by Nathan Connolly]]==genre=Autobiography [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Simple summary: ''Know Your Place'' The flyleaf to this little collection tells us that it is an anthology a work of essays on the working class by the working classfiction. There are twenty-three disparate pieces talking about everything you can imagine: day trips to the seaside, access to the arts, food poverty, pub culture, glass ceilings, housing estates, vulgarity-as-class-marker, and much more.  And a full disclosure: That''Know Your Place'' was brought to fruition by crowdfunding and I was a contributors possibly misleading. I read am not sure whether it is "fiction" in the proposed spec and just ''knew'' I would love the booksense that Ahronglong made it all up, should or whether it reach its fundraising target, and that's why I stumped up some cash. I think class is both an under- and mis-discussed topic with working class people defined externally and talked about rather than listened to or allowed to define themselves. And I really did love as the book just as I thought I would. So you know - there's a possible reviewer bias here that you should know about. I like blurb goes on to think I would have criticised ''Know Your Placesay '' had it fallen short of my hopes for it but just in caserecollections, Ifolklore and autobiographical stories'm letting you know. [[Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working Class by Nathan Connolly|Full Review]] <!-- Smith -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Smith_Dont.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/147212345X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147212345X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms by Harry Leslie Smith]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]  Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms is part autobiography and part rallying call for society to tackle the systemic, endemic and debilitating inequality faced by It feels like the people of the United Kingdom, particularly in the Northlatter. Through reflecting on his own experiences during his childhood, Harry Leslie Smith has painted a frank and uncompromising picture of It feels like the grim, appallingly miserable childhood stories he had to endure due to the poverty faced by tells about his family contrasted with the, shamefully still, grim and miserable lives many people endure today in experiences as a country ravaged by cutschild, austerity and political turmoil. [[Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms by Harry Leslie Smith|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Bristow -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Bristow China.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910985902?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1910985902]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]as an adolescent, [[:Category:Travel|Travel]] Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese historyan adult are real and true. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow But memory is a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to thatfickle thing, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told and maybe poetic licence has taken over here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. [[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow|Full Review]] <!-- Landreth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Landreth_Swell.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1472938941?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1472938941]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Swell by Jenny Landreth]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]there, [[:Category:Sport|Sport]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] I love Jenny's own description of her book as a waterbiography and I love her encouragement maybe calling it fiction means that we should each write our own. This is its safer and therefore more than just (I say ''just''!) a recollection of the author's own encounters with water; people will read it's also a history of women's fight for the right to swim. That sounds absurd until you start reading about it, then it becomes seriousMore people should. Not too serious though – because Jenny Landreth is clearly a lover of the absurd. Not a lover of book blurbs myself, I do always seek to give a shout-out to those who get it dead right: in this case I'm definitely with Alexandra Heminsley's ''giggles-on-the-commute funny''. [[Swell by Jenny Landreth|Full Review]]isbn=1999791282}}<!-- Maconie -->{{Frontpage|-| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Frederic Gros[[image:MACONIE_lONG.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785030531/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] A Philosophy of Walking| stylerating="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|5===[[Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] summary= I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago and the only thing I miss is Stuart Maconie's column. His down-to-earth approach and sharp wit belie an equally sharp intellect and a soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admit. Let's be honest, though, confess I picked this one up because from the library in my pre-lockdown forage of someone else's review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Ayclifferandom stuff. Places I grew up in. Like Maconie Now I have no connection (to go out an buy my own copy so that I know of) can turn down the pages I have marked and return to the Jarrow Crusade but its varying wisdom when he talks about it being ''a whole matrix of events reducible I need to one word like Aberfan, Hillsborough, or Orgreave'' then somehow it does become part of my history too. Tangentially, at least. [[Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie|Full Review]] <!-- Grindrod -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Grindrod Outskirts.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473625025/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Outskirts by John Grindrod]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Animals and Wildlife|Animals and Wildlife]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] ''Outskirts'' is an interesting take on a phenomenon of the modern age: the introduction of the green belt of countryside surrounding inner city housing estates Some books draw you in slowly. John Grindrod grew up on the edge of This one such estate had me in the 1960's and '70's, as he puts itfirst two pages, wherein Gros explains why ''I grew up on the last road in London.walking is not a sport'' Grindrod explores the introduction of the green belt, and the various fights and developments it has gone through over the subsequent decades, as environmental and political arguments have affected planning decisions. Within this topic, he has somehow managed to wind around his personal memories of childhood, producing a memoir with a lot of heart. [[Outskirts by John Grindrod|Full Review]] <!-- Elkin -->|-| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Elkin_Flaneuse.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099593378?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0099593378]]1781688370}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New YorkLun Zhang, TokyoAdrien Gombeaud, Venice Ameziane and London by Lauren Elkin]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] Lauren Elkin is down on suburbs: they're places where you can't or shouldn't be seen walking; places where, in fiction, women who transgress boundaries are punished Edward Gauvin (thinking of everything from ''Madame Bovary'' to ''Revolutionary Road''translator). When she imagines to herself what the female version of that well-known historical figure, the carefree ''flâneur'', might be, she thinks about women who freely wandered the world's great cities without having the more insalubrious connotation of the word 'streetwalker' applied to them. [[Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London by Lauren Elkin|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Noor -->|-| styletitle="widthTiananmen 1989: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Our Shattered Hopes[[image:Noor_Surgery.jpg|left|linkrating=https://www4.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1521173192?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1521173192]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Graphic Novels|summary===[[Surgery on I never really followed the Shoulders events of Giants: Letters from a doctor abroad by Saqib Noor]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] The letters begin Tiananmen Square with much attention when it was playing out – someone in the fashion second half of any young man away from hometheir teens has other priorities, perhaps in a quite exciting country, writing back to family and friends to tell them of his experiences, the sights he's seen and the people he's metyou know. ItI certainly didn's just a little different in ''Surgery on t know of the Shoulders weeks of Giants'' though: Saqib Noor is a junior doctor, training to be an orthopaedic surgeon protests and over a period of ten years he visited six countries, not as a tourist but to give medical assistance. They're countries which Noor describes as ''fourth world'' - third world with added disaster - hunger strikes from the students before the massacre and their need is desperate. [[Surgery on the Shoulders birth of Giants: Letters from a doctor abroad by Saqib Noor|Full Review]]<br> <!-- O'Gorman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ogorman_Forgetfulness.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1501324691/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture of Amnesia by Francis O'Gorman]]=== [[Tank Man image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] After a glut of books about mindfulness it came as something of a relief to encounter ''Forgetfulness'', Francis OI didn'Gorman's thinking on why t know how the twenty-first century is losing touch with the pastarea had long been a venue for political protest, on why what is likely - or could be made - to happen is so much and I didn't know more important than what has gone beforea spit about the people involved on either side. The This book is supremely intelligent, but with the knowledge worn lightly and itpractically flawless in giving a general browser's eminently readable, regardless of how you feel about context for the conclusions he draws. [[Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture whole season of Amnesia by Francis O'Gorman|Full Review]] <!-- Williams -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Williams_Cultureprotests back in 1989.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784870811/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|1684056993===[[Culture and Society 1780-1950 by Raymond Williams]]===}} [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]Frontpage From the last decades of the eighteenth century to the final words of modernism, this book tracks societal changes through exploring five key words: industry, democracy, class, art and culture. The meanings of such things, their essence, changes as per their use and the era in which their implications were considered. [[Culture and Society 1780-1950 by Raymond Williams|Full Review]] <!-- West -->author=Sharon Blackie|-title=If Women Rose Rooted| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:West_Get.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845409337/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Biography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for our times I normally say that you can tell how much a book means to me by Patrick West]]=== [[image:1starhow many pages have corners turned down.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] ''Get Over Yourself'' considers Nietzsche's imagined perceptions Perhaps an even greater measure of modern society and uses our society impact is setting out to explain his philosophy. buy my own copy before I'm sorry if that sounds vague but it's ve finished reading the best one I can do from the blurb on the back've borrowed. After reading Get Over Yourself from cover to cover, I am still none the wiser about the purpose of this book. It appears want to be a series of personal opinions held together with quotes, which donavoid clichés like 'powerful't always appear relevant, from Nietzsche, Chumbawumba and newspaper articles. [[Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for our times by Patrick West|Full Review]] <!-- Scott-Clark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Levy_Exile.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408858762/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] An account of the fate of Al Qaeda and the Bin Laden family since the events of 9/11, 'inspiring'The Exile'life-changing' plunges into – although it is definitely the murky waters of international terrorism, espionage first two and politics. Detailed and meticulous, only time will tell about the book tackles the subject from all angles, providing third – but clichés exist for a panoramic view of the subject and acting to enlighten and inform the reader. [[The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy|Full Review]] <!-- Clarkson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Clarkson_Can.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471156907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Can I Speak to Someone in Charge? by Emily Clarkson]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics reason and Society|Politics and Society]] Can I Speak to Someone in Charge?, blogger Emily Clarkson's debut book, is a fierce, witty and laugh-out-loud funny ode to feminism. In a series of open letters, she addresses the issues faced by every modern woman, discussing everything from dealing with body hair to being made to feel uncomfortable in the gym, as well as more personal issues, like her experiences of being 'catfished' and sent abuse online. This is a vital read for m not sure I can succinctly put it any girl born in the 1990s, tackling some very serious social injustices beneath its fun exteriorbetter. [[Can I Speak to Someone in Charge? by Emily Clarkson|Full Review]] <!-- Asher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Asher_Man.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471156907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Man Up by Rebecca Asher]]==isbn=1912836017 [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] When a couple of years ago my university introduced compulsory consent workshops along with an option of 'good lad' sessions for boys, all debate broke loose. Shouldn't consent be self-evident for everyone? Would the workshops reinforce the stereotype of 'laddish' boys? Would it all be about pointing fingers at boys and victimizing girls? What about non-binary people? In short, how could these workshops be anything else than a mission doomed to failure? [[Man Up by Rebecca Asher|Full Review]]  <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|} {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Carolina de RobertisLinda Scott|title= Radical HopeThe Double X Economy|rating= 45

|summary= On 8th November 2016, Donald Trump was elected as ''Women are economically disadvantaged in every country in the 46th President of the United Statesworld''. Since then many Americans have been overcome with fearIt's a bold statement for an opening chapter, worrying about what will become of American society during Trumpbut it's administrationfar from hyperbole as the following pages explain. Carolina de Robertis was no exception to this fear This book shines a light on what is happening in different places, and in response to the newly elected President impact on the local and his policies she put out a call for actionworld economy. Radical Hope is What can be learnt from the great strides in gender-equalising legislation in the west? What can be done about the outcome to this call. De Robertis reached out to fellow writers and activists asking for letters, predominantly letters selling of loveyoung women into marriage, addressed to the citizens of today and those of past what can chimpanzees and future generations in order to help spread hope during times of uncertainty.bonobos teach us about mothering?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0349010102</amazonuk>0571353606

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Matthew d'AnconaDanny Dorling|title=Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight BackSlowdown|rating=3.54

|summary=''Our own post-truth era is what happens when society relaxes its defence We are living in a time of values that underpin cohesion, namely veracityrapid change, honesty and accountabilitywe're worried about it.'' I'm old enough or perhaps naive enough to believe Dorling tells us that when making a decision about political votingthe latter is normal, you should be able natural and probably good for us. We are designed to rely absolutely on worry and with the current state of what we're doing in the candidate tells youworld we have much to be worried about. I've been suspicious for a decade or moreHowever, but it's become difficult to ignore over the change in political attitudes since Brexit next three-hundred-and -some pages, if you can follow the election of Donald Trump. With regard to the latterarguments, when Trump was challenged on a statement heit sets out in scientific detail why either we shouldn'd made which was subsequently found to t be incorrectas worried as we are, his response was or in some cases that we''Who cares if I got it re worrying about the wrong?'' things. Mostly. Because mostly, things are not changing as rapidly as we think they are. He was able to tap to In fact, the fading concept rate of 'change in many things is slowing down and the American Dream' - those Americans who were used to waiting patiently direction of change will in line and who had found themselves overtaken by ''women, immigrants and public sector workers''some cases go into reverse.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785036874</amazonuk>0300243405

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Stephen Moss0241446732|title= Wild KingdomOur House is on Fire: Bringing Back Britain's WildlifeScenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis|author=Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Thunberg and Svante Thunberg|rating= 45|genre= Animals Politics and WildlifeSociety|summary= Wildlife has been declining in Britain over The Ernman / Thunberg family seemed perfectly normal. Malena Ernman was an opera singer and Svante Thunberg took on most of the last few decades; it is an unfortunate byparenting of their two daughters. Then eleven-year-product of human population growthold Greta stopped eating and talking and her sister, Beata, then nine years old, which in the modern world has increased significantlystruggled with what was happening. Through this book Moss suggests In such circumstances, it's natural to seek a few ways in which we can start solution close to home, but eventually, it became clear to bring back some of Britainthe family that they were ''burned-out people on a burned-out planet''s wildlife without compromising the human . If they were to find a way of life: we can co-exist with natureto live happily again their solution would need to be radical. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581639</amazonuk>