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[[Category:New Reviews|Politics and Society]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove --><!-- Wolff -->[[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]] ===[[Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] As I began listening to ''Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House'' we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of the President of the United States taking to Twitter to establish that he was ''a stable genius'', as opposed, we must conclude to being an unstable... Well, let's not go there. It's a little too frightening: this is the most powerful man in the world. So what made me listen to this book? Well, Donald Trump didn'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>{{newreview|author= Kurt Andersen|title= Fantasyland|rating= 4|genre= History |summary= 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785038656</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nathan ConnollyAlastair Humphreys|title=Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working ClassLocal

|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel |summary=Simple summary: ''Know Your Place'' is an anthology of essays on Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the working class by the working classworld. There are twenty-three disparate pieces talking And then written about everything you can imagine: day trips it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the seasidebook 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 to , agriculture, the arts, food povertysystem, pub culturerewilding…'' One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, glass ceilings, housing estates, vulgarity-as-class-markerno single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and much morethat there are some hard choices ahead. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911585363</amazonuk>1785633678

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Harry Leslie SmithEdel Rodriguez|title= Don't Let My Past Be Your FutureWorm: A Call to ArmsCuban American Odyssey|rating= 54|genre= Politics and SocietyGraphic Novels|summary= DonWe't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms is part biography re in childhood, and part rallying call for society to tackle the systemicwe're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, endemic and debilitating inequality faced by the people Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the United Kingdom, particularly in the North. Through reflecting on his own experiences during his childhoodcountry, Harry Leslie Smith has painted proven himself a frank Communist, and uncompromising picture not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of his were kind of taking his time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the grimhappiest of places here, appallingly miserable childhood an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he had to endure due would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the poverty faced by father being watched and watched, and not liked for his family contrasted successful photography business, success being frowned upon. The mother gets the couple jobs with theparty to ease some of the heat, shamefully still, grim and miserable lives many people endure today but in a this sultry island country ravaged by cuts, austerity and political turmoil.it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>147212345X</amazonuk>1474616720

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Michael BristowSarah Wilson|title= China This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresserfractured world|rating= 43.5|genre= Autobiography Lifestyle|summary=Having worked for nine years My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in Bejing 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 a journalist for her title (though I can't see that she acknowledges the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided source) she pushes us to write think about Chinese history. Having been learning whether we really ''are'' living the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in life we want – the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of best life in Communist China - but added to thatwe could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not''. 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 here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the worldDon't care what you're doing, she thinks you (we, I) could be doing more…And she's most intriguing nationseffing furious about the fact that we are not. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910985902</amazonuk>1785633848

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Francis O'Gorman1785633457|title=ForgetfulnessCharging Around: Making Exploring the Modern Culture Edges of AmnesiaEngland by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel|summary=After Clive Wilkinson has a glut of books about mindfulness it came as something history of travelling by unconventional means with a relief to encounter ''Forgetfulness'', Francis O'Gorman's thinking on why preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the twenty-first century is losing touch with idea of exploring the pastedges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, on why what is likely - or could it should be made - to happen is so much more important than what has gone before. The book is supremely intelligenta pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, but with the knowledge worn lightly and shouldn't it's eminently readable, regardless of how you feel about the conclusions he draws. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1501324691</amazonuk>?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Stuart Maconie1529153050|title= Long Road From JarrowBritain's Best Political Cartoons 2022|author=Tim Benson|rating= 54|genre= Travel Humour|summary= I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago and Seeking some light relief from the only thing I miss current political turmoil which is Stuart Maconie's column. His down-coming to-earth approach seem more and sharp wit belie more like an equally sharp intellect and a soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admit. Letadrenaline sport, I was nudged towards ''Britain's be honest, though, I picked this one up because Best Political Cartoons of someone else2022''s review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. Places I grew up in. Like Maconie I Sharp eyes will have no connection (noted that I know of) to we're not yet through the year: the Jarrow Crusade but when he talks about it being ''a whole matrix of events reducible cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to one word like Aberfan, Hillsborough, or Orgreave'' then somehow it does become part of my history too31 August 2022. Tangentially, at least.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785030531</amazonuk>Who can imagine what there will be to come in the 2023 edition?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Raymond WilliamsB0B7289HKQ|title= Culture Conversations Across America: A Father and Society 1780-1950Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America|author=Kari Loya|rating= 4|genre= Politics and SocietyTravel|summary= From Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the last decades of way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the eighteenth century period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the final words of modernismTrans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, this book tracks societal changes through exploring five key words: industryVirginia to Astoria, democracy, class, art and cultureOregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. The meanings of such things, their essence, changes as per their use and They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the era in recommended time - but there were factors which their implications were pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who consideredtaking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784870811</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Patrick West1739593901|title= Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for our times22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating= 15|genre= Politics and SocietyScience Fiction|summary= Get Over Yourself considers Nietzsche's imagined perceptions 'Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of modern society flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and uses our society automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.'' I've got a couple of confessions to explain his philosophymake. I'm sorry if that sounds vague but 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 best I can do from technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the blurb on technology and the backworld scape are purely incidental. After reading Get Over Yourself from cover to cover So, what did I am still none the wiser about the purpose think of this a book. It appears to be a series of personal opinions held together with quotestwenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, which don't always appear relevant, from Nietzsche, Chumbawumba and newspaper articlesI loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845409337</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Jenny LandrethJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |title= SwellThe Book of Hope |rating= 5|genre= Politics and Society|summary= I love Jenny's own description of her book as a waterbiography and I love her encouragement that we should each write our own. This The done thing is more than just (I say ''just''!) to read a recollection of book all the author's own encounters with water; way through before you sit down to review it's also a history of women's fight for the right to swim. That sounds absurd until you start reading about itI’m making an exception here, then it becomes serious. Not too serious though – because Jenny Landreth is clearly a lover I don’t want to lose any of the absurd. Not a lover experience of reading this amazing book blurbs myself, I do always seek want to give a shout-out to those who get capture it as it hits me. And it dead right: is hitting me. This beautiful book has me in this case I'm definitely with Alexandra Heminsley's ''giggles-on-the-commute funny''tears.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1472938941</amazonuk>024147857X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy1788360737|title= Artivism: The ExileBattle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism|author=Alexander Adams|rating= 42

|summary= An account of 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 fate of Al Qaeda and the Bin Laden family since the events of 9/11social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all art must be political, ''even implicitly. Alexander Adams in his new book ‘Artivism: The Exile'' plunges into Battle for Museum in the murky waters Era of international terrorism, espionage and politicsPostmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. Detailed and meticulous, the book tackles the subject from all angles, providing a panoramic view The recent trend of the subject so-called artivism has caused artists to become more overtly political (read: left wing). Their seemingly grass roots movements have been astroturfed by large “left-wing” donors and acting media elites hoping to enlighten create a more globalist and inform the readerprogressive regime. Or at least that’s what Alexander Adams believes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408858762</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Emily Clarkson1398508632|title= Can I Speak to Someone in Charge?The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating= 4.5|genre= Politics and SocietyLifestyle|summary=''Can I Speak to Someone in Charge?'', blogger Emily Clarkson's debut book, is It had been on the cards for a fierce, witty and laughwhile but it was the week-out-loud funny ode to feminismlong consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. In a series The end of open lettersNovember, she addresses particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the issues faced by every modern womanbest time to start, discussing everything from dealing with body hair to being made to feel uncomfortable in a world where the gymnormal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, as well as more personal issues, like Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her experiences was a known habitat with a variety of being 'catfished' terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and sent abuse onlinedehydrator. This is She had a vital read for any girl born in the 1990scar - and fuel. Most importantly, tackling some very serious social injustices beneath she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its fun exteriorproduce.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471156907</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lauren Elkin1529149800|title=FlaneuseThings You Can Do: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and LondonSara Boccaccini Meadows

|genre=History Home and Family|summary=Lauren Elkin is down on suburbs: they're places where you can't or shouldn't be seen walking; places whereWe begin with a telling story. All the birds and animals fled when the forest fire took hold and most of them stood and watched, in fiction, women who transgress boundaries are punished (thinking unable to think of everything from ''Madame Bovary'' to ''Revolutionary Road'')anything they could do. When she imagines The tiny hummingbird flew to herself what the female version river and began taking tiny amounts of water and flying back to drop them into the fire. The animals laughed: what good was that well-known historical figure, the carefree doing. ''I'flâneurm doing the best I can'', might besaid the hummingbird. And that, really, she thinks about women who freely wandered is the world's great cities without having only way that we will solve the more insalubrious connotation problem of the word 'streetwalker' applied to themclimate change – by each of us doing what we can, however small that might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593378</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Saqib Noor1638485216|title=Surgery on the Shoulders of GiantsBlack, White, and Gray All Over: Letters from a doctor abroadA Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement|author=Frederick Reynolds|rating=45

|summary=The letters begin much in the fashion of any young man away from home, 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 metCorruption is not department, gender or race specific. Ithas everything to do with character. Period.'s ' ''One more body just a little different in wouldn't matter''Surgery on the Shoulders . The murder of Giants'' though: Saqib Noor is George Floyd, a junior doctorforty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, training to be an orthopaedic surgeon and over a period forty-four-year-old police officer, in the US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the world. We rarely see pictures of ten years he visited six countries, not as a tourist murder taking place but to give medical assistanceFloyd's death was an exception. TheyThe image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I're countries ll ever forget and the protests which Noor describes as followed cannot have been unexpected. There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''fourth worldall'' - third world with added disaster - and their need is desperatetarred by the Chauvin brush.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1521173192</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Rebecca AsherMatthieu Aikins|title= Man Up|rating= 5|genre= Politics and Society|summary= 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. ShouldnThe Naked Don't consent be self-evident for everyone? Would Fear 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?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784701807</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Grindrod|title= OutskirtsWater|rating= 4|genre =Animals and Wildlife|summary=''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. John Grindrod grew up on the edge of one such estate in the 1960's and '70's, as he puts it, ''I grew up on the last road in London.'' 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473625025</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Carolina de Robertis|title= Radical Hope|rating= 4|genre= Politics and Society|summary= On 8th November 2016, Donald Trump was elected as the 46th President of the United States. Since then many Americans have been overcome with fear, worrying about what will become of American society during Trump's administration. Carolina de Robertis was no exception to this fear and in response to the newly elected President and his policies she put out a call for action. Radical Hope is the outcome to this call. De Robertis reached out to fellow writers and activists asking for letters, predominantly letters of love, addressed to the citizens of today and those of past and future generations in order to help spread hope during times of uncertainty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349010102</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Matthew d'Ancona|title=Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back|rating=3.5

|summary=It's easy to forget at times that The Naked Don't Fear the Water isn'Our own postt actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-truth era paced thriller at times. This is what happens when society relaxes its defence of values that underpin cohesionnot by any means a criticism, namely veracity, honesty and accountability.'' I'm old enough or perhaps naive enough but rather a testament to believe that when making how well Matthieu Aikins – a decision about political voting, you should be able Canadian citizen who decided to rely absolutely accompany his friend 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 me on what edge the candidate tells youwhole way through. I've been suspicious for a decade or more, but But it's become difficult to ignore the change in political attitudes since Brexit written with a haunting and almost lyrical quality that allows the election of Donald Trump. With regard to the latter, when Trump was challenged on a statement he'd made which was subsequently found to be incorrect, his response was ''Who cares if I got it wrong?'' He was able reader to tap to the fading concept of 'perfectly envisage the American Dream' - those Americans who were used to waiting patiently in line environments and who had found themselves overtaken by ''women, immigrants and public sector workers''people described.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785036874</amazonuk>B09N9157T6

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Stephen Moss1785633074|title= Wild Kingdom: Bringing Back Britain's WildlifeStaggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry|rating= 4.5|genre= Animals and WildlifeHumour|summary= Wildlife has been declining in Britain over Members of Parliament like us to believe that the last few decades; it country is an unfortunate run bypoliticians, headed by the Prime minister -product the ''primus inter pares'' (that's for those of human population growth, which in 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 modern world has increased significantlygovernment. Through this book Moss suggests a few ways We are in which we can start the privileged position of having access to bring back some the memoirs of Britain's wildlife without compromising Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the human way end of life: we can co-exist with nature2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watch. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581639</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nick Clegg1846276772|title=PoliticsThe End of Bias: Between the ExtremesHow We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell

|summary=The political landscape Anyone who is changing rapidly at not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the momentextent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. A little more than two years ago we were facing the end of the UK's White men will always come first coalition government since World War II and fully expecting that we would see another. Instead we saw a Conservative government elected with a workable majorityThe able will come before the disabled. Brexit saw Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the end preserve of one Prime Minister and another elected by the white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a few members part of parliament. As I write wean organisation it're facing another general elections rare that their views are heard, with a Conservative landslide predictedthat their concerns are acknowledged. In two years weIt've seen s personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the Liberal Democrats collapse from being part receiving end of the ruling coalition to a party whose MPs could hold a meeting in a decent-sized carbias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784704164</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jess Phillips1529148251|title= EverywomanMisfits: One Woman's Truth About Speaking the TruthA Personal Manifesto|author=Michaela Coel|rating=3.5|genre= Politics and Society|summary=''EverywomanHow 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 ' announces itself proudly, with 'Misfits'' you need to be in a chapter named certain frame of mind. You're not going to read a book of essays or a self-help book. You'The Truth about Speaking upre 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''. Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tells us many times that she is book but you need to ''gobbylisten'' and that she has a loud voice. Her voice does come through, clear and urgent. Using her journey to Westminster and her experiences the words as though you're in Parliament, Phillips teaches the reader the truths shelecture theatre. The disjointedness will fade away and you's learned ll be carried on her journeya cloud of exquisite writing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786330776</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Tormod V Burkey0008350388|title=Ethics for a Full World or, Can Animal-Lovers Save the World?|rating=4|genre= Animals and Wildlife|summary= Burkey argues that man's current practices are outside the realms of nature. He is no longer part of the ecosystem, but instead exists above it through his dominating ways. He is himself distanced even further by advancement in technologies, industry, money and all the pollution that comes with them. The natural world, Burkey argues, no longer exists for man because he has altered it by such things. Indeed, global warming has caused climate change, which, if it continues, will make the world unrecognisable. For the world We Need to become fuller, for it to be a world that seeks to provide for the needs of every living thing, then it needs to change. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570856</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewTalk About Money|author= Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum|title= The Future of Violence - Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones: Confronting the New Age of ThreatOtegha Uwagba|rating= 45

|summary=Looking back over this month''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, April 2017less hireable, the news has been full less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...'' ''We Need to Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba ''0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of terrorist attacks perpetrated colour while only 7% study a book by lone individualsa woman. A suicide bombing on '' ''The Bookseller'' 29 June 2021 Otegha Uwagba came to the St Petersburg Metro killed 15 people UK from Kenya when she was five years old. Her sisters were seven and injured 64 morenine. In Stockholm It was her mother who came first, Swedenwith her father joining them later. The family was hard-working, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible. There was always a hijacked truck steered painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a pedestrian shopping area and department storeshortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested. Most recently, a shooting in Paris just two days ago, claimed When Otegha was ten the life of family acquired a police officer and injured several otherscar. Whilst it is true that governments have access to impressive For Otegha, cutting-edge technology education meant a scholarship to combat terrorisma private school in London and then a place at New College, it is also a fact that these resources are becoming increasingly available to individualsOxford. At what cost?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445655934</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Lynn KnightRichard Brook|title= The Button BoxUnderstanding Human Nature: A User's Guide to Life|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryLifestyle|summary= Buttons are the underdogs I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and sometimes books choose us. In my case, this is one of the clothing world: dismissed as functional elements latter. Not so very long ago, if I had come across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of clothingit interesting, falling into but it would not have 'hit home' in the same dustbin category with zips and shoe laces, they tend way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to be seen as necessary for keeping clothes on, give it a favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that people chose their own books rather than contributors to style. But Lynn Knight getting them randomly, so there is set a predisposition towards expecting to prove that like the opposite is true. We think nothing of lacing discussions about clothing and feminism with headscarvesbook, bikinis, and underweight models even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – and buttons deserve but also because it is a place on the pedestal of gender discussionbook I needed to read, tooright now.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099593092</amazonuk>1800461682

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Paul Flynn1787332098|title= Good As You: From Prejudice How to Pride Love Animals in a Human- 30 Years of Gay BritainShaped World|author=Henry Mance|rating= 5|genre= History Politics and Society|summary=The last 30 years have seen a tidal wave of change sweep the country with regards to how gay people are perceived and accepted. In 1984, the pulsing electronic beats of ''Smalltown Boy'' became an anthem to unite Gay MenWhen we do think about animals, but just a month laterwe break them down into species and groups: cows, a virus called HIV would be identifieddogs, spreading a climate of panic and fear across the nationfoxes, elephants and marginalising a community who were already ostracisedso on. 30 years later thoughAnd we assign them places in society: cows go on plates, the long road to gay equality would reach a climax with the legalistion of gay marriage. Journalist Paul Flynn charts this remarkable journey via the cultural milestones that affected this change - with interviews with such protagonists as Kyliedogs on sofas, Russell T Daviesfoxes in rubbish bins, Will Youngelephants in zoos, Holly Johnson and Lord Chris Smith. This is the story millions of Britainwild animals stay out there, ''s brotherssomewhere, sons, cousins, fathers and husbands'' hopefully on the next David Attenborough series.'' I was going to argue. Of public outrage and personal loss I mean, the cows are for cheese (not always legalI couldn't consider eating red meat...) highs and desperate lows, and I much prefer my elephants in the final collective victory as Gay Men were finally recognised to be as Good As You. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785032925</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mark Aylwin Thomas|title= Blades of Grass|rating= 4.5|genre= Biography|summary= Any book wild but then I realised that has me in tears at I was quibbling for the end has been worth my timesake of it. Any book Essentially that has me hoping it will end differently quote sums up my attitude to the way animals - and I know it must is worth the readingconsider myself an animal lover. Any book that convinces me that maybe there is still hope in If I had to choose between the world – that for all company of humans and the mistakes made thus farcompany of animals, still being made right now, there is a common humanity which ultimately, eventually, must do some good – that is worth I would probably choose the writing and the reading and the timeanimals. Blades of Grass is I insisted that I read this book: no one such bookwas trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. It's a forgotten storyI eat cheese, eggs, an unknown story chicken and fish and I needed to most peopleeither do so without guilt or change my choices. It is one I suspected that should making the decision would not be told – and reflected uponcomfortable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524676969</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Preston1523092734|title=A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the EstablishmentWomen's Guide to Claiming Space|author=Eliza Van Cort

|genre=True CrimePolitics and Society|summary=Jeremy Thorpe was ''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 sort life of person who was generally liked by otherschoosing unapologetically and bravely. He was flamboyant and gregarious but could give It is to live the impression that meeting someone had made his daylife you've always wanted. He never seemed to forget '' Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a name and he was wittytime when violence against women is much in the news, charismatic and very charming''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. He appeared Now - to be clear - this book is not a decent man, 'how to disable your attacker with views with which I would have agreed on racetwo simple jabs' manual: it's something far more effective, capital punishment and membership of but discussion at the Common Market, as the European Union was then knownmoment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''. For I've always thought that women need to rise above this was the nineteen sixties and Thorpe had entered Parliament at the age of thirty and by 1967 he would , to be party leaderpeople who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. On the surface he was a man If all women did this, those few men who had everything going for himare violent to women would realise that we are not just an easy target to be used to prove that they are big men.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241973740</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sarah BakewellPolly Barton|title= At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot CocktailsFifty Sounds|rating=4.5|genre= Politics and Society|summary= You know that old saying about judging books by their coverWhere do I start? Ignore it! I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the question ''Why Japan?'' Japan has been on my radar for a while and if the world hadn't gone into melt-down I would have found that visited by judging a book by its cover and getting it completely wrong is a great way now. I may get there later this year, but I am not hopeful. And like Barton, I don't know the answer to find yourself committed to reading a book that youthe question ''why Japan?''d never have picked She explains her feelings in respect of the question in a million years and yetthe first essay, which is on the sound ''giro' '' – which she describes as being, somehowamong other things, being amazingly glad the sound of ''every party where you didhave to introduce yourself''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099554887</amazonuk>1913097501

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tony Benn and Ruth Winstone (editor)Stephen Fabes|title=The Benn Diaries: The Definitive CollectionSigns of Life

|genre=BiographyTravel|summary=Tony Benn must be one I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of the most famous diarists tales of the modern agefar away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. He kept a diary from his schooldays in the nineteen forties until he made his last entry in 2009Unfortunately, five years before his death. Benn was also a particularly charismatic politician: since my teens Ididn've found myself listening to him believing that I disagreed with t inherit what he Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was saying the guts to simply go out and then realising that perhaps we werendo it. I also didn't so far apart after all. Whatever he spoke about always gave food for thought. Of course inherit the ideal way kind of steady nerve, ability to enjoy the diaries would be talk to read the individual volumes, beginning with {{amazonurl|isbn=0099497719|title=Years Of Hope: Diaries,Letters strangers and Papers 1940-1962}}, but basic practicality that would have meant thatI would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 's a lengthy undertaking and bottle'. In order words I'The Benn Diaries: The Definitive Collection'' edited by Ruth Winstone gives you m not the opportunity to sample the best sort of the diaries in person who will get on a mere seven hundred or so pages. Be warned though: there has been bike outside a previous {{amazonurl|isbn=0099634112|title=composite volume}}, also called ''The Benn Diaries'' London hospital and published in 1996not come home for six years. The current volume goes to 2009Fabes did precisely that.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786330768</amazonuk>1788161211