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[[Category:New Reviews|Politics and Society]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alastair Humphreys|title=The Wall Between UsLocal|rating=5|genre=Travel |summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in 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 food system, rewilding…'' 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, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.|isbn=1785633678}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew SmallEdel Rodriguez|title=Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey
|rating=4
|genre=Politics and SocietyGraphic Novels|summary=In this personal account We're in childhood, and we'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 kind of taking his visit time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to Israel some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the West Bankfather being watched and watched, Small journals and not liked for his time spent successful photography business, success being frowned upon. The mother gets the couple jobs with people he meets along the way party to ease some of the heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen…|isbn=1474616720}}{{Frontpage|author=Sarah Wilson|title=This One Wild and attempts Precious Life: the path back to make sense of connection in a fractured world|rating=3.5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= My favourite Mary Oliver line is the conflict one in which she asks ''What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?'' I get to love that has dominated line so much because my answer is ''This! Precisely this area for many years. Small openly admits '' 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 issue there best life that we could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not a simple one and his visit reinforces ''. 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 there we are many complexities preventing peace from happeningnot.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910266302</amazonuk>1785633848
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan Shaw1785633457|title=Britain in a Perilous WorldCharging Around: The Strategic Defence and Security Review we need Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel|summary=The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review Clive Wilkinson has stayed in the mind for the wrong reasons: rather than looking to develop a strategy, to examine the short and long term threats which the country faced, the emphasis was on cutting costs, history of travelling by unconventional means with some cuts appearing ludicrous at first glancea preference for slow travel. In As he neared his eightieth birthday the intervening years there have been occasions when it was difficult not to wonder if idea of exploring the United Kingdom was poorly equipped - and without clear-cut aims - as a result edges of the 2010 review. The opportunity to put this right comes England in 2015 and Major General Jonathan Shaw looks an electric car was not at what the Review should saytotally outrageous. In fact, but at how it should be tackled.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908323817</amazonuk>a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=The Economist1529153050|title=Pocket World in Figures 2015Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022|author=Tim Benson|rating=4.5|genre=ReferenceHumour|summary=There are people who donSeeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is coming to seem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards ''t understand the joy Britain's Best Political Cartoons of raw data: no accompanying analysis (or spin) - just a collection of figures relevant to a particular circumstance2022''. If youSharp eyes will have noted that we're one of those people then this book will mean little not yet through the year: the cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to you, but if you want a pocket (well, certainly handbag or briefcase) work of reference then this book 31 August 2022. Who can imagine what there will be a treasure. I once gave a copy to a diplomat and he kept his wife awake until come in the early hours as he came across another gem which she had to know without delay. The 2015 2023 edition is the twenty fourth in the series - and diplomatic (and similar) spouses everywhere should prepare themselves for the onslaught.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781252734</amazonuk>?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0B7289HKQ|title=Stand and DeliverConversations Across America: A Design for Successful GovernmentFather and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America|author=Ed StrawKari Loya|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel|summary=Confidence in politicians is at an all-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 lowto do it. In fact The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, an alarming number of Britons express outright contemptVirginia to Astoria, not just for their leaders, but for the entire political class Oregon - for the politicans themselves, for the civil servants standing behind them, even for the Westminster bubble all 4250 miles of commentators and policy wonksit - in 2015. We vote for them in ever-decreasing numbers and even those who continue They had 73 days to vote often do not feel represented. Worse still, the younger you are, it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more likely you are to of a challenge that it would be politically disengagedfor most people who considered taking it on. We Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer're in danger of losing an entire generation from the political processs. How can this be good for a democracy?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>099294760X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1739593901|title=Harry's Last Stand22 Ideas About The Future|author=Harry Leslie SmithBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and SocietyScience Fiction|summary=RAF veteran Harry Leslie Smith rose to prominence last year with a famous Guardian article 'This year, I 'Our future will wear a poppy for the last time' about the way in which the remembrance of those who died in the great wars has been co-opted to justify today’s military conflictsbe more complex than we expected. Here, he tackles themes Instead of poverty, political corruption, unemploymentflying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and a lack of hope felt by so many people todayautomated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848317263</amazonuk>}}''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=An Atheist's History of BeliefJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |authortitle=Matthew KnealeThe Book of Hope |rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=I’ve been an atheist since I was old enough The done thing is to take read a view on book all the subjectway through before you sit down to review it. (Many atheists would argue that we’re all atheists at birthI’m making an exception here, but that’s not a subject for a because I don’t want to lose any of the experience of reading this amazing book review). , I did have want to take Religious Studies at school but have entirely forgotten almost everything I learned!capture it as it hits me. And it is hitting me. This beautiful book has me in tears. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099584425</amazonuk>024147857X
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1788360737|title=Notebooks, 1922-86Artivism: The Battle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism|author=Michael OakeshottAlexander Adams|rating=3.52|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Michael Oakeshott Can art ever be apolitical? All art is usually described as political because art is not made in a conservative thinkervacuum. It is made by people. According Antonio Gramsci stated that ‘’Every man… contributes to Perry Andersonmodifying the social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all art must be political, even implicitly. Alexander Adams in his work influenced John Major's style of politics; he named him new book ‘Artivism: The Battle for Museum in the London Review Era of Books in 1992 as one of four ‘outstanding European theorists of the intransigent Right’Postmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. Luke O’Sullivan, who edited this collection The recent trend of notebooks, so-called artivism has often said that he considers such descriptions limitingcaused artists to become more overtly political (read: left wing). O’Sullivan is clearly enthusiastic about Oakeshott’s work Their seemingly grass roots movements have been astroturfed by large “left-wing” donors and strove media elites hoping to enable these notebooks, spanning create a period of over sixty years, to be publishedmore globalist and progressive regime. Or at least that’s what Alexander Adams believes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845400542</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1398508632|title=The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday LifeWilderness Cure|author=Uri Gneezy and John ListMo Wilde
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and SocietyLifestyle|summary=Wow! This is It had been on the cards for a most surprising economics book. Behavioral economists (if you’ll excuse while but it was the American spelling) investigate people’s buying behaviour and consuming patternsweek-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. I guess we know about that already because supermarkets here lull us into buying three for the price The end of twoNovember, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to come back next week for £10 off start, in a £100world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, or to garner extra points on Brexit and a loyalty card (Oh why can’t they just go for pandemic. Wilde had a cheaper price at few advantages: the point area around her was a known habitat with a variety of sale? Why do profits have terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to be in double percentage point increases year on year?)run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. A fair bit of manipulation to ensure that She had a company survives is already part car - and parcel of our livesfuel. If you’d asked me before I read this book Most importantly, I would have lined up that sort of consumer marketing psychology alongside banking as profiteering. However … these guys are differentshe had shelter: they really do seem this was not a plan to care about the plight of the underprivileged, and they come from an academic setting, rather than a commercial one''live'' wild just to live off its produce.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946747</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alain de Botton1529149800|title=The NewsThings You Can Do: A User's ManualHow to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and Sara Boccaccini Meadows
|rating=4
|genre=Politics Home and SocietyFamily|summary=Alain de Botton maintains that 'We begin with a telling story. All the news' has assumed birds and animals fled when the position in our lives which was once occupied by religionforest fire took hold and most of them stood and watched, with some consumers viewing it as often as every fifteen minutes (slight blush there - let's say about every hourunable 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. Furthermore, we do it completely unprotected against every political scandal or celebrity storyThe animals laughed: what good was that doing. The sub-title 'A User's ManualI'm doing the best I can'' sets out to remedy this, 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00HYGYIGA</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert A Caro1638485216|title=The Years of Lyndon JohnsonBlack, White, and Gray All Over: Means of AscentA Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement|author=Frederick Reynolds
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. Ithas everything to do with character. Period.'' ''s only a One more body just wouldn't matter of days since I finished listening to [[''. The Years murder of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 by Robert A Caro|The Years Derek Chauvin, a forty-four-year-old police officer, in the US city of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power]], Minneapolis sent shock waves around the first part world. We rarely see pictures of Robert A Caroa murder taking place but Floyd's definitive work death was an exception. The image of Chauvin kneeling on the President George's neck is not one which I'll ever forget and despite having just spent over forty hours on the book I wanted to learn moreprotests which followed cannot have been unexpected. I There was torn though - the second book in a series is not often as good as backlash against the first police - and it struck me that these might not be the most exciting years just in JohnsonMinneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''all''s life. Was this book going to be the link which took us on to tarred by the more exciting times? Not a bit of itChauvin brush.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00GSHD0U6</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=A Good African Story: How a Small Company Built a Global Coffee BrandMatthieu Aikins|authortitle=Andrew RugasiraThe Naked Don't Fear the Water|rating=34.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=There are few billionaire black African entrepreneurs. As Andrew Rugasira points out in It's easy to forget at times that The Naked Don'A Good African Story't Fear the Water isn't actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-paced thriller at times. This is not by any means a criticism, the people but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a Canadian citizen who make money decided to accompany his friend as a refugee from African exports Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a vast and at times painful journey. There are virtually always white Westernerstense moments and gripping accounts of border crossings which had me on edge the whole way through. Even Fair Trade participants remain skewed by But it's written with a haunting and almost lyrical quality that allows the reader to perfectly envisage the status quo of trade barriers which discriminate against Third World countriesenvironments and people described.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099571927</amazonuk>B09N9157T6
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1785633074|title=Play It Again: An Amateur Against The ImpossibleStaggering Hubris|author=Alan RusbridgerJosh Berry
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=It was ever thus… cyclists go too fastMembers of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, without using a hooter or lights; there are hoodlums everywhere one looks, and no public conveniences; people pretend to have qualifications and degrees they havenheaded by the Prime minister - the ''primus inter pares''t rightfully earned; buses are too busy with shopping women who should be indoors already, cooking for their working menfolk… It(that's a very clever idea to show exactly what is behind the 'disgusted for those of Tunbridge Wells' tag, you who are Eton and as a book to be shelved alongside those with Oxbridge educated) but the wackier letters sent to reality is that the ''Daily Telegraphprime'', these selections from movers are the special advisers - the Royal town's press itself make a great eyeSPADS -opener who are the driving force behind the government. We are in the privileged position of having access to the complaints and complainants memoirs of Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of Kent2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908096918</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1846276772|title=The End of Bias: How Much have Global Problems Cost the World?: A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050We Change Our Minds|author=Bjorn Lomborg (Editor)Jessica Nordell
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. White men will always come first. The authors are leading researchers in their fields, and their papers have been critiqued by peer-reviewersable will come before the disabled. Each Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the preserve of the chapters reports white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the results of medical become a modelling exercise, examining progress or decline in one part of ten key areasan organisation it's rare that their views are heard, including armed conflict, trade barriers, malnutrition, air pollution, ecosystem and biodiversity, health, water and sanitationthat their concerns are acknowledged. Key economic, growth It's personally appalling and other variables from credible sources provided a common set degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of data and assumptions, used in each studythe bias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1107679338</amazonuk>
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{{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.''
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008350388
|title=We Need to Talk About Money
|author=Otegha Uwagba
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...'' ''We Need to Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Richard Brook|title=Peas Understanding Human Nature: A User's Guide to Life|rating=4.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary= I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and Queues: 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 Minefield of Modern MannersBookbag'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=Sandi ToksvigHenry Mance
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Dear Sandi ''When we do think about animals, we break them down into species and groups: cows, dogs, foxes, elephants and so on. And we assign them places in society: cows go on plates, dogs on sofas, foxes in rubbish bins, elephants in zoos, and millions of wild animals stay out there, ''somewhere,'' hopefully on the next David Attenborough series.''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1523092734|title=Global Modernity and Other EssaysA Women's Guide to Claiming Space|author=Tom RubensEliza Van Cort|rating=45
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=It’s been difficult to write this review''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. The book’s eclectic nature, with subject matter ranging from Nietzsche to the English Police ForceAgain and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, makes it difficult to summarise and secondlyformer CMO, I’m no academic and philosophy is just HARD|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845405633</amazonuk>}}Cirque du Soleil RSD)
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=George BrockPolly Barton|title=Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital AgeFifty Sounds|rating=34.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=At about Where do I start? I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the turn of the century most people question ''Why Japan?'' Japan has been on the street where I live had my radar for a morning paper delivered while and a good number also got an evening paper. The queue at if the newsagent in the village world hadn't gone into melt-down I would be out of the door each morning as people picked up a paper on their way to workhave visited by now. I may get there later this year, but I am not hopeful. And like Barton, I candon't remember when I last saw a newspaper boy (or girl) know the answer to the question ''why Japan?'' She explains her feelings in respect of the question in the first essay, which is on their rounds and we only buy the weekend papers sound ''giro' '' – which she describes as an indulgence with a more leisurely breakfast. Times being, among other things, the sound of ''every party where you have changed - and thereto introduce yourself''s no sign that the situation is likely to settle in the near future.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0749466510</amazonuk>1913097501
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{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on Children in Cold War AmericaStephen Fabes|authortitle=Allen M Hornblum, Judith L Newman and Gregory J DoberSigns of Life
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel|summary=If I told you that doctors had been using human beings in the most horrible was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of medical experimentsfar away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, that they I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had done things like tie toddlers to beds to insert live pathogens into their eyes, injected children with radiation, sterilised those thought which was the guts to be subhuman simply go out and even castrated a child just to do it. get a supply I also didn't inherit the kind of tissue for a lab experimentsteady nerve, you might very reasonably assume ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I am talking abut Nazi Germanyhad been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. In order words I am 'm not.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230341713</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Across the Pond|author=Terry Eagleton|rating=3.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Terry Eagleton is sort of person who will get on a Brit (Manchester born, no less) who now lives in Dublin with his American wife and children, so he seems well placed to write bike outside a book about the difference between us London hospital and them, there Yanksnot come home for six years. Mid way through the pages, he even stops to tell us Fabes did precisely that in a way he had to write this, because when he wishes to read a book, he writes it. To read someone else’s, he suggests, is ‘an unwarranted invasion of their personal space’. That’s how so very British he is.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0393347648</amazonuk>1788161211
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{{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''.
}}
