Society & Politics

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell's 1984 made reality. The regime controls the flow of information to its (read more)

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell's 1984 made reality. The regime controls the flow of information to its citizens, pouring relentless propaganda through omnipresent loud speakers.

Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line and the gulag awaits. State spies are everywhere, ready to punish disloyalty and the slightest sign of discontent. You must bow to Kim Il Sung, the Eternal Leader and to his son, Generalissimo Kim Jong Il.

Worship the dead and then hail the living, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. North Koreans are told their home is the greatest nation on earth. Big Brother is always watching.
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North Korea continues to make headlines, arousing curiosity and fear in equal measure. The world's most secretive nuclear power, (read more)

North Korea continues to make headlines, arousing curiosity and fear in equal measure. The world's most secretive nuclear power, it still has Gulag-style prison camps, allows no access to the internet and bans its people from talking to foreigners without official approval. In this remarkable and eye-opening book, internationally best-selling author Paul French examines in forensic detail the history and politics of North Korea, Pyongyang's complex relations with South Korea, Japan, China and America, and the implications of Kim Jong-un's increasingly belligerent leadership following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

As an already unstable North Korea grows ever more unpredictable, antagonizing enemies and allies alike, North Korea: State of Paranoia delivers a provocative and frightening account of a potentially explosive nuclear tripwire. (hide)

In this brilliant collection of essays, Dalrymple explores some of the ideas that are changing our way of life, and examines the (read more)

In this brilliant collection of essays, Dalrymple explores some of the ideas that are changing our way of life, and examines the state of our culture. He censures some of the most celebrated writers of the modern era for their contributions to our collective collapse of confidence, criticises the shallowness and vacuity of 21st century youth culture and illustrates how terrorism can flourish in the empty space vacated by old certainties swept aside in the name of ‘progress’.

Dalrymple explains how the laissez faire lives of modern Britons and our ceaseless pursuit of a superficial – even chimerical – happiness has left our current age in a state of unparalleled physical comfort but profound existential unease. And he condemns our suffocating and self-serving State bureaucracy, wondering at a welfare system which, by oppressing and enervating those it is supposed to assist, achieves the opposite of that which it ostensibly intends.
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The world is messing with our minds. Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous (read more)

The world is messing with our minds. Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives.

We are more connected, yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index. - How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? - How do we stay human in a technological world?- How do we feel happy when we are encouraged to be anxious? After experiencing years of anxiety and panic attacks, these questions became urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig. (hide)

Peter Baker's authoritative history of the Obama presidency is the first complete account that will stand the test of time. Baker (read more)

Peter Baker's authoritative history of the Obama presidency is the first complete account that will stand the test of time. Baker takes the measure of Obama's achievements and disappointments in office and brings into focus the real legacy of the man who, as he described himself, "doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills." With vivid colour photographs by New York Times photographers and others of the events, major and minor, public and behind-the scenes, that defined Barack Obama's eight years in office, Obama: The Call of History is a portrait in full of America's first African-American president against the background of these tumultuous times.

Published:18 Apr 2017
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The definitive visual biography of Barack Obama's historic presidency, captured in unprecedented detail by his Chief White House (read more)

The definitive visual biography of Barack Obama's historic presidency, captured in unprecedented detail by his Chief White House photographer, presented in an oversize, 12"x10"exquisitely produced format, and featuring a foreword from the President himself.Pete Souza was with President Obama during more crucial moments than anyone else and he photographed them all - from the highly classified to the disarmingly candid. Obama: An Intimate Portrait reproduces more than three hundred of Souza's most iconic photographs in exquisite detail, some of which have never been published before. Souza's photographs, with the behind-the-scenes captions and stories that accompany them, document the most consequential hours of the Presidency alongside unguarded moments with the President's family, his encounters with children, interactions with world leaders and cultural figures, and more. (hide)

In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, former President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking (read more)

In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, former President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped his nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, Barack Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children and within all children. Evocative illustrations by the award-winning artist Loren Long at once capture the personalities and achievements of these great Americans, and the innocence and promise of childhood. (hide)

No word is more central to the contemporary political imagination and action than 'resistance'. In its various manifestations (read more)

No word is more central to the contemporary political imagination and action than 'resistance'. In its various manifestations - from the armed guerrilla to Gandhian mass pacifist protest, from Wikileaks and the Arab Spring to the global eruption and violent repression of the Occupy movement - concepts of resistance are becoming ubiquitous and urgent. In this book, Howard Caygill conducts the first ever systematic analysis of 'resistance': as a means of defying political oppression, in its relationship with military violence and its cultural representation.

Beginning with the militaristic doctrine of Clausewitz and the evolution of a new model of guerrilla warfare to resist the forces of Napoleonic France, On Resistance elucidates and critiques the contributions of seminal resistant thinkers from Marx and Nietzsche to Mao, Gandhi, Sartre and Fanon to identify continuities of resistance and rebellion from the Paris Commune to the Greenham Women's Peace Camp. Employing a threefold line of inquiry, Caygill exposes the persistent discourses through which resistance has been framed in terms of force, violence, consciousness and subjectivity to evolve a critique of resistance. Tracing the features of resistance, its strategies, character and habitual forms throughout modern world history Caygill identifies the typological consistencies which make up resistance.

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How does a holy God associate with paedophiles, murderers, drug addicts, alcoholics and others rejected by mainstream society? This (read more)

How does a holy God associate with paedophiles, murderers, drug addicts, alcoholics and others rejected by mainstream society? This book is a product of many years working with and in some cases befriending the most despised people in society, prisoners. It addresses questions such as: Why do some people end up in prison? Do they just wake up one morning and think: `I am going to rob a bank today'? What happens when they get to prison? How do they cope with the violence? Is rehabilitation a realistic expectation? How can victims of crime be helped and supported?

Published:12 Sep 2018 (hide)

The Organic Globalizer is a collection of critical essays which takes the position that hip-hop holds political significance through (read more)

The Organic Globalizer is a collection of critical essays which takes the position that hip-hop holds political significance through an understanding of its ability to at once raise cultural awareness, expand civil society's focus on social and economic justice through institution building, and engage in political activism and participation. Collectively, the essays assert hip hop's importance as an "organic globalizer:" no matter its pervasiveness or reach around the world, hip-hop ultimately remains a grassroots phenomenon that is born of the community from which it permeates. Hip hop, then, holds promise through three separate but related avenues: (1) through cultural awareness and identification/recognition of voices of marginalized communities through music and art; (2) through social creation and the institutionalization of independent alternative institutions and non-profit organizations in civil society geared toward social and economic justice; and (3) through political activism and participation in which demands are articulated and made on the state.

With editorial bridges between chapters and an emphasis on interdisciplinary and diverse perspectives, The Organic Globalizer is the natural scholarly evolution in the conversation about hip-hop and politics. (hide)