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Politics
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End times
One of the most iconoclastic thinkers of our time offers a brilliant new theory of how society works What leads to political turbulence and social breakdown? How do elites maintain their dominant position? And why do ruling classes sometimes suddenly lose their grip on power? For decades, complexity scientist Peter Turchin has been studying world history like no-one else. Assembling vast databases mined from 10,000 years of human activity, and then developing new models, he has transformed the way we learn from the past. 'End Times' is the result: a ground-breaking account of how society works.
£12.99
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My Russia
Mikhail Shishkin argues that Russia is not a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma': we just don't know enough about it. So what is the real story behind Putin's autocratic regime and its invasion of Ukraine? Shishkin traces the roots of Russia's problems, from the 'Kievan Rus' via the Grand Duchy of Moscow, empire, revolution and Cold War, to the now thirty-year-old Russian Federation. He explores the uneasy relationship between state and citizens, explains Russian attitudes to people's rights and democracy, and proposes that there are really two Russian peoples: the disillusioned and disaffected, who suffer from 'slave mentality', and those who embrace 'European' values and try to stand up to oppression. 'My Russia' is a passionate, eye-opening account of a state entangled in a complex and bloody past, as well as a love letter to a conflicted country.
£12.99
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Fighting for life
Since its foundation in 1948, the NHS has come to define our national identity, making history (and the headlines) again and again - from cutting edge discoveries like the first 'test tube baby', to its heroic response to the Coronavirus crisis. But the NHS has also become a battleground for some of the fiercest political contests of our time, perceived either as a national treasure, or as a lumbering piece of state machinery in need of renovation. In this book, journalist Isabel Hardman cuts through the sentimentality and sloganeering on all sides of the political spectrum. Packed with gripping stories from the people at the beating heart of this venerated institution - its nurses, its doctors, its patients and the politicians who decide its fate - this is the essential book for understanding our NHS, and who we are as a nation.
£10.99
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A message from Ukraine
Bringing together a new introduction by Volodymyr Zelensky with his most powerful war speeches, this book recounts Ukraine's story through the words of its president. It is the story of a nation valiantly defending itself from Russian aggression. And it is the story of a people leading the world in the struggle for democracy. Above all, it is a battle cry for us all to stand up and fight for liberty. If not now, when? This edition includes a new preface plus three additional speeches.
£8.99
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But what can I do?
In recent years, the world of politics has taken a series of disastrous wrong turns. We have witnessed leaders who can't - or shouldn't be allowed to - lead, policies that are either self-serving or don't work, and world views that are corrosive or short term. Alastair Campbell's aim in 'But What Can I Do?' is twofold: to explain why things have gone so wrong, and to show what we can to help put them right. A mix of polemic, analysis and practical advice, this is a political masterclass from a master political commentator and strategist. Alastair Campbell is widely regarded as one of our leading political commentators - this book shows why.
£11.99
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Why we fight
An acclaimed expert on violence and seasoned peacebuilder explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process. It's easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It's also easy to forget that war shouldn't happen-and most of the time it doesn't. Around the world there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence. Too many accounts of conflict forget this. With a counterintuitive approach, Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace. That's because war is too costly to fight.
£10.99
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Depraved new world
In the face of all the nonsense that has spewed forth from Westminster over the past two years, John Crace's brilliantly lacerating political sketches have provided the nation with some desperately needed relief. In 'Depraved New World', Crace introduces a worryingly funny selection of his finest work, taking in everything from Partygate, BoJo's farewell and Liz Truss & Kwasi Kwarteng's disastrous reign to the psychodrama of the Tory leadership contest(s), the return of Rishi, Suella Braverman's hokey pokey and whatever lies ahead.
£16.99
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How they broke Britain
Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it? Bold and incisive as ever, James O'Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists complicit in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O'Brien reveals how a select few have conspired - sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design - to bring Britain to its knees.
£20.00
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Planes, trains and toilet doors
''F *** ing brilliant. I would describe it as like a bag of political nuts - moreish and fabulously salty' JOE LYCETT
£25.00
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Why politics fails
Drawing on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit and using his own award-winning research - on how democracy is more likely to thrive under high inequality, for instance - Oxford professor Ben Ansell explains the cul-de-sac of modern politics - and how we can make it better. Understanding these traps helps us escape or avoid them altogether, in ways small to large, ultimately showing how we can all thrive in an imperfect world.
£12.99
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The right to rule
Over the last decade, we have seen five different Conservative Prime Ministers, with five different missions and messages to the nation. Not for two centuries has such political turnover been seen. From the ashes of a financial crisis, to a break from the UK's biggest trading block, to a global pandemic, governments - and ideologies - have changed, but the Conservative party's power has remained. Through his unique access and insights, Ben Riley-Smith captures the big picture: how the Tories kept changing, kept revolting - and kept winning.
£25.00
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All in
'A persuasive manifesto for a better Britain.' Observer Book of the DayBritain is in crisis. This timely book by one of the stars of frontline politics shows a way out.
£9.99
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What went wrong with Brexit
Brexit divided Britain. For many it wasn't simply about economics, it was about 'taking back control', about some non-specific idea of sovereignty. But six years later the real effects of Brexit are being clearly seen. And questions need to be asked as to whether it lived up to any of the promises made, and to count the real cost of leaving the EU. The reality is that the 'Global Britain' we have been promised has not been delivered. Brexit has damaged the prospect for UK trade and inward investment into the UK. Trade with the EU is now 10% more expensive than it was before Brexit. By the end of the decade average wages for UK workers will be 470 worse than they would have been had we not left. And the political fallout continues. What has really happened? What are the options going forward? These are the questions Peter Foster answers in 'What Went Wrong with Brexit'.
£14.99
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Burning questions
From cultural icon Margaret Atwood comes a brilliant collection of essays - funny, erudite, endlessly curious, uncannily prescient - which seek answers to burning questions such as: Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories? How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating? How can we live on our planet? Is it true? And is it fair? What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism? In over fifty pieces Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humour at the world, and reports back to us on what she finds. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better guide to the many and varied mysteries of our universe.
£12.99
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Why governments get it wrong and how they can get it right
All over the world, governments have a massive influence over our lives - and so often they make the wrong decisions. Why Governments Get It Wrong looks at why and, crucially, what they can do to get it right.
£10.99
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The handover
'The Singularity' is what Silicon Valley calls the idea that, eventually, we will be overrun by machines that are able to take decisions and act for themselves. What no one says is that it happened before. A few hundred years ago, humans started building the robots that now rule our world. They are called states and corporations: immensely powerful artificial entities, with capacities that go far beyond what any individual can do, and which, unlike us, need never die. They have made us richer, safer and healthier than would have seemed possible even a few generations ago - and they may yet destroy us. 'The Handover' distils over 300 years of thinking about how to live with artificial agency.
£20.00
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What just happened?!
Marina Hyde slashes her way through the hellscape of post-referendum politics, where the chaos never stops. Clamber aboard as we relive every inspirational moment of magic, from David Cameron to Theresa May to Boris Johnson. Marvel at the sights, from Trumpian WTF-ery to celebrity twattery. And boggle at the cast of characters: Hollywood sex offenders, populists, sporting heroes (and villains), dastardly dukes, media barons, movie stars, reality TV monsters, billionaires, police officers, various princes and princesses, wicked advisers, philanthropists, fauxlanthropists, telly chefs, and (naturally) Gwyneth Paltrow. It's the full state banquet of crazy - and you're most cordially invited.
£9.99
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The fall of Boris Johnson
The Fall of Boris Johnson is the sensational inside story of Boris Johnson's last days in power and his sudden, dramatic downfall, by acclaimed author, Director of Onward and former Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times, Sebastian Payne.
£10.99
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Growing up
Was the 1960s really that great time of liberation, joyful experimentation and celebration of youth? 'Growing Up' takes an unflinching look at the dark underbelly of the sexual revolution.
£10.99
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Regenesis
Farming is the world's greatest cause of environmental destruction - and the one we are least prepared to talk about. We criticise urban sprawl, but farming sprawls across thirty times as much land. We have ploughed, fenced and grazed great tracts of the planet, felling forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning rivers and oceans to feed ourselves. Yet millions still go hungry. Now the food system itself is beginning to falter. But, as George Monbiot shows us in this book, there is another way. 'Regenesis' is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity.
£12.99
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Who was responsible for the Troubles?
Who was primarily responsible for the prosecution of the Troubles and their attendant toll of the dead, the injured, and the emotionally traumatized? Who Was Responsible for the Troubles? is an original and controversial work that captures the terror and the pain but also the hope of life and pursuit of happiness in a deeply divided society.
£23.99
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The social distance between us
From poverty and policing, homelessness and overrun prisons to Grenfell and hostile environments, Britain has long been failing those who need our help the most. There is arguably one unifying theme that links all these afflictions: proximity. Proximity is how close we are to the action and how that affects how we assess, relate to and address whatever that action happens to be. Almost every job requires a level of experience and training with the notable exception of the most powerful people in the country - our political class. So this is a book about the distance, whether geographical, economic, or cultural, between those who make decisions and the people on the receiving end of them.
£14.99
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The future of geography
Space: the biggest geopolitical story of the coming century - new from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography
£20.00
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The Russia conundrum
Offering an urgent analysis of what has gone wrong with Putin, 'The Russia Conundrum' maps the country's rise and fall against Khodorkovsky's own journey, from Soviet youth to international oil executive, powerful insider to political dissident, and now a high-profile voice seeking to reconcile East and West. With unparalleled insight, written with Martin Sixsmith, the book exposes the desires and damning truths of Putin's Russia, and provides an answer to the West on how it must challenge the Kremlin - in order to pave the way for a better future.
£19.99
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