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Politics
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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.
£20.00
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The Fall of Boris Johnson
The sensational inside story of Boris Johnson's last days in power and his sudden, dramatic downfall.
£22.00
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After the Fall
In 2017, as Ben Rhodes was helping Barack Obama begin his next chapter, the legacy they worked to build for eight years was being taken apart. To understand what was happening in America, Rhodes decided to look outwards. Over the next three years, he travelled to dozens of countries, meeting with politicians, activists, and dissidents confronting the same nationalism and authoritarianism that was tearing America apart. Along the way, a Russian opposition leader he spends time with is poisoned, the Hong Kong protesters he comes to know see their movement snuffed out, and America itself reaches the precipice of losing democracy before giving itself a second chance. Rhodes comes to realise how much America's fingerprints are on a world it helped to shape: through the excesses of the post-Cold War embrace of unbridled capitalism, post-9/11 nationalism and militarism, mania for technology and social media.
£12.99
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Bad Data
Our politicians make vital decisions and declarations every day that rely on official data. But should all statistics be trusted? In 'Bad Data', House of Commons Library statistician Georgina Sturge draws back the curtain on how governments of the past and present have been led astray by figures littered with inconsistency, guesswork and uncertainty.
£20.00
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The Rebel and the Kingdom
A gripping account of an Ivy League activist-turned-fugitive and his clandestine effort to subvert the North Korean regime, a heart-pounding tale of a self-taught operative and his high-stakes attempt to change the world.
£20.00
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The Truths We Hold
Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, Senator Kamala Harris is committed to speaking the truth. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in a community that cared deeply about social justice and, growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for doing what is right. From starting out as a prosecutor right up to her position as California's Attorney General, and now as a US Senator, her hallmarks have been applying a holistic, data-driven approach to the thorniest issues, whether it's taking on the big banks or rejecting stale 'tough on crime' rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Through the arc of her own life, Harris communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values and grapples with complex issues that affect America and the world at large, from health care and the new economy to immigration, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality.
£10.99
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Emergency State
On 26th March 2020, a new law appeared. In 11 pages, it locked down tens of millions of people, confined us to our homes, banned socialising, closed shops, gyms, pubs, places of worship. It restricted our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus.You might have expected such a law to be fiercely debated in Parliament. But it wasn't debated at all. A state of emergency was declared, meaning the law came into force the moment it was signed. This book will tell the startling story of the state of emergency which became an emergency state, how extreme measures caused constitutional chaos, and why it is only by understanding these unprecedented events that we can learn lessons for the future.
£14.99
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Abolition, Feminism, Now
As a politics and as a practice, abolitionism has increasingly shaped our political moment, amplified through the worldwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a uniformed police officer. It is at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement, in its demands for police defunding and demilitarisation, and a halt to prison construction. And it is there in the outrage which greeted the brutal treatment of women by police at the 2021 Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard. As this book shows, abolitionism and feminism stand shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting a common cause - the end of the carceral state, with its key role in perpetuating violence, both public and private, in prisons, in police forces, and in people's homes.
£10.99
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Democracy Rules
After the acrimony of Brexit, the shock of Trump, and the continued pull of Putin and Xi it seems that democracy is in a state of decay. And as governments around the world struggle to combat the coronavirus - often adopting draconian measures as a response - there is a sense, a panic, that democracy's decline may be terminal. But how many of us are certain about what democracy actually is? Acclaimed political philosopher Jan-Werner Müller lucidly argues that in order for us to understand the true risks of our current moment, we must first establish an understanding of first principles. What is essential for democracy to flourish? How can we defend it without forever distorting its DNA? In this volume, he explains how democracy is founded not just on liberty and equality, but also on uncertainty.
£10.99
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When America Stopped Being Great
Veteran reporter and BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant reveals how America's decline paved the way for Donald Trump's rise, sowing division and leaving the country vulnerable to its greatest challenge of the modern era. Deftly sifting through almost four decades of American history, from post-Cold War optimism, through the scandal-wracked nineties and into the new millennium, Bryant unpacks the mistakes of past administrations, from Ronald Reagan's 'celebrity presidency' to Barack Obama's failure to adequately address income and racial inequality. He explains how the historical clues, unseen by many (including the media) paved the way for an outsider to take power and a country to slide towards disaster.
£12.99
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Azadi
The chant of 'Azadi!' - Urdu for 'Freedom!' - is the slogan of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against what Kashmiris see as the Indian Occupation. Ironically, it also became the chant of millions on the streets of India against the project of Hindu Nationalism. Even as Arundhati Roy began to ask what lay between these two calls for Freedom - a chasm or a bridge? - the streets fell silent. Not only in India, but all over the world. The Coronavirus brought with it another, more terrible understanding of Azadi, making a nonsense of international borders, incarcerating whole populations, and bringing the modern world to a halt like nothing else ever could. In this series of electrifying essays, Arundhati Roy challenges us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism.
£12.99
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This Sovereign Isle
Geography comes before history. Islands cannot have the same history as continental plains. The United Kingdom is a European country, but not the same kind of European country as Germany, Poland or Hungary. For most of the 150 centuries during which Britain has been inhabited it has been on the edge, culturally and literally, of mainland Europe. In this succinct book, Tombs shows that the decision to leave the EU is historically explicable - though not made historically inevitable - by Britain's very different historical experience, especially in the twentieth century, and because of our more extensive and deeper ties outside Europe.
£10.99
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I Alone Can Fix It
The true story of what took place in Donald Trump's White House during a disastrous 2020 has never before been told in full. What was really going on around the president, as the government failed to contain the coronavirus and over half a million Americans perished? Who was influencing Trump after he refused to concede an election he had clearly lost and spread lies about election fraud? To answer these questions, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig reveal a dysfunctional and bumbling presidency's inner workings in unprecedented, stunning detail.
£12.99
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Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.
£11.99
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ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN PA
The inside story of the Watergate scandal -- the most devastating political detective story of the twentieth century.
£10.99
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Everything You Really Need to Know About Politics
From the sublime to the ridiculous, the inner workings of Westminster are often a mystery to an outsider. Here, MP Jess Phillips lifts the lid on the systems and rules that govern us all, and in her own inimitable style shows us what's 'really' going on in British politics. Drawing on her tenure as an MP, she explains the process of running for government; changing a law; serving her constituents; wrangling with her fellow MPs and so much more. This is the perfect book for anyone who's a bit confused about how it all works.
£9.99
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Sad Little Men
In 1975, as a child, Richard Beard was sent away from his home to sleep in a dormitory. So were David Cameron and Boris Johnson. In those days a private boys' boarding school education was largely the same experience as it had been for generations: a training for the challenges of Empire. He didn't enjoy it. But the first and most important lesson was to not let that show. Being separated from the people who love you is traumatic. How did that feel at the time, and what sort of adult does it mould? This is a story about England, and a portrait of a type of boy, trained to lead, who becomes a certain type of man. As clearly as an X-ray, it reveals the make-up of those who seek power - what makes them tick, and why.
£12.99
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The Authority Gap
Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women. Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by them. Imagine trying to speak up in a meeting, only to be talked over by female colleagues. Imagine subordinates resisting you as a boss, merely because of your gender. Imagine people always addressing the woman you are with before you. Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true. 'The Authority Gap' provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women.
£10.99
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The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done A
The Bottom Billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and poverty. It was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times.
£13.99
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All in It Together
The headlines may be all Covid now, as a few short months ago they were all Brexit, but the breakdown of the UK's political sphere has been a long time coming, and it is a symptom of a much deeper malaise. We seem to have lost our faith in all our social institutions, from parliament and the press to banking and religion. 'All in It Together' tracks the spread of this wider disillusionment over the years 2000 to 2015 in a fast-paced cultural, political and social history that will be required reading for years to come. Drawing on both high politics and low culture, Alwyn Turner takes us from Downing Street to Benefits Street as he tells the defining story of contemporary Britain.
£9.99
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The New Age of Empire
'The New Age of Empire' takes us back to the beginning of the European Empires, outlining the deliberate terror and suffering wrought during every stage of the expansion, and destroys the self-congratulatory myth that the West was founded on the three great revolutions of science, industry and politics. Instead, genocide, slavery and colonialism are the key foundation stones upon which the West was built, and we are still living under this system today: America is now at the helm, perpetuating global inequality through business, government, and institutions like the UN, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
£12.99
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Chief of Staff
Once a more sedate affair, since 2016, British politics has witnessed a barrage of crises, resignations and general elections. As Brexit became logjammed, Theresa May's premiership was the most turbulent of all. In her darkest hour, following the disastrous 2017 election, she turned to Gavin Barwell to restore her battered authority. He would become her Chief of Staff for the next two years - a period punctuated by strained negotiations, domestic tragedy, and intense political drama. In this gripping insider memoir, Barwell reveals what really went on in the corridors of power - and sheds a vital light on May, the most inscrutable of modern prime ministers.
£10.99
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NOISE
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'A monumental, gripping book ? Outstanding' SUNDAY TIMES
£10.99
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Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man
An urgent primer on race and racism by the host of the viral hit video series.
£10.99
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