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[[Category:New Reviews|Politics and Society]]==Politics and society==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Donovan HohnAlastair Humphreys|title=Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at SeaLocal|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel |summary=In January 1992 a container ship was on its way from China 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 the USA when home and then wrote about it was caught . 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 storm and two containers broke loose from the decksmall map. They held nearly thirty thousand bath toys - yellow ducksNature loss, green frogspollution, red beavers land use and blue turtles - which were freed when access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding…'' One of the containers broke up and have circumnavigated joys of the globe book for almost twenty years. Donovan Hohn me was a teacher and when one that the biggest thing he learned about all of his students wrote an essay describing what had happened to the toys it caught Hohnthese things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong's imagination. The rest , that every upside is - as they say - history likely to have a downside for somebody and a very good bookthat there are some hard choices ahead.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908526009</amazonuk>1785633678

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anita Anand, Julian Barnes, Bella Bathurst, Alan Bennett and othersEdel Rodriguez|title=The Library BookWorm: A Cuban American Odyssey|rating=4.5|genre=LifestyleGraphic Novels|summary=I had better begin by saying that I had We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a vested interest in liking this book since I am saviour of the country, has proven himself a chartered librarian myself Communist, and so am wholeheartedly in support not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of his were kind of saving our nationtaking his time away. Our narrator's public libraries. But you donfamily weren't need in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be a librarian the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to enjoy this booksome minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not liked for his successful photography business, success being frowned upon. It is rich The mother gets the couple jobs with anecdotes from the party to ease some wonderful writers and makes a pleasant read whether of the heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you're keen to save libraries or not.out of the kitchen…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781250057</amazonuk>1474616720

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Helen OakwaterSarah Wilson|title=Bubble Wrapped ChildrenThis One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world|rating=3.5|genre=Politics and SocietyLifestyle|summary=My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in 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.'Bubble Wrapped Children' 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 a look at 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 state of adoption in life we want – the UKbest life that we could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, and how aspects of it we are being threatened by the use of social networksnot''. The author Don't care what you're doing, she thinks you (we, with over 20 yearsI) could be doing more…And she' experience in the adoption world, paints a broad picture of the issues facing adopters and adoptees. Peppering s effing furious about the text fact that we are some examples of unwanted Facebook contact from birth parents, which have had massive knock-on effects for the adopted childrennot.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1780920970</amazonuk>1785633848

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Francesca Beauman1785633457|title=Shapely Ankle Preferr'dCharging Around: A History Exploring the Edges of the Lonely Hearts AdvertisementEngland by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson

|genre=HistoryTravel|summary=You might think the Lonely Hearts ad Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a trivial matterpreference for slow travel. You might think it should appear As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in lower case and an electric car was not be capitalisedtotally outrageous. In fact, but you'd it should be in disagreement with Ms Beauman, who gives a big L pleasant holiday for Clive and a big H to it every time she writes of his wife, Joan, shouldn't it in her survey of its history. What's more, she gets to write about a lot more than just the contents of the adverts in this brilliant book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009951334X</amazonuk>?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Justin Yifu Lin1529153050|title=Demystifying the Chinese EconomyBritain's Best Political Cartoons 2022|author=Tim Benson

|genre=Business and FinanceHumour|summary=The success of Seeking some light relief from the Chinese economy, current political turmoil which is coming to seem more and as Lin makes us awaremore like an adrenaline sport, a success which contrasts strongly with what appeared major failure in the recent historical past, is something which needs explanationI was nudged towards ''Britain's Best Political Cartoons of 2022''. No one can ignore it, and Sharp eyes will have noted that we are confronted with 're not yet through the effects of it year: the cartoons run from the ownership of Thames water 4 September 2021 to the faces of tourists in London and Stratford on a daily basis31 August 2022. And Who can imagine what there will be to come in the roots of its success are the potential seeds of future change, a change that now more than ever is crucial to the way the world economy works.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521181747</amazonuk>2023 edition?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James PalmerB0B7289HKQ|title=The Death of MaoConversations Across America: The Tangshan Earthquake A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Birth Soul of the New ChinaAmerica|author=Kari Loya|rating=4.5|genre=HistoryTravel|summary=Welcome to ChinaKari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, where by the populous are busy leaving a rural country full of prosperous mineral resources way) wanted to spend some time with his father and coal mines, and shoddily-built hydro-electric dams in environmentally dubious locations, for the burgeoning, mechanised citiesperiod between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. But this isn't The decision was made to ride the birth of 2012Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, it's the dawn of 1976. Chairman Mao is dyingVirginia to Astoria, Premier Zhou Enlai has just died, and the cauldron Oregon - all 4250 miles of power is being stirred as never beforeit - in 2015. Among They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the momentous events of the year however will be a huge earthquake directly centred on the city of Tangshan, recommended time - but there were factors which will kill something like two thirds pointed this up as more of a million challenge that it would be for most peoplewho considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571243991</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Gene Sharp|title=From Dictatorship to Democracy|rating=3|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Gene Sharp is an American politologist and I've got a veritable (and venerable) guru couple of non-violent struggleconfessions to make. The story behind the ''From Dictatorship to Democracy I'' is a fascinating one. The book, or a booklet really m not keen on short stories as I find it consists of 160 small pages, was apparently created in response easy to read a request from Burmese dissenters in few stories and then forget to return to the early 1990book. There's. Sharp responded got to this request by producing be a generic text, a manual for very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the subversive that lies out world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the theory technology and practical advice for those engaged in the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a struggle to bring down a dictatorshipbook of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688396</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nicholas ShaxsonJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |title=Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the WorldThe Book of Hope |rating=45|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Most people think about The done thing is to read a book all the subject of tax havens - if they need way through before you sit down to think about them at all - as something which is unlikely ever review it. I’m making an exception here, because I don’t want to concern them and that they're for lose any of the super-rich and celebrities. What might surprise them is that more than half experience of world trade reading this amazing book, I want to capture it as well as most international lending is routed through them and that many common items in your everyday shopping will come to you via a tax havenit hits me. And we really should be thinking about them because tax havens are ensuring that wealth in unprecedented amounts it is being transferred from the poor to the rich - greatly exceeding the aid which flows hitting me. This beautiful book has me in the opposite directiontears.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099541726</amazonuk>024147857X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Louise Foxcroft1788360737|title=Calories and CorsetsArtivism: A history The Battle for Museums in the Era of dieting over two thousand yearsPostmodernism|author=Alexander Adams|rating=4.52|genre=Politics and Society|summary=We’re 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 post-Christmas period when all ‘’Every man… contributes to modifying the socialising and indulging is over and social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all you’re left with is a pastyart must be political, bloated, over-fed but under-nourished complexion, a wardrobe full of clothes just a little too tight and a new year’s resolution to Get Healthyeven implicitly. So it’s the perfect time for a Alexander Adams in his new diet book to hit ‘Artivism: The Battle for Museum in the shelvesEra of Postmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. The title recent trend of this one might make you think it’s going so-called artivism has caused artists to be full of useful tips, become more overtly political (read: left wing). Their seemingly grass roots movements have been astroturfed by large “left-wing” donors and the cover does little media elites hoping to dispel this idea, groaning as it is with the weight of plump jellies, lavish cupcakes create a more globalist and even a decadent lobster or two, but take a moment to note the subtitle, if you will: '''a history of dieting over 2000 years'''progressive regime. Or at least that’s what Alexander Adams believes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684250</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dennis O'Donnell1398508632|title=The Locked WardWilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=45|genre=Politics and SocietyLifestyle|summary=Dennis O’Donnell spent 7 years working in It had been on the cards for a Scottish hospital and this is while but it was the account week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of his time thereeating only wild food. It takes a special type The end of person November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to work start, in Mental Health servicesa world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and though O'Donnell ultimately leaves a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the Locked Wardarea around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, he clearly is one of those peoplefreezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. Most importantly, made all the more remarkable by the fact that she had shelter: this wasn’t his life long vocation, having previously worked as was not a school teacher (some might say an equally challenging role)plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224093606</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Denise Kiernan1529149800|title=Signing Their Rights AwayThings You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and Sara Boccaccini Meadows

|genre=HistoryHome and Family|summary=Many Americans believe that We begin with a telling story. All the Declaration of Independence is birds and animals fled when the cornerstone forest fire took hold and most of the American democracythem stood and watched, the fountain-head unable to think of anything they could do. The tiny hummingbird flew to the American Way river and began taking tiny amounts of Life water and flying back to drop them into the American Dreamfire. The 4th of July animals laughed: what good was that doing. ''I'm doing the best I can'', said the hummingbird. And that, really, is the national holiday and often thought to only way that we will solve the problem of climate change – by each of us doing what we can, however small that might be the single most important date in American history.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>159474520X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard Heinberg1638485216|title=The End of Growth|rating=3.5|genre=Business and Finance|summary=With the newspapers full of economic doom and gloom the last thing you might want is to pick up a book that reiterates it and then some. But while this book may seem at first glance to be a bit of a downerBlack, it also provides an insight into how things might just work out ok in the end. YesWhite, they’ll be some big changes – there have to be because the direction we’ve been heading in is just not sustainable – but if we’re willing to adapt, we will survive was the main message I picked up as I flicked through the pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570333</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Lammy|title=Out of the Ashesand Gray All Over: Britain After the Riots|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Just about everyone in the country was shocked as pictures of the 2011 riots (which began in Tottenham and spread to other major cities in the UK) unfolded on our television screens. Everyone, that is, except David Lammy, MP for the area. He might not have known when it would happen or what would trigger the riot, but a year before, he said that it would happen. This wasnA Black Man't a lucky guess: Lammy was born s Odyssey in Tottenham Life and brought up on the Broadwater Farm Estate as one of five children raised by his single-parent mother and he knows what's happening on the ground.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852652674</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewLaw Enforcement|author=Luke Harding|title=Mafia StateFrederick Reynolds

|genre=Politics and SocietyAutobiography|summary=Luke Harding set himself a difficult task when he took up his post as the Guardian’s main man in Moscow''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. He had already put his name It has everything to a front page story which appeared in the Guardian in April 2007. This was an account of an interview do with the arch-oligarch and Kremlin critic, Boris Berezovskycharacter. Harding was not at the interview but added background to the article from MoscowPeriod. However, to be in any way associated with Berezovsky was sufficient to incur the wrath of the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB – the successor to the KGB. The offending account was entitled, 'I am plotting a new Russian revolution - London exile Berezovsky says force necessary to bring down President Putin'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085265247X</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Ed Vulliamy|title=Amexica: War Along the Borderline|rating=5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=More than 38,000 people have been killed in the last 3 years in what Ed Vulliamy argues is an unacknowledged war, on the long border (2,100 miles) between Mexico and the United States''One more body just wouldn't matter''. The war is between drug trafficking gangs over control of the lucrative drugs trade from Mexico to the US. In this compelling and disturbing work of reportage Vulliamy travels through the borderlands meeting some of the people affected. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546566</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Jennifer Hayashi Danns and Leveque Sandrine|title=Stripped: The Bare Reality murder of Lap Dancing|rating=3|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Before I can start, I should qualify that I have never been, nor tried to beGeorge Floyd, a lapdancer. Nor have I ever gone to a lapdancing clubforty-six-year-old black man, nor ever tried to. I have no opinion on the matter25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, save that I can't imaginea forty-four-year-old police officer, in the world US city of free internet porn, paying some averagely attractive woman to wiggle her semi-nudity in Minneapolis sent shock waves around the general direction world. We rarely see pictures of my face, and thinking it erotically arousinga murder taking place but Floyd's death was an exception. So The image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I come to this academically-designed volume on 'll ever forget and the matter with no prejudiceprotests which followed cannot have been unexpected. If only that There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''all'' tarred by the case with the creatorsChauvin brush.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570325</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stephen H SegalMatthieu Aikins|title=Geek WisdomThe Naked Don't Fear the Water

|summary=It's easy to forget at times that The history of London Naked Don'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, but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a long Canadian citizen who decided to accompany his friend as a refugee from Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a vast and storied one, at times painful journey. There are tense moments and gripping accounts of border crossings which had me on edge the whole way through. But it's unsurprising written with a haunting and almost lyrical quality that so many people have written about allows the capital. I've always loved reader to perfectly envisage the city, its history environments and novels and plays set within London, so was really keen to get my hands on this new volume in the Cambridge Companion seriespeople described.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0521722314</amazonuk>B09N9157T6

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jolyon Fenwick and Marcus Husselby1785633074|title=It Could Have Been Yours: The enlightened person's guide to the year's most desirable thingsStaggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry|rating=4.5|genre=TriviaHumour|summary=In a world Members of diamond-encrusted skullsParliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, goldheaded by the Prime minister -leafed iPhones and luxury yachts ten a penny, of blingy shit the ''primus inter pares'' (or should that be shitty bling?) it's a relief to know people for those of you who are still spending money on unique one-offs that are more worthwhile. The records for costliest photo, artwork, musical instrument Eton and manuscript have all been broken in Oxbridge educated) but the twenty four months leading up to this book's release. Our collators have scoured reality is that the press for those and other, similarly noteworthy auctions, and found what other people paid for what you didn't know you would have wanted given the money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684900</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John L Locke|title=Duels and Duets: Why Men and Women Talk So Differently|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=Locke's subtitle prime''Why Men and Women Talk So Differently'' might lead you to think that this is just another selfmovers are the special advisers - the SPADS -help ''Men who are from Mars, Women are from Venus'' tomethe driving force behind the government. It's not. Rather than focussing upon what we all know from experience – that men and women do not communicate very well because We are in the privileged position of some fundamental difference in their respective approach having access to verbal expression – the New York City University Professor memoirs of Linguistics sets out to explain WHY that Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly bethe man to watch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521887135</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Frank Furedi1846276772|title=On Tolerance: The Life Style WarsEnd of Bias: A Defence of Moral Independence|rating=4|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Furedi is a Professor of Sociology at a UK university so he'll know his subject matter inside out. The short preface tells us that 'tolerance has been emptied of its moral and intellectual meaning.' This publication's aim is to argue the case for tolerance in society. How its meaning has changed over the centuries until today's rather fuzzy and watered-down meaning. Professor Furedi was spurred on to writing this book because he firmly believes that tolerance has been lost somehow, to be almost invisible in some areas of public and private life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441120106</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewWe Change Our Minds|author=Chris Mullin|title=A Walk-on Part: Diaries 1994 - 1999Jessica Nordell

|summary=We tend to remember where we were and how we heard about Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the deaths of people like John F Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Princess Diana, but I'd add another person extent to the listwhich they suffer from it: John Smith. I remember sitting in my office and it's simply a colleague coming in to tell mepart of everyday life. She added 'I suppose we'll have that dreary Gordon Brown as leader now'White men will always come first. We'd many angst-ridden miles to go The able will come before that came about but Smith's death is the opening entry in thisdisabled. Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the third volume (but first chronologically) preserve of Chris Mullin's Diariesthe white man. This book covers Even when those who wouldn't pass the first period medical become a part of an organisation it'New Labour's rare that their views are heard, from Smiththat their concerns are acknowledged. It's death until Mullinpersonally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of the bias but it's assumption into government in July 1999not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685230</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tina Rosenberg1529148251|title=Join the ClubMisfits: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the WorldA Personal Manifesto|author=Michaela Coel

|summary=Teenagers in South Carolina have become involved in the anti-smoking movement, passing out information encouraging their peers ''How am I able to educate themselves be so transparent on paper about the ways big tobacco companies try to get them hooked. There are youngsters in South Africa who’ve refused to have sex without a condom because of the danger of HIV rape, malpractice and AIDS. Minority students in Texas have challenged data going back years by succeeding at calculus where traditionally students of their race have struggled. Whypoverty, yet still compartmentalise? Because other people have done It's as though I were telling the same thing, and they want to fit intruth whilst simultaneously running away from it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848313004</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Lydia Ola Taiwo|title=A Broken Childhood: A True Story Before you start reading ''Misfits'' you need to be in a certain frame of Abuse|rating=3mind.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Mojisola – known to everyone as Ola – was born You're not going to read a Nigerian couple in London in 1964 and spent the first five years book of her life in essays or a foster home in Brightonself-help book. Here she You're going to read writing which was loved, looked after and lived her life in a genuinely good family. This wasninspired by Michaela Coel't an unusual arrangement as it allowed s 2018 MacTaggart Lecture to professionals within the television industry at the biological parents to earn money without worrying about childcare – and Ola was happyEdinburgh TV Festival. It was all You might be ''reading'' the more cruel when her biological father arrived book but you need to take her 'home' for listen'' to the words as though you're in the weekend – lecture theatre. The disjointedness will fade away and you'll be carried on a weekend which would stretch into seven years cloud of abuse and neglectexquisite writing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846245907</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Max Pemberton0008350388|title=The Doctor Will See You NowWe Need to Talk About Money|author=Otegha Uwagba|rating=3.5

|summary=The NHS ''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is one of those things that everyone seems to have an opinion aboutbe seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and this of course includes those of us who work for said organisation (the worldultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...'' 's 3rd largest employer, don'tcha know). Max Pemberton is one of those people: a doctor, though despite what you might assume from the title, not a GP but a hospital medic. This is his third book on the subject of life (and death) within the walls of a hospital, plus the odd excursion We Need to rather misnamed Care Homes, and itTalk About Money''s not a bad read. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340919949</amazonuk>}}by Otegha Uwagba

{{newreview|author=Shirin Ebadi|title=The Golden Cage: Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny|rating=4|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Dr Ebadi is currently living ''0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in exile, fearing for her safety, should she return to Iran in the foreseeable future. Her Prologue describes England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a violent and bloody reaction to what was book by a peaceful situation involving wives, mothers and sisterswoman. '' Boulders and large stones were thrown at elderly, defenseless women without a moment's hesitation. A taste of things to come?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0979845645</amazonuk>}}'The Bookseller'' 29 June 2021

{{newreview|author=Nigel Hamilton|title=American Caesars: Lives of Otegha Uwagba came to the US Presidents, UK from Franklin D Roosevelt to George W Bush|rating=5|genre=History|summary=The Premise is simple: take twelve men (Kenya when she was five years old. Her sisters were seven and unfortunately they are all mennine. It was her mother who came first, but that's not the author's fault) who have achieved high office and look at each of with her father joining themlater. FirstlyThe family was hard-working, take a look at the road to the high office, then how they performed once they reached their goal principled and finally a look at determined that their private lifechildren would have the best education possible. Suetonius There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it first when he wrote ''The Twelve Caesars'' and now Nigel Hamilton has taken was simply carefully harvested. When Otegha was ten the same journey with ''American Caesars''family acquired a car. For Otegha, education meant a remarkably scholarship to a private school in-depth look London and then a place at twelve consecutive American presidents from the twentieth and early twenty-first centuriesNew College, starting with Franklin D Roosevelt and finishing with George W BushOxford.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099520419</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Bob Marshall-AndrewsRichard Brook|title=Off MessageUnderstanding Human Nature: The Complete Antidote A User's Guide to Political HumbugLife|rating=4.5|genre=AutobiographyLifestyle|summary=Bob Marshall-Andrews entered Parliament in 1997I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, rather too late to be a career politician (he was already an established QC) and with a profound distrust sometimes books choose us. In my case, this is one of authoritythe latter. He Not so very long ago, if I had no aspirations towards officecome across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of it interesting, which was perhaps as well for all concerned as he but it would become best known for being a dissidentnot have 'hit home' in the way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I occasionally enquired as was likely to which party held his allegiance and eventually concluded give it a favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that he went with his conscience. The last three Labour administrations have spawned more political memoirs people chose their own books rather than any other getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – and but also because it is a book I did wonder if this would be just one more needed to add to the pileread, right now.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846684412</amazonuk>1800461682

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Karen Blixen1787332098|title=Out Of AfricaHow to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World|author=Henry Mance

|summary=Some books are hard to read''When we do think about animals, we break them down into species and even harder to reviewgroups: cows, dogs, foxes, elephants and so on. This is particularly true of what are essentially academic or "professional" books and you come to And we assign them as a lay reader. This then is my starting position places in society: cows go on plates, dogs on Ashes sofas, foxes in rubbish bins, elephants in zoos, and Sparksmillions of wild animals stay out there, ''somewhere,'' hopefully on the next David Attenborough series.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521170907</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Gary Armstrong I was going to argue. I mean, cows are for cheese (I couldn't consider eating red meat...) and Tim Gray|title=The Authentic Tawney: A New Interpretation of I much prefer my elephants in the wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for the Political Thought sake of Rit. H Essentially that quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. Tawney |rating=4|genre=Politics and Society|summary=The Authentic Tawney takes a fresh look at If I had to choose between the political writing company of R H Tawney, a left wing academic whose works were a big influence on humans and the huge program company of postwar reform engineered by the Labour Partyanimals, particularly I would probably choose the provision of universal secondary educationanimals. The authors assert I insisted that Tawney's ideas changed markedly through the course of his life and that they lack the consistency that other interpreters have erroneously attributed I read this book: no one was trying to themstop me but I was initially reluctant. They reject the notion that his writings have an essential unity I eat cheese, eggs, which is philosophically interesting - don't we tend chicken and fish and I needed to assume either do so without guilt or change my choices. I suspected that an intellectual's life's work will contain a central 'core' of ideas? Discussion of an important pioneer in democratic socialism also seems relevant at a time when Labour has 'lost its way' and evolved into a watered down version of making the Conservativesdecision would not be comfortable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402243</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nick Hewlett1523092734|title=The Sarkozy PhenomenonA Women's Guide to Claiming Space|author=Eliza Van Cort|rating=45

|summary=The old saying is that 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' and whether or not it's the electorate's ability to pick the man or whether he was only seen as the right man She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in retrospect is a moot pointher life. There are, though, some surprising people at the head of European countries at the moment – with Silvio Berlusconi Again and again and Nicholas Sarkozy at the head of my personal listagain. My [[Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni: The True Story by Valerie Benaim and Yves Azeroual|last attempt]] to find out more about Sarkozy proved to be too light-weight for my tastes'' (Alma Derricks, but this time I've gone to the opposite end of the scale with a book from Nick Hewlettformer CMO, Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick and published by Imprint Academic. I mention those points because there is no attempt to present this as populist writing: it's scholarly from beginning to end.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402391</amazonuk>}}Cirque du Soleil RSD)

{{newreview|author=Charles Emmerson|title=The Future History of the Arctic: How climate, resources and geopolitics are reshaping the north, and why it matters ''To claim space is to live the world|rating=4|genre=History|summary=Charles Emmerson examines the past history of Arctic exploration, economic exploitation and development and the policies of governments life of countries which include Arctic territory (choosing unapologetically and others), with the aim of understanding the present and predicting the future betterbravely. He explains It is to live the apparently contradictory title in some detail in the Introductionlife you've always wanted. While history is about the past, 'ideas about the future have changed over time'. Also, the future of the Arctic will be shaped by its history.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099523531</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Yangzom Brauen and Katy Darbyshire|title=Across Many MountainsSometimes the reviewing gods are generous: Three Daughters of Tibet|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=Fleeing your home can never be easy but at a time when you are sixviolence against women is much in the news, ''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Now - to be clear - this book is not a 'how to disable your only shoes are roughly hand-sewn and stuffed attacker with haytwo simple jabs' manual: it's something far more effective, and your route is over but discussion at the worldmoment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''s highest mountain range then it must be particularly challenging. This was the journey I've always thought that Yangzom Brauenwomen need to rise above this, to be people who don's mother took with her parents when they fled Tibet after the Chinese invasion of 1959t need protection, people who claim their own space. They were leaving behind If all women did this, those few men who are violent to women would realise that they knew and travelling we are not just an easy target to be used to India in the hope prove that they could find sanctuary in the country where the Dalai Lama was in exile. 'Across Many Mountains' is their storyare big men.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184655344X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dambisa MoyoPolly Barton|title=How the West was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly And the Stark Choices AheadSounds|rating=4.5

|summary=Moyo's first bookWhere do I start? I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the question ''Dead AidWhy Japan?'' was Japan has been on my radar for a well regarded while and oft discussed title when if the world hadn't gone into melt-down I worked in Developmentwould have visited by now. In a country where it was hard to find any book at all, somehow every ex-pat household seemed to have at least one copy of I may get there later thisyear, and but I followed the sheep and had a readam not hopeful. It was a greatAnd like Barton, insightful book that we could all identify with, and I was eager don't know the answer to read her second, if somewhat unrelated work.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846142350</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Michael Lewis|title=The Big Short|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance|summary=So. The subprime mortgage crisis, the worldwide financial crisis, people losing their jobs, their money, their houses, their security. Unregulated greed, that went on and on and on. And the people who caused it all got rich during and after, very few felt any sort of consequences, and millions of other people worldwide suffered greatly. Strip away all the intentionally confusing terminology and it all amounts to bets with unbelievable amounts of money. How did it all come about and how did it play outquestion ''why Japan? Michael Lewis '' She explains her feelings in respect of the mess as only he can. Just as his earlier excellent work {{amazonurl|title=Liar's Poker|isbn=0340839961}} encapsulated the excesses of Wall Street question in the 1980sfirst essay, so does which is on the sound ''giro'The Big Short'' perfectly tell the tale of Wall Street in the 2000s. In fact– which she describes as being, among other things, given the extent sound of the current global clusterfuck, it makes the shocking ''Liar's Pokerevery party where you have to introduce yourself'' look positively mild by comparison.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141043539</amazonuk>1913097501

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=XinranStephen Fabes|title=Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories Signs of Loss and Love Life

|genre=Politics and SocietyTravel|summary=Xinran I was brought up on maps and first came to my notice with her 2002 book "The Good Women -person narratives of China" which retold tales of the women she had come across through her work in Chinese radiofar away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, where for many years she I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had hosted which was the local equivalent of a cross between Woman's Hour guts to simply go out and a late night phone-in talk showdo it. She has been busy bringing us other stories in I also didn't inherit the meantimekind of steady nerve, but in this latest work she returns ability to talk to those early days in radio strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the stories she learnedrequisite 'bottle'. Many In order words I'm not the sort of these stories she decided were too painful to tellperson who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years. They speak of children, specifically daughters, abandoned by their Chinese mothers one way or anotherFabes did precisely that.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099535750</amazonuk>1788161211

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anna Politkovskaya1504321383|title=Nothing but the Truth: Selected Dispatches Single, Again, and Again, and Again|author=Louisa Pateman

|genre=Politics and SocietyAutobiography|summary=Anna Politkovskaya worked for the Russian newspaper Novaya gazeta, becoming particularly famous for her critical reports on the wars in Chechnya, on Putin, on state corruption ''You can't be happy and fulfilled on life in Russia under his regimeyour own. She never avoided controversy and received You are not complete until you find a number of death threats before she was murdered in October 2006. She had reason to know these were no idle threats – one of her articles here entitled man'Is Journalism Worth the Loss of a Life?' reports the attempted murder of one of her colleagues.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099526689</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Jonny Steinberg|title=Little LiberiaThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: An African Odyssey it was simply the adults in New York City|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=South African Steinberg has won awards with previous non-fiction books and after reading her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her. It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the praise from various sources girl (New York Times, J M Coetzeeshe's usually fairly young) I came to is rescued by the conclusion handsome prince who then marries her so that I was in for a serious and thought-provoking readthey can live happily ever after. The preface tells us Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the expectation that the two Liberian men - Rufus and the younger Jacob left Liberian soil in vastly different circumstances they will marry and for different reasonshave children. But as they meet up It was a belief and it would be many years later and thousands of miles away from their homeland, their before Louisa would conclude that ''Little Liberiaa belief is a choice'' in New York City has a tall order: to contain and accommodate their big personalities and to a certain extent, their big egos. Can it cope?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224085662</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Tracy Kidder|title=Mountains Beyond Mountains|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=Dr Paul Farmer has dedicated his life Move to helping the poorest and neediest in society. He works tirelessly to help people less fortunate than him. ''Dedicated his life'' and ''works tirelessly'' - phrases we've heard many times about many wonderful people, but when reading ''Mountains Beyond Mountains'', you'll realise there's not a shred of hyperbole about these claims. Farmer began working with tuberculosis and AIDS patients in Haiti, and then worked with them, and worked for them, and worked with them, and worked for them, and worked with them. In an area where treating the disease is just one part of the problem, where poverty is rife, he has transformed an area, saved countless lives, and made an incredible difference to many people. [http://www.pih.org/ Partners In Health[Newest Popular Science Reviews]], the healthcare organisation he set up with his colleagues, takes this work worldwide. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684315</amazonuk>}}