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[[Category:New Reviews|Politics and Society]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nathan ConnollyClaire Dederer|title=Know Your PlaceMonsters: Essays on the Working Class What Do We Do with Great Art by the Working ClassBad People?|rating=53

|summary=Simple summary: Dederer sets out to unveil what she calls a ''biography of the audience'' in a deconstructed, thoroughly nitpicked, exploration of the old aphorism of separating the art from the artist in the context of contemporary ''Know Your Placecancel culture'' . Dederer's work is an anthology of essays on original and expressive. The reader gets the impression that the working class by thoughts simply sprang and leapt from her brilliant mind and onto the working classpage. There are twenty-three disparate pieces talking about everything you can imagineIn particular, the prologue packs a punch: day trips to she simultaneously condemns and exalts the seasidedirector Roman Polanski, an artist she personally admires for his art, and yet despises for his actions. This model of ''monstrous men'' as she calls them, access to is consistent for the artsfirst few chapters, food povertyinterrogating the likes of Woody Allen, pub cultureMichael Jackson and Pablo Picasso. Her critical voice is acutely present throughout, glass ceilingsnever slipping into anonymity and maintaining her own subjectivity, housing estates, vulgarity-as-class-markershe holds it so dearly, and much morea personal, rather than collective voice. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911585363</amazonuk>1399715070

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Harry Leslie SmithVirginie Despentes|title= Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to ArmsKing Kong Theory|rating= 54|genre= Politics and SocietyAutobiography |summary= Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms 'King Kong Theory'' is part biography a hard-hitting memoir and part rallying feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society to tackle the systemicbroken at its core. Originally written in French, endemic and debilitating inequality faced by the people book is a collection of the United Kingdom, particularly essays in the North. Through reflecting on his own which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences during his childhood, Harry Leslie Smith has painted as a frank woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and uncompromising picture of the grimpornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, appallingly miserable childhood he had to endure due to their placement within the poverty faced by his family contrasted with the, shamefully stillbook can feel somewhat disjointed, grim and miserable lives many people endure today in a country ravaged by cuts, austerity and political turmoilreflection of their original form as independent essays.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>147212345X</amazonuk>191309734X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Michael Bristow1009473085|title= China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser|rating= 4|genre= Autobiography |summary=Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal The Conservative Effect 2010 - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910985902</amazonuk>}}{{newreview2024|author=Francis O'Gorman|title=Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture of AmnesiaAnthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=4.5

|summary=After Sometimes it's simpler to explain a glut of books about mindfulness book by describing what it came as something of a relief ''isn't'' and that applies to encounter ''ForgetfulnessThe Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, Francis O{{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''GormanThe Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's thinking on why the twenty-first century is losing touch with seventh book in a series which looks at the past, on why what is likely - or could be impact a government has made and co- to happen is so much more editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important than what has gone before. The This book is supremely intelligentfollows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, but with the knowledge worn lightly changes that occurred and it's eminently readable, regardless of how you feel about the conclusions he drawssituation in 2024. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1501324691</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Stuart MaconieAlastair Humphreys|title= Long Road From JarrowLocal|rating= 5|genre= Travel |summary= I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the only thing I miss is Stuart Maconie's columnworld. And then written about it. His down-For this book he walked and cycled very close to-earth approach home and sharp wit belie then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an equally sharp intellect and attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admitsmall map. Let's be honest Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, thoughthe food system, I picked this one up because rewilding…'' One of the joys of someone else's review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. Places I grew up in. Like Maconie I have no connection (the book for me was that I know of) to the Jarrow Crusade but when biggest thing he talks learned about it being ''a whole matrix all of events reducible to one word like Aberfan, Hillsboroughthese things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or Orgreave'wrong' then somehow it does become part of my history too. Tangentially, at leastthat every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785030531</amazonuk>1785633678

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Raymond WilliamsEdel Rodriguez|title= Culture and Society 1780-1950Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey|rating= 4|genre= Politics and SocietyGraphic Novels|summary= From the last decades We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the eighteenth century 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 time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the final words happiest of modernismplaces here, this book tracks societal changes through exploring five key words: industryan uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, democracysuch as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, classand not liked for his successful photography business, art and culturesuccess being frowned upon. The meanings mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of such thingsthe heat, their essencebut in this sultry island country, changes as per their use and it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the era in which their implications were considered.kitchen…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784870811</amazonuk>1474616720

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Patrick WestSarah Wilson|title= Get Over YourselfThis One Wild and Precious Life: Nietzsche for our timesthe path back to connection in a fractured world|rating= 13.5|genre= Politics and SocietyLifestyle|summary= Get Over Yourself considers NietzscheMy favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks 's imagined perceptions of modern society 'What is it you plan to do with your one wild and uses our society precious life?'' I get to explain his philosophylove that line so much because my answer is ''This! Precisely this. '' I'm sorry if 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 sounds vague but ittakes Oliver's the best words as her title (though I can do from 't see that she acknowledges the blurb on the back. After reading Get Over Yourself from cover source) she pushes us to cover, I am still none think about whether we really ''are'' living the wiser about life we want – the purpose of this bookbest life that we could be living. It appears to be a series of personal opinions held together with quotes Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, which donwe are not''. Don't always appear relevantcare what you're doing, from Nietzscheshe thinks you (we, Chumbawumba and newspaper articlesI) could be doing more…And she's effing furious about the fact that we are not.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1845409337</amazonuk>1785633848

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jenny Landreth1785633457|title= SwellCharging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson|rating= 5|genre= Politics and SocietyTravel|summary= I love Jenny's own description of her book as Clive Wilkinson has a waterbiography and I love her encouragement that we should each write our own. This is more than just (I say ''just''!) a recollection history of the author's own encounters travelling by unconventional means with water; it's also a history of women's fight preference for the right to swim. That sounds absurd until you start reading about it, then it becomes serious. Not too serious though – because Jenny Landreth is clearly a lover of the absurd. Not a lover of book blurbs myself, I do always seek to give a shout-out to those who get it dead right: in this case I'm definitely with Alexandra Heminsley's ''giggles-on-the-commute funny''slow travel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472938941</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy|title= The Exile|rating= 4|genre= Politics and Society|summary= An account of As he neared his eightieth birthday the fate idea of Al Qaeda and exploring the Bin Laden family since the events edges of 9/11, ''The Exile'' plunges into the murky waters of international terrorism, espionage and politics. Detailed and meticulous, the book tackles the subject from all angles, providing a panoramic view of the subject and acting to enlighten and inform the reader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408858762</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Emily Clarkson|title= Can I Speak to Someone England in Charge?|rating= 4an electric car was not totally outrageous.5|genre= Politics and Society|summary=''Can I Speak to Someone in Charge?''In fact, blogger Emily Clarkson's debut book, is it should be a fierce, witty pleasant holiday for Clive and laugh-out-loud funny ode to feminism. In a series of open lettershis wife, she addresses the issues faced by every modern woman, discussing everything from dealing with body hair to being made to feel uncomfortable in the gymJoan, as well as more personal issues, like her experiences of being shouldn'catfished' and sent abuse online. This is a vital read for any girl born in the 1990s, tackling some very serious social injustices beneath its fun exterior.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471156907</amazonuk>t it?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lauren Elkin1529153050|title=Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and LondonBritain's Best Political Cartoons 2022|author=Tim Benson

|genre=History Humour|summary=Lauren Elkin Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is down on suburbs: theycoming to seem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards 're places where you can't or shouldnBritain't be seen walking; places where, in fiction, women who transgress boundaries are punished (thinking s Best Political Cartoons of everything from ''Madame Bovary2022'' to ''Revolutionary Road''). When she imagines to herself what the female version of Sharp eyes will have noted that well-known historical figure, the carefree we''flâneur'', might be, she thinks about women who freely wandered re not yet through the world's great cities without having year: the more insalubrious connotation of the word 'streetwalker' applied cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to them31 August 2022.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593378</amazonuk> Who can imagine what there will be to come in the 2023 edition?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Saqib NoorB0B7289HKQ|title=Surgery on Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Shoulders Soul of Giants: Letters from a doctor abroadAmerica|author=Kari Loya

|genre=AutobiographyTravel|summary=The letters begin much in Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the fashion of any young man away from home, perhaps in a quite exciting country, writing back way) wanted to family and friends to tell them of spend some time with his experiences, the sights he's seen father and the people he's metperiod between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. It's just a little different in ''Surgery on The decision was made to ride the Shoulders of Giants'' though: Saqib Noor is a junior doctorTrans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, training Virginia to be an orthopaedic surgeon and over a period Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of ten years he visited six countries, not as a tourist but to give medical assistanceit - in 2015. They're countries had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which Noor describes pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer''fourth world'' - third world with added disaster - and their need is desperates.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1521173192</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Rebecca Asher1739593901|title= Man Up22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating= 5|genre= Politics and SocietyScience Fiction|summary= When ''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.'' I've got a couple of years ago my university introduced compulsory consent workshops along with an option of confessions to make. I'good ladm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. There' sessions for boys, all debate broke looses got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Shouldn Then there's science fiction: far too often it't consent be selfs the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-evident for everyone? Would building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the workshops reinforce technology and the stereotype world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of 'laddish' boys? Would it all be about pointing fingers at boys and victimizing girls? What about nontwenty-binary peopletwo science fiction short stories? In short Well, how could these workshops be anything else than a mission doomed to failure?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784701807</amazonuk>I loved it.

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= John GrindrodJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |title= OutskirtsThe Book of Hope |rating= 45|genre =Animals Politics and WildlifeSociety |summary=''Outskirts'' The done thing is an interesting take on to read a phenomenon of book all the modern age: the introduction way through before you sit down to review it. I’m making an exception here, because I don’t want to lose any of the green belt experience of countryside surrounding inner city housing estates. John Grindrod grew up on the edge of one such estate in the 1960's and '70'sreading this amazing book, I want to capture it as he puts it, ''I grew up on the last road in Londonhits me.'' Grindrod explores the introduction of the green belt, and the various fights and developments And it has gone through over the subsequent decades, as environmental and political arguments have affected planning decisionsis hitting me. Within this topic, he This beautiful book has somehow managed to wind around his personal memories of childhood, producing a memoir with a lot of heartme in tears.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1473625025</amazonuk>024147857X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Carolina de Robertis1788360737|title= Radical HopeArtivism: The Battle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism|author=Alexander Adams|rating= 42

|summary= On 8th November 2016Can 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 ‘’Every man… contributes to modifying the social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all art must be political, Donald Trump was elected as even implicitly. Alexander Adams in his new book ‘Artivism: The Battle for Museum in the 46th President Era of Postmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. The recent trend of the United Statesso-called artivism has caused artists to become more overtly political (read: left wing). Since then many Americans Their seemingly grass roots movements have been overcome with fear, worrying about astroturfed by large “left-wing” donors and media elites hoping to create a more globalist and progressive regime. Or at least that’s what will become Alexander Adams believes.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398508632|title=The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of American society during Trump's administrationeating only wild food. Carolina de Robertis The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was no exception perhaps not the best time to this fear and start, in response to a world where the newly elected President normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and his policies she put out a call for actionpandemic. Radical Hope is Wilde had a few advantages: the outcome area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to this callrun a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. De Robertis reached out to fellow writers She had a car - and activists asking for lettersfuel. Most importantly, predominantly letters of love, addressed she had shelter: this was not a plan to the citizens of today and those of past and future generations in order ''live'' wild just to help spread hope during times of uncertaintylive off its produce.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349010102</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Matthew d'Ancona1529149800|title=Post-TruthThings You Can Do: The New War on Truth and How to Fight BackClimate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and Sara Boccaccini Meadows|rating=3.54|genre=Politics Home and SocietyFamily|summary=''Our own post-truth era is what happens We begin with a telling story. All the birds and animals fled when society relaxes its defence the forest fire took hold and most of values that underpin cohesion, namely veracity, honesty them stood and accountability.'' I'm old enough or perhaps naive enough to believe that when making a decision about political votingwatched, you should be able unable to rely absolutely on what the candidate tells youthink of anything they could do. I've been suspicious for a decade or more, but it's become difficult The tiny hummingbird flew to ignore the change in political attitudes since Brexit river and began taking tiny amounts of water and flying back to drop them into the election of Donald Trumpfire. With regard to the latter, when Trump The animals laughed: what good was challenged on a statement hethat doing. 'd made which was subsequently found to be incorrect, his response was 'I'Who cares if m doing the best I got it wrong?can'' , said the hummingbird. He was able to tap to And that, really, is the only way that we will solve the fading concept problem of 'the American Dream' - those Americans who were used to waiting patiently in line and who had found themselves overtaken climate change – by ''womeneach of us doing what we can, immigrants and public sector workers''however small that might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785036874</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Stephen Moss1638485216|title= Wild KingdomBlack, White, and Gray All Over: Bringing Back BritainA Black Man's WildlifeOdyssey in Life and Law Enforcement|author=Frederick Reynolds|rating= 45|genre= Animals and WildlifeAutobiography|summary= Wildlife ''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. It has been declining in Britain over the last few decades; it is an unfortunate everything to do with character. Period.'' ''One more body just wouldn't matter''. The murder of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 byDerek Chauvin, a forty-four-product of human population growthyear-old police officer, which in the modern US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the world has increased significantly. Through this book Moss suggests We rarely see pictures of a few ways in which we can start to bring back some murder taking place but Floyd's death was an exception. The image of BritainChauvin kneeling on George's wildlife without compromising neck is not one which I'll ever forget and the protests which followed cannot have been unexpected. There was a backlash against the human way of lifepolice - and not just in Minneapolis: we can co-exist with naturewhatever their colour or creed they were ''all'' tarred by the Chauvin brush. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581639</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nick CleggMatthieu Aikins|title=Politics: Between The Naked Don't Fear the ExtremesWater

|summary=It's easy to forget at times that The political landscape is changing rapidly at the moment. A little more than two years ago we were facing the end of Naked Don't Fear the UKWater isn's first coalition government since World War II and fully expecting that we would see anothert actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-paced thriller at times. Instead we saw This is not by any means a criticism, but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a Conservative government elected with Canadian citizen who decided to accompany his friend as a refugee from Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a workable majorityvast and at times painful journey. Brexit saw the end of one Prime Minister There are tense moments and another elected by a few members gripping accounts of parliamentborder crossings which had me on edge the whole way through. As I write weBut it're facing another general election, s written with a Conservative landslide predicted. In two years we've seen haunting and almost lyrical quality that allows the Liberal Democrats collapse from being part of reader to perfectly envisage the ruling coalition to a party whose MPs could hold a meeting in a decent-sized carenvironments and people described.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784704164</amazonuk>B09N9157T6

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jess Phillips1785633074|title= Everywoman: One Woman's Truth About Speaking the TruthStaggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry|rating=34.5|genre= Politics and SocietyHumour|summary=Members of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister - the ''Everywomanprimus inter pares'' announces itself proudly, with a chapter named (that''The Truth about Speaking up''. Jess Phillips, s for those of you who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tells us many times reality is that she is the ''gobbyprime'' and that she has a loud voicemovers are the special advisers - the SPADS - who are the driving force behind the government. Her voice does come through We are in the privileged position of having access to the memoirs of Rafe Hubris, clear and urgentthe man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. Using her journey to Westminster and her experiences in Parliament, Phillips teaches You might not know the reader name now but he will certainly be the truths she's learned on her journeyman to watch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786330776</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Tormod V Burkey1846276772|title=Ethics for a Full World or, Can Animal-Lovers Save the World?The End of Bias: How We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell|rating=4.5|genre= Animals Politics and WildlifeSociety|summary= Burkey argues Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that manthey may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's current practices are outside the realms of nature. He is no longer simply a part of the ecosystem, but instead exists above it through his dominating wayseveryday life. He is himself distanced even further by advancement in technologies, industry, money and all the pollution that comes with them White men will always come first. The natural world, Burkey argues, no longer exists for man because he has altered it by such thingsable will come before the disabled. Indeed Jobs, global warming has caused climate changepromotions, which, if it continues, will make higher salaries are the preserve of the world unrecognisablewhite man. For Even when those who wouldn't pass the world to medical become fullera part of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, for it to be a world that seeks to provide their concerns are acknowledged. It's personally appalling and degrading for the needs individuals on the receiving end of every living thing, then the bias but it needs to change's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570856</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum1529148251|title= The Future of Violence - Robots and Germs, Hackers and DronesMisfits: Confronting the New Age of ThreatA Personal Manifesto|author=Michaela Coel|rating= 45

|summary=Looking back over this month''How am I able to be so transparent on paper about rape, April 2017malpractice and poverty, yet still compartmentalise? It's as though I were telling the news has been full truth whilst simultaneously running away from it.'' Before you start reading ''Misfits'' you need to be in a certain frame of terrorist attacks perpetrated by lone individualsmind. A suicide bombing on the St Petersburg Metro killed 15 people and injured 64 more. In Stockholm, Sweden, You're not going to read a hijacked truck steered into book of essays or a pedestrian shopping area and department storeself-help book. Most recently, a shooting in Paris just two days ago, claimed You're going to read writing which was inspired by Michaela Coel's 2018 MacTaggart Lecture to professionals within the television industry at the life of a police officer and injured several othersEdinburgh TV Festival. Whilst it is true that governments have access You might be ''reading'' the book but you need to impressive, cutting-edge technology ''listen'' to combat terrorism, it is also the words as though you're in the lecture theatre. The disjointedness will fade away and you'll be carried on a fact that these resources are becoming increasingly available to individualscloud of exquisite writing. At what cost?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445655934</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Lynn Knight0008350388|title= The Button BoxWe Need to Talk About Money|author=Otegha Uwagba|rating= 45|genre= HistoryPolitics and Society|summary= Buttons are the underdogs of the clothing world: dismissed as functional elements of clothing, falling into the same dustbin category with zips and shoe laces, they tend ''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as necessary for keeping clothes onless desirable, rather less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than contributors my light-skinned counterparts...'' ''We Need to styleTalk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba ''0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a woman. But Lynn Knight is set '' ''The Bookseller'' 29 June 2021 Otegha Uwagba came to prove that the opposite is trueUK from Kenya when she was five years old. We think nothing of lacing discussions about clothing Her sisters were seven and feminism nine. It was her mother who came first, with headscarvesher father joining them later. The family was hard-working, bikinisprincipled and determined that their children would have the best education possible. There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested. When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car. For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and underweight models – and buttons deserve then a place on the pedestal of gender discussionat New College, tooOxford.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593092</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Paul FlynnRichard Brook|title= Good As YouUnderstanding Human Nature: From Prejudice A User's Guide to Pride - 30 Years of Gay BritainLife|rating= 4.5|genre= History Lifestyle|summary=The last 30 years have seen I am a tidal wave of change sweep the country with regards to how gay people are perceived firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and acceptedsometimes books choose us. In 1984my case, this is one of the pulsing electronic beats latter. Not so very long ago, if I had come across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of ''Smalltown Boy'' became an anthem to unite Gay Menit interesting, but just a month later, a virus called HIV it would be identified, spreading a climate of panic and fear across not have 'hit home' in the nation, and marginalising a community who were already ostracisedway that it does now. 30 years later though, the long road I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to gay equality would reach give it a climax with the legalistion of gay marriagefavourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. Journalist Paul Flynn charts this remarkable journey via the cultural milestones is that affected this change - with interviews with such protagonists as Kylie, Russell T Davies, Will Youngpeople chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, Holly Johnson and Lord Chris Smith. This so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the story of Britainbook, even if it doesn's brothers, sons, cousins, fathers and husbands. Of public outrage and personal loss, the (not t always legal) highs and desperate lowsturn out that way'' ] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, and the final collective victory as Gay Men were finally recognised to be as Good As Youright now. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785032925</amazonuk>1800461682

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Mark Aylwin Thomas1787332098|title= Blades of GrassHow to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World|author=Henry Mance|rating= 4.5|genre= BiographyPolitics and Society|summary= Any book that has me ''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 tears at zoos, and millions of wild animals stay out there, ''somewhere,'' hopefully on the end has been worth my timenext David Attenborough series.'' I was going to argue. Any book that has me hoping it will end differently to the way I know it must is worth the readingmean, cows are for cheese (I couldn't consider eating red meat... Any book that convinces me that maybe there is still hope ) and I much prefer my elephants in the world – wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for all the mistakes made thus far, still being made right now, there is a common humanity which ultimately, eventually, must do some good – sake of it. Essentially that is worth quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. If I had to choose between the writing company of humans and the reading and company of animals, I would probably choose the timeanimals. Blades of Grass is I insisted that I read this book: no one such bookwas trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. It's a forgotten storyI eat cheese, eggs, an unknown story chicken and fish and I needed to most peopleeither do so without guilt or change my choices. It is one I suspected that should making the decision would not be told – and reflected uponcomfortable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524676969</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Preston1523092734|title=A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the EstablishmentWomen's Guide to Claiming Space|author=Eliza Van Cort

|genre=True CrimePolitics and Society|summary=Jeremy Thorpe was ''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, former CMO, Cirque du Soleil RSD) ''To claim space is to live the sort life of person who was generally liked by otherschoosing unapologetically and bravely. He was flamboyant and gregarious but could give It is to live the impression that meeting someone had made his daylife you've always wanted. He never seemed to forget '' Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a name and he was wittytime when violence against women is much in the news, charismatic and very charming''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. He appeared Now - to be clear - this book is not a decent man, 'how to disable your attacker with views with which I would have agreed on racetwo simple jabs' manual: it's something far more effective, capital punishment and membership of but discussion at the Common Market, as the European Union was then knownmoment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''. For I've always thought that women need to rise above this was the nineteen sixties and Thorpe had entered Parliament at the age of thirty and by 1967 he would , to be party leaderpeople who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. On the surface he was a man If all women did this, those few men who had everything going for himare violent to women would realise that we are not just an easy target to be used to prove that they are big men.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241973740</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sarah BakewellPolly Barton|title= At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot CocktailsFifty Sounds|rating=4.5|genre= Politics and Society|summary= You know that old saying about judging books by their coverWhere do I start? Ignore it! I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the question ''Why Japan?'' Japan has been on my radar for a while and if the world hadn't gone into melt-down I would have found that visited by judging a book by its cover and getting it completely wrong is a great way now. I may get there later this year, but I am not hopeful. And like Barton, I don't know the answer to find yourself committed to reading a book that youthe question ''why Japan?''d never have picked She explains her feelings in respect of the question in a million years and yetthe first essay, which is on the sound ''giro' '' – which she describes as being, somehowamong other things, being amazingly glad the sound of ''every party where you didhave to introduce yourself''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099554887</amazonuk>1913097501

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tony Benn and Ruth Winstone (editor)Stephen Fabes|title=The Benn Diaries: The Definitive CollectionSigns of Life

|genre=BiographyTravel|summary=Tony Benn must be one I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of the most famous diarists tales of the modern agefar away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. He kept a diary from his schooldays in the nineteen forties until he made his last entry in 2009Unfortunately, five years before his death. Benn was also a particularly charismatic politician: since my teens Ididn've found myself listening to him believing that I disagreed with t inherit what he Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was saying the guts to simply go out and then realising that perhaps we werendo it. I also didn't so far apart after all. Whatever he spoke about always gave food for thought. Of course inherit the ideal way kind of steady nerve, ability to enjoy the diaries would be talk to read the individual volumes, beginning with {{amazonurl|isbn=0099497719|title=Years Of Hope: Diaries,Letters strangers and Papers 1940-1962}}, but basic practicality that would have meant thatI would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 's a lengthy undertaking and bottle'. In order words I'The Benn Diaries: The Definitive Collection'' edited by Ruth Winstone gives you m not the opportunity to sample the best sort of the diaries in person who will get on a mere seven hundred or so pages. Be warned though: there has been bike outside a previous {{amazonurl|isbn=0099634112|title=composite volume}}, also called ''The Benn Diaries'' London hospital and published in 1996not come home for six years. The current volume goes to 2009Fabes did precisely that.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786330768</amazonuk>1788161211

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Henning Mankell1504321383|title= QuicksandSingle, Again, and Again, and Again|author=Louisa Pateman|rating= 4.5|genre= Autobiography|summary= How do you judge a book? Not by its cover, we're told. In my case, often by the number of turned down corners or post-it-note-marked pages by the time I've finished reading it. Sometimes, by whether I worry about leaving its characters to fend for themselves while I take a break…or by how much of it stays with me afterwards or for how long. In this case, it doesnYou can't matterbe happy and fulfilled on your own. However, I judge You are not complete until you find a man''Quicksand'' the judgement comes up the same.  This collection of vignettes from an ageing, possibly dying, writer looking back on his own life is as powerful as it is simple, as easy to read as it is impossible was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to forget.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784701564</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Anne Glyn-Jones|title= Morse Code Wrens of Station X|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary= Bletchley Park is probably now the least secret of all the secret ops that went on during World War IIbelieve. I for one am pleased about that: technology has moved on so far that there canIt wasn't be anything that happened back then on unkind: it was simply the communications front that is worth continuing adults in her life advising her as to shroud in mysterywhat they thought would be best for her. With most of It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the participants either departed or at least in girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the departure lounge, the more recollections we handsome prince who then marries her so that they can still gather the betterlive happily ever after. What remained secret far longer however, is Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the work of the telegraphers expectation that served Station X: those posted to the Y-stationsthey will marry and have children. There are few of them left to tell their tales, so I applaud those who finally saw fit ( It was a) to release them from their life-long bonds of secrecy belief and (b) encourage them to write it down, tell us what it was really likewould be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845409086</amazonuk>