Not since 2011’s landmark Broken Republic publication by author & activist Arundhati Roy have we had such an acute insight into India’s Naxalite guerrillas, brought to us now from anthropologist Alpa Shah. This is the world’s longest running ‘armed revolutionary movement’, having over half a century of activity/resistance (I think becoming operational officially in 1967). Continue reading Night March-among India’s revolutionary guerrillas (Alpa Shah):
Category Archives: Books
Behold, America-a history of America First and the American Dream (Sarah Churchewell):
“The point is that the American Dream was once a collective ideal, not an individualist one. Then it was reduced from a political dream of egalitarian democracy to an individual dream of opportunity, and then that further devolved to mere materialism.” Continue reading Behold, America-a history of America First and the American Dream (Sarah Churchewell):
Posh Boys-how the English public schools ruin Britain (Robert Verkaik):
‘Going to Oxford University from an inner-city comprehensive school was like landing on another planet, one populated by strange people in bow ties with no concept of what it’s like to live in the real world.’ Continue reading Posh Boys-how the English public schools ruin Britain (Robert Verkaik):
I Can’t Breathe-the killing that started a movement (Matt Taibbi):
“When someone takes a beating or gets killed by police, city bureaucracies go into siege mode, reflexively stalling and delaying at every turn. The patience of complainants and their families is stretched to the limit. Embarrassing information, if it ever comes out, comes out years later, long after the streets have calmed down.” Continue reading I Can’t Breathe-the killing that started a movement (Matt Taibbi):
Duterte Harry-fire and fury in the Philippines (Jonathan Miller):
Jonathan Miller brings us the first biography on homicidal mayor turned mass murdering populist dictator Rodrigo “The Punisher” Duterte. Martial law, extra judicial killings (EJK’s), murky & nondescript rampaging death-squads & excessively-crass n’ crude expletive-lumbered vocal attacks on anything deemed challenging, annoying, non-compliant et-al. A leader in egregious authoritarian bollocks basically. As funny as this foul-tongued psycho is, the body count makes it less amusing – “On day one, he launched a Latin America-styled ‘Dirty War’, and with it introduced the darkest of Latino shadows: the death squad. By the end of year one, he was presiding over the largest loss of life in Southeast Asia since Pol Pot took Cambodia back to Year Zero”. Continue reading Duterte Harry-fire and fury in the Philippines (Jonathan Miller):
Hello, Shadowlands: inside the meth fiefdoms, rebel hideouts and bomb-scarred party towns of southeast asia (Patrick Winn):
Been waiting for this one. An absolutely splendorous debut from Patrick Winn, bloviating (almost four hundred pages!), without any monotony, on the intricate, seldom-covered anthro-cosm of modern South Asia & the litany of difficulties, crisis & threats facing this extraordinary region. This is an expanse of stupendous versatility & complexity, much of which gets almost no attention in the international press save the odd incident, – “On the mainland, militaristic Buddhist kingdoms abut a pseudo-communist regime that is, in fact, ravenously capitalistic. All this is half-encircled by a largely Islamic archipelago – one that terminates in islands beholden to the Vatican.” Continue reading Hello, Shadowlands: inside the meth fiefdoms, rebel hideouts and bomb-scarred party towns of southeast asia (Patrick Winn):
Stiff Upper Lip-secrets, crimes and the schooling of a ruling class (Alex Renton):
“No other culture sends its young boys and girls away to school to prepare them for a role in the ruling class. – beating, bullying, fagging, cold baths, vile food and paedophile teachers are just some of the features of this elite education, and, while some children loved boarding school, others now admit to suffering life-altering psychological damage. – stiff upper lip exposes the hypocrisy, cronyism and conspiracy that are key to understanding the scandals over abuse and neglect in institutions all over the world.“ Continue reading Stiff Upper Lip-secrets, crimes and the schooling of a ruling class (Alex Renton):
Entitled-a critical history of the British aristocracy (Chris Byrant):
“Show the people that our Nobility is not noble, that its lands are stolen lands – stolen either by force or fraud: show people that the title-deeds are rapine, murder, massacre, cheating, or court harlotry; dissolve the halo of divinity that surrounds the hereditary title; let the people clearly understand that our present House of Lords is composed largely of descendants of successful pirates and rougues; do these things and you successfully shatter the Romance that keeps the nation numb and spellbound while privilege picks its pocket.” – Tom Johnston, Our Scots Noble Families, 1909 Continue reading Entitled-a critical history of the British aristocracy (Chris Byrant):
Narco & Gangster States, Capitalism, and London & New York money laundering of criminal currency through the commercial banking sector (Cartel Land, Roadmap To Hell, Amexica, Gangster Warlords, More Terrible Than Death, HSBC: Les Gangsters de la Finance)
‘Rogue’, ‘Failed’, ‘Gangster’ & of course ‘Narco’. As so much of modern politics increasingly defines organized crime (arguably in it’s ultimate form), it’s perhaps best to donate some attention to regions that are afflicted by the ‘classic’ model, or at least the model with the most recognized distinction of this growing phenomenon. Filthy as fuck money, drenched in blood, massive narcotic dividends, major state thievery, larceny & kleptocratic hoardings, are washed through the City of London, New York or Switzerland & stashed off-shore beyond tax authorities & public knowledge (or hygienically converted by ‘investments’ or ‘assets’). Continue reading Narco & Gangster States, Capitalism, and London & New York money laundering of criminal currency through the commercial banking sector (Cartel Land, Roadmap To Hell, Amexica, Gangster Warlords, More Terrible Than Death, HSBC: Les Gangsters de la Finance)
They All Love Jack-busting the ripper (Bruce Robinson):
I was reluctant to read this book. Slogging through an 801-page tome on a Victorian serial killer is really something I could do without. The first thing that snagged my attention among impressively adulatory reviews was descriptions of “the greatest cover-up in British history” along with all manner of institutional & establishment corruption & crime concealment. Continue reading They All Love Jack-busting the ripper (Bruce Robinson):