Archive | Review

The “Reign of Terror,” which lasted from the end of World War I to 1931, involved the murder of at least 60 wealthy, full-blood Osage Natives, but Grann argues that the actual total of suspicious deaths may number in the hundreds.

Review of ‘Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?’ By Chris van Tulleken.

The basic aim of ‘Tipping Point for Advanced Capitalism: Class, Class Consciousness and Activism in the “Knowledge Economy”’ is to bring class back into thinking about capitalism and alternatives.

‘Black Crown’ is a gripping biography of one of the most important leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and it illuminates the history of the revolution, finds John Westmoreland.

A new book exploring the theory, practice and history of socialist commune building in Venezuela.

A review of ‘Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism’, Kohei Saito (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

The debates between socialists in the Congresses of the Second International raised issues which remain of central importance to the left today, argues Chris Bambery.

Éric Toussaint’s history of the World Bank shows powerfully how it and other international institutions have enforced imperialist exploitation, finds John Clarke

Historian Rashid Khalidi’s concise and at times personal take on a century of colonial conquest and resistance in Palestine is a highly accessible read that focuses on key events and themes.

Nicolas Graham’s book on forces of production and fossil-fuel capitalism gives an important analysis of why fundamental change is needed to solve the climate crisis, finds John Clarke

“Brigadistas: An American Anti-Fascist in the Spanish Civil War” is a page-turner of a graphic novel, illuminating the courage and commitment of young Americans in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, who put their lives on the line against fascism in Spain. The Brigadistas left behind a profound legacy of courage and international solidarity for the U.S. left that still resonates today.

The Class Matrix concisely and systematically argues the case for the continued importance of class for the radical left today. Vivek Chibber rigorously debunks various long held understandings that characterise radical left thought since the cultural turn.

The culture wars are back with a vengeance, if they ever actually left us.

The philosophical community knows by now that philosopher Martin Heidegger was fiercely antisemitic and personally drew connections between his philosophy and his support for Nazi ideology.

‘Left Feminisms’ offers an inspiring and accessible overview of feminism from a diverse array of left-wing thinkers, writes Marin Scarlett.

“Return to the Source”, a condensation of Amílcar Cabral’s developing ideas until his assassination by Portuguese agents in 1973, reveals an astounding intellectual sophistication expressed in formulations clear enough for even the less educated among his audience of fellow Africans.

The new documentary Kokomo City is a raw and unfiltered look into the lives of Black trans women sex workers. In a time when legislative persecution of those belonging to the LGBTQ community is running rampant in a number of states, the film arrives unapologetically, daring viewers to hear the truths of its subjects.

REVIEW OF ISABELLE GARO’S “COMMUNISM AND STRATEGY”

Liedman portrays Engels’ alternative picture of science as a ‘non-reductive materialism’ characterised by a deep confidence in the unity of knowledge and by an equally deep resistance to treating any level of reality as totally determined by another. Engels’ account of scientificity—of what shape a legitimate theory can take—was modelled both on Marx’s theory of capitalism and on Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Free-market Accountability Equals Failed Bankrupt Project