mlx-community/zer0-books huggingface dataset:
Daniel Defoe and the Bank of England
by Val Hamilton, Martin Parker

Why is a novel like a corporation? How is Daniel Defoe connected to the Bank of England?

This little book tells the truthful story of how the Bank of England actually came into being. It is a story of pirates, treasure, random good fortune and sheer determination. This is an institution founded on risk, daring and imagination. The tale is entangled with that of the early novel, in particular the fortunes of one Moll Flanders, an entrepreneur of sexual relations in the growing London market for capital in the early eighteenth century.

These accounts are woven together with the life-stories of Daniel Defoe and William Paterson, founders of two of the key institutions of our modern age, the novel and the corporation. This reveals connections which are nowadays forgotten, and which the fractured specialisms of ‘Literature’, ‘History’ and ‘Business’ can rarely see.

These tales are set against the backdrop of the long eighteenth century - fervent years of inventiveness, high risk gambling, and political revolution. The authors show that the dark arts of deceit, and the credibility of fictions, are requirements for any creative enterprise, and that all organizations are fictions.

Listen to Mark Watson's BBC Radio 4 documentary featuring 'Daniel Defoe and the Bank of England': http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07k01bf

Reviews:
Though whisper it quietly, much of research in business would bore the bum off a buffalo. This on the other hand is an interdisciplinary masterpiece standing between English literature and Management which is an exciting tale of risk, danger, piratical endeavour, plunder, deceit and daring-do in the Age of Projects. It is a beautifully realised narrative interweaving the rise of the Bank of England with the economy of Scotland, Daniel Defoe’s biography and the story of Moll Flanders. It provides literary enjoyment and real insight into the contemporary world in equal measure. It’s a treasure. ~ Professor Gibson Burrell, Management, University of Leicester
This is an engaging and distinctive book about the links between the history of the novel and the Bank of England. Hamilton and Parker's work is an original contribution to our growing critical understanding of the fictional dimensions of finance and financial institutions. ~ Professor Nicholas Royle, Literature, University of Sussex
A bold and exciting fusion of literary and financial history, this provocative organisational study takes us to the very heart of the modern. ~ David Kynaston, Author and Social Historian
Dark Futures
by Nick Dunn

We dream in darkness. Yet light is everywhere, blazing its way through our lives and thoughts. We urgently need new ways to think of futures to save the planet, other species, and ourselves. What might happen when the lights go down?

Dark Futures provides a new way of thinking about the world. Light is everywhere, often uninvited as a by-product of our contemporary lives. Darkness meanwhile appears unwanted, yet is essential to our wellbeing, other species, and our planet.

When we consider what futures are possible, they tend to direct us to visions of either a shiny, frictionless world which is light and bright, or at the other end of the spectrum they are fearsome, shadowy dystopias. This book reclaims darkness to think through alternative futures which are neither environmentally catastrophic nor technologically evangelical.

Dark Futures proposes a new philosophy, in which darkness is embraced as an emancipatory space for positive thought and creative expression. By revealing fresh ideologies that can empower sustainable and ethical relationships with our ecologies and our technologies, this book sets out a new vision for the futures of collective life.

Reviews:
This bold vision questions the outdated view of darkness as something to be feared and designed against and, by doing so, proposes a reconnection of humans within the wider world – a true multispecies coexistence that is in tune with our body clocks and nature’s rhythms. ~ , Eurasia Review
Professor Nick Dunn of Lancaster University proposes a different path – one that invites darkness back into our lives. His idea may sound strange in a world obsessed with visibility and brightness. But at its heart lies a radical rethinking of what it means to live well, together, on a shared Earth.

This is not a plea for darkness out of nostalgia. It is a vision grounded in science, architecture, health, ecology, and culture. It suggests that turning down the lights might brighten our future in unexpected ways.

Dark Futures blends personal story with architectural insight. It explores how embracing darkness shaped Professor Dunn’s own thinking. And it shows how we might use design to imagine new, hopeful possibilities. ~ Sanjana Gajbhiye, Earth.com
Praise for Dark Matters: A brilliant book. Dark Matters is an adventure into the heart of the city at night - the time when the true nature of the beast reveals itself. ~ John Robb, Louder Than War
Dead Man Working
by Peter Fleming, Carl Cederstrom

An analysis of the dead man working and the way in which capital is now colonizing life itself.

Capitalism has become strange. Ironically, while the ‘age of work’ seems to have come to an end, working has assumed a total presence – a ‘worker’s society’ in the worst sense of the term – where everyone finds themselves obsessed with it. So what does the worker tell us today? "I feel drained, empty… dead." This book tells the story of the dead man working. It follows this figure through the daily tedium of the office, to the humiliating mandatory team building exercise, to awkward encounters with the funky boss who pretends to hate capitalism and tells you to be authentic. In this society, the experience of work is not of dying...but neither of living. It is one of a living death. And yet, the dead man working is nevertheless compelled to wear the exterior signs of life, to throw a pretty smile, feign enthusiasm and make a half-baked joke. When the corporation has colonized life itself, even our dreams, the question of escape becomes ever more pressing, ever more desperate.

Reviews:
A bracing thesis to consider on your tightly regulated lunchbreak.....

Gathering examples from Žižek to Woody Allen or film adaptations of Stephen King, the book is mordantly entertaining.

~ Stephen Poole, The Guardian
Cederström and Fleming, like a present day Virgil, bravely venture into an underworld full of shades whose entire lives have been put to work, who throw themselves heart and soul into the job, and who are constantly implored by management gurus to “be themselves,” “feel free,” and “have fun” in the office. This fascinating and dark little book is an excellent and disturbing introduction to what increasingly large realms of the world of work have become.

~ Michael Hardt, Co-author of Empire, Multitude, and Commonwealth.
What has work done to us? Cederström and Fleming’s brilliant dark and witty book tells us the truth. Working in our sleep? Dressing up as infants? Deprivation tank addiction? Fitness centrers? Suicide? Email? If you didn’t already know what work has made you become then this book might have a devastating effect on your life. Read it!

~ Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, New School for Social Research
Debunking the Myth of America's Poodle
by Nu'man Abd al-Wahid

True understanding of contemporary British militaristic foreign policy begins with a rejection of perceived subservience to the United States.

Most writing today by activists and opponents of foreign policy is rooted in the 1960s. Underpinning many of these books is the unquestioned assumption that contemporary British imperialism is an adjunct to American foreign policy. Wherever the United States invades and bombs, Great Britain lays out the carpet and obediently follows. This subservience is jubilantly referred to as a “special relationship” by its supporters; by its detractors it is disparagingly depicted as “America’s poodle”. This book argues that a true understanding of contemporary British militaristic foreign policy begins with a rejection and a historical unpacking of this perceived subservience to the United States.

Reviews:
This illuminating, scalding and scorching takedown of British Imperialism is simultaneously a cautionary reminder that post-Brexit London should be pressured relentlessly in order to avoid a replication of its multiple sins and transgressions of the recent past. ~ Gerald Horne, author, 'White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anticommunism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa, from Rhodes to Mandela.', Private correspondence.
Nu'man Abd al-Wahid’s Debunking the Myth of America’s Poodle: Great Britain Wants War serves as a useful reminder that Britain's foreign policy is driven by a distinct imperialist dynamic that continues to the present day, especially in the Middle East. ~ Arun Kundnani, author of 'The Muslims are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror'
An important book that everyone concerned with the history of and the fight against British Imperialism needs to read. Both scholarly and politically committed. A fine piece of work. Highly recommended. ~ John Newsinger, author of The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire
Democracy Under Siege
by Frank Furedi

Challenging the claim that democracy is a means to an end rather than an important value in and of itself.

Frank Furedi examines the frequent claim that democracy is a means to an end rather than an important value in and of itself. The prevalence of this sentiment in the current era is not surprising, given that the normative foundation for democracy is fragile, and there is little cultural valuation for this outlook.

Until recently, virtually every serious commentator paid lip-service to democracy. However, in recent times the classical elitist disdain for democracy and for the moral and intellectual capacity of the electorate has acquired a powerful influence over public life. Democracy Under Siege outlines the long history of anti-democratic thought, explains why hostility to democracy has gained momentum in the current era, and offers a positive affirmation of the principle and the value of democracy.

Reviews:
Designs on Democracy
by Stuart MacDonald

Disasters, pandemics, the War on Terrorism? Whatever your memories of the Noughties, this was also a Scottish decade. Design, politics and identity came together.

Whilst there are some studies of architecture in Scotland post-devolution, writings on design are largely non-existent. Designs on Democracy seeks to fill that gap and ranges over the debates concerning architecture, urbanism, design and the Creative and Cultural Industries and the policies, people and places that stimulate and animate them. The book also tells a story about Scotland’s creatives –where they work and how their ideas and what they create and design contribute to Scotland’s democratic culture and identity.

Reviews:
Did You Kill Anyone?
by SCOTT BEAUCHAMP

Did You Kill Anyone? asks the question that is rarely discussed publicly: ‘why do soldiers miss war?’.

Most American soldiers in Iraq had a deep, thick plastic box called a “guerrilla box” which usually sat at the end of their cot. Soldiers would keep all kinds of things in their box. Weapon cleaning kits. Extra equipment. Blankets and pillows from home. Footballs. Protein powder. Mine was full of books.

These are not confessions. Nor are they essays. Nothing is off the table in Did You Kill Anyone?, a hybrid compendium of thoughts and observations whose narrative thrust is propelled and shaped by the inquiry itself. Drawing from and elaborating on years of the author’s work on the peripheries of this subject, published in such outlets as The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and The American Conservative, Did You Kill Anyone? asks a question that is rarely, if ever, discussed publicly: ‘why do soldiers miss war?’. With the intimacy of a memoir and the force of a critical analysis, Scott Beauchamp gives his daring, counterintuitive take, interrogating the frivolous conformity of our increasingly inhuman(e) culture.

Reviews:
Diet of Austerity, A
by Elaine Graham-Leigh

How and why the working class are being blamed for climate change, and what we can do about it.

Received wisdom is increasingly that we all have to eat less to save the planet, but received wisdom is wrong. A Diet of Austerity argues that, just as the poor are blamed for the economic crisis, Malthusian conceptions about food and ecology are being used to hold the working class responsible for climate change and global hunger. Challenging existing dogmas about overconsumption and personal responsibility, it shows that what we need to stop climate change is system change.

Reviews:
Elaine has a produced a must-read book for all of us concerned with combatting climate change. We can't diet our way to a better world but we can and must change the system to sustain the future. This book is well written, fascinating, controversial and essential. ~ Derek Wall, Former Green Party of England and Wales Principal Speaker and author of The Rise of the Green Left
Who is to blame for climate change? Graham-Leigh says it's not fat people, cows or the working class. A challenging and interesting book, packed with new ideas to make you think again about what you thought you knew. ~ Jonathan Neale, Author of Stop Global Warming, Change the World
Food production and consumption is increasingly recognized as a major driver of global climate change, but where does the balance of blame lie? Elaine Graham-Leigh’s book makes an important and timely contribution to the debates swirling around food production systems, 'overconsumption' and climate change. The class-based ideological assault on working people as the culprits of our multi-faceted ecological crisis, are elucidated with great clarity by the author. For people who believe combining social justice with ecological sustainability is an essential part of the answer, Graham-Leigh’s book provides essential ammunition as to why it is our system of food production for commodity exchange, and the waste inherent in it, rather than individual behavior and food choices, that lies at the heart of the crisis. ~ Chris Williams, Author of Ecology and Socialism
An excellent, polemical book; enjoyable, interesting and very, very well-written. A really new contribution to theory and an incisive argument. ~ Chris Nineham, Author of The People v Tony Blair
Disconsolate Dreamers
by Rachid M'Rabty

It's time for the Left to consider the pessimist a helpful guide out of the somnolence of capitalist realism.

Our world is increasingly sceptical of happy endings. Notions of resistance or alternatives - of hope - seem evermore ill-fated as we resign to a slow and painful descent further into capitalism. However, from a critical position, one that does not shy away from the scale of the horror facing us, we can begin to rethink utopianism, and plot new and speculative pathways for collective escape. Through quiet acts of naysaying to the world, of nihilistic or self-destructive events, or in wider-ranging renegotiations of what’s acceptable and possible at the limits of reason, pessimism revives the possibility for radical change. It calls for a disentanglement from the world and, in so doing, offers a glimpse at the utopian impossible.

Against the pernicious machinations of modern-day capitalism and a perverse optimism that sustains it, Disconsolate Dreamers explores the extent to which pessimism is compatible with a radical utopian goal - namely, a collective escape from the misery of modern existence. It shows that, in a thoroughly hopeless world devoid of rational alternatives, it is time for the Left to consider the pessimist a helpful guide out of the somnolence of capitalist realism, revealing how pessimism necessitates a radical revision of utopian alterity.

Reviews:
Pessimism all along the line - that was the cry of Walter Benjamin, and it is one Rachid M'Rabty takes up in this provocative, stylish theoretical intervention. Expertly drawing on a range of cultural and theoretical touchstones, this short book rejects both the vapid optimism of neoliberalism and the easy avenues of 'Some revolution to come.' M'Rabty forces us into the abyss. His aim is not to collapse all hope into annihilation but to show the true scale of the disaster we face. Utopia in these pages is a void, out of which comes a terrifying possibility - the much-needed revolutionary negation of all that is. If, like me, you are exhausted by a political Utopianism that buys its hope on the cheap, then start here. If there are grounds for hope, and for Utopian thought, then it must lie beyond naive optimism. Maybe, if we look into the dark pessimistic shadows, we will find something new for which to hope. ~ Jon Greenaway, academic, writer and teacher based in the North of England
Dispirited
by David Webster

What a post-spiritual world view could look like

This book by David Webster is a counter-blast against the culturally accepted norm that spirituality is a vital and important factor in human life. Rejecting the idea of human wellbeing as predicated on the spiritual, the book seeks to identify the toxic impact of spiritual discourses on our lives. Spirituality makes us confused, apolitical and miserable, whether that spirituality is from conventional religious roots, from a new-age buffet of beliefs, or from some re-imagined ancient system of belief. Looking beyond this dismissal, the book looks towards atheistic existentialism, Theravada Buddhism and political engagement as a means to imagine what a post-spiritual world view could look like.

Reviews:
Should be placed gently but firmly in the hands of any budding convert who thinks that the vacuous claims of a new spirituality are any better than the lies, evasions and hypocrisies of orthodox religion

~ Professor Christopher Norris, Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy, Cardiff University
Refusing all inwardness and consolation, David Webster faces down spirituality’s guile in favour of a bleak atheism’s hints of a worthwhile life. Bracing, timely stuff! ~ Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester, UK
Annoyed by the phrase 'I am not religious, but I’m very spiritual', Dr. David Webster successfully maps out the problems and contradictions it leads to. This is as close to a 'must read' as it gets, for the religious as well as the spiritual reader, as well as for atheists. ~ Dr. Mikael Askander, Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University, Sweden
Dog Days
by Linda Coggin

Peculiar, unique, unusual, elements of Cummings, Stevie Smith and Larkin cohere then fall away, in a collection of darkly clear, or clearly dark poems.

These poems act like short, sharp surprises. They can be oblique and then unravel with raw clarity, a strong and emotional openness pervading their deceptively simple structures. Coggin's strange and singular voice is recognisably English and even colloquial, but with a sophistication and love of imagery, even mystery. This is her first collection, and showcases not only her range but her unique relationship with memory, her presence in each poem more breathlike than embodied, and no less substantial for that.

Reviews:
Coggin’s poetry is both incisive and quirkily humourous. Well worth investigating.

~ Emmet O'Cuana, http://abookadaytillicanstay.wordpress.com
Linda Coggin's poems are liminal, crossing and recrossing thresholds between real, surreal, and mythic, life and death, the transgressive and the responsible. There is deep humanity in these poems, often allied to the acceptance of sadness and of imperfections - domestic chaos, the facts of dying and ageing. A sharp-eyed and humorous poem about a father's day race ends with unexpected and moving compassion for the unfit stragglers. This collection surprises at every turn, catching the reader rewardingly off guard. ~ Dr John Freeman, Cardiff University
Don't Lose Track Vol. 1: 40 Selected Articles, Essays and Q&As
by Jordannah Elizabeth

Don't lose track, she moves fast.

Don't Lose Track is a collection from the widely published arts and culture journalist, Jordannah Elizabeth. The book includes reviews, essays and interviews hand selected by Jordannah from a catalog of over 200 articles.

Reviews:
http://www.infectiousmagazine.com/industry-interview-jordannah-elizabeth-the-deli-sf-weekly-mtv-networks/ ~ Angela Mastrogiacomo , Infectious Magazine
This review inspired me to check out the album. I found it strange but beautiful, just as the author depicted. Excellent article! - Susan Harvey

http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/aug/07/shabazz-palaces-new-album-challenges-postmodern-hi/ ~ Susan Harvey , http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/aug/07/shabazz-palaces-new-album-challenges-postmodern-hi/
"I was at this show and the review was right on, gone it would seem are the days of Anton attacking the audience. They have become maybe the best shoe gaze band ever." ~ Nick Lamagna, http://www.eastbayexpress.com/CultureSpyBlog/archives/2014/05/09/live-review-the-brian-jonestown-massacre-at-the-fox-theater-5-8
"There’s nothing we love more at Infectious than hard working, passionate, ambitious people, and the Bay Area’s Jordannah Elizabeth is just that..."

~ Angela Mastrogiacomo, Infectious Magazine
Dynamo Island
by David Scott

At the crossroads of fiction and social theory, the book confronts fundamental issues facing Western civilization in the 21st century.

Dynamo Island is an account of a contemporary ideal world set in an Ireland-sized island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It expresses the possibility of a modern society living in harmonious ecological balance with its environment. The ethos of the place is built around the notion of the human being as a dynamo managing and self-regulating energy in a way that draws on without harming the natural world. One of the island’s main features is that there are no cars, only bicycles along with a comprehensive public tram and electric train network.

Reviews:
This is a significant and timely addition to the genre of Utopian fiction, a reminder that the novel is only one way to envision other places. 'Dynamo Island' employs the rhetoric, structure and scruple of the scholarly monograph alongside the plasticity of mind common to the writing of fiction and the creation of art. ~ Tom Lee
Eastern Spring
by Neil Kulkarni

Haunting, ferociously powerful look at life as a 2nd-generation immigrant in Coventry, England through the music of an ancient past.

From the grey streets of Coventry, to the green jungles of India, Neil Kulkarni chases the sounds of his past and ancient songs from the sub-continent to try and find himself a new way of listening to some of the oldest music on earth. Part touching memoir, part ferocious polemic, An Eastern Spring confronts race and the ghosts of the past in a fearless attempt to map our past, present and future as western music listeners.

Reviews: