mstyslavity/zer0-books huggingface dataset:
Trump's Counter-Revolution
by Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen

A radical Marxist analysis of Trump which finds Trump to be a preventive counter-revolutionary derailment of the coming-into-being of a new world.

In Trump's Counter-Revolution, Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen looks behind the craziness of Donald Trump to decipher the formation of a new kind of fascism, late-capitalist fascism, that is intent on preventing any kind of real social change. Trump projects an image of America as threatened, but capable of re-creating itself as a united, white and patriarchal community: "Make America great again". After forty years of extreme, uneven development in the US, Trump's late-capitalist fascism fuses popular culture and ultra-nationalism in an attempt to renew the old alliance between the white working class and the capitalist class, preventing the coming into being of an anti-capitalist alliance between Occupy and Black Lives Matter.

'A lucid, clear-eyed analysis of the morbid spectacle of Trump's racist counterrevolution. Mikkel Bolt proposes to add to the rubble of the neoliberal order by demolishing the political form of capitalism - democracy itself - as it slides into fascism. Welcome to life in the postcolony.'

Iain Boal, co-author of Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War

Reviews:
A lucid, clear-eyed analysis of the morbid spectacle of Trump's racist counterrevolution. Mikkel Bolt proposes to add to the rubble of the neoliberal order by demolishing the political form of capitalism - democracy itself - as it slides into fascism. Welcome to life in the postcolony. ~ Iain Boal, co-author of Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War

The rise of Donald Trump and his regime has produced an abundance of analysis, much of it merely ideological. But Marx cautioned us that it is not the job of a worker's movement to inquire into the thinking of capitalists, but to inquire into their power. Mikkel Bolt takes up this challenge with this important inquiry into what W.E.B. Dubois anticipated in his concept of 'democratic despotism' - a cross-class white alliance, allied with ethnocentric fascism around the globe. Bolt asks us to consider the potentiality of an emergent communist counter-power - the very one that provoked this fascist turn. ~ Stefano Harney, co-author of The Undercommons

Trump is the symptom – but of what? Mikkel Bolt’s provocative answer is “of democracy,” that is, of democracy under conditions of capitalism and white supremacy. With this original intervention, Bolt rejects the conventional wisdom that makes democracy the cure for all that ails it. He challenges any and all concerned about the politics of Trump to consider what his victory tells us about democracy. ~ Jodi Dean, author of The Communist Horizon
TWICE: A Novel
by Susanna Kleeman

It's not true. It never was.

TWICE is a speculative thriller about false fronts and coercive control on a global and personal scale. It tells the story of Nim, who discovers that her childhood games taught her dangerous secrets she must now keep from her first love - and his doubles.

Nim's ex-love returns from Silicon Valley, wanting a book from their childhood. She chucks him out. Moments later, he's back again, one fingertip missing, claiming he's the real Chris and that Nim's first visitor was an imposter. Nim doesn't believe him, so he abducts her, forcing her on a journey where nothing is as it seems.

Reviews:
A Novel keeps the reader guessing with its twists and turns. A woman named Nim finds herself at the center of an intrigue between Chris, a man she used to love, and his doubles. The man who claims to be the real Chris forces her to come with him on a trip where illusion and reality overlap. Nim must figure out who and what she can trust - including among her own memories! An absorbing page-turner that balances psychological suspense, duplicity, and the human need for trust, TWICE is highly recommended ~ James Cox, Midwest Book Review

Wryly hilarious and utterly bonkers, TWICE is like nothing I've encountered. Imagine David Cronenberg making a horror film after binge-watching Fleabag, and you'll have a general idea of the kind of roller-coaster ride that awaits in Kleeman's delightful horror. ~ Dan Chaon , author of ILL WILL

Dark and dazzling, with mesmeric twists and much to say about where we are today. ~ Anna Minton, Ground Control, Big Capital

Drawn breathlessly into a nightmare world in which the usual conventions do not apply, there is no reprieve until one insecurely draws near to the conclusion. Written with skilful pace and polished art, we are presented with a first rate fantasy and something that is more than mere fantasy. Here is a dextrously woven tale with deftly drawn characters that will cause as much intellectual stimulus as it does readership enjoyment. One is left gasping. ~ Peter Tremayne, Sister Fidelma Mysteries
Ultrablack of Music
by Claire Elise Herzberg

Achim Szepanski

Anonymous, hidden, encrypted, incomprehensible - these are the forces and sounds that tell us the unheard in music.

Iconic Frankfurt techno and experimental label -Mille Plateaux- returns with a new anthology of texts written by a collective of voices who assembled around the resurrection of the label, taking Ultrablack as its organising principle.

This volume features various forms of writing with and through - as opposed to about - music, including essays on quantum aesthetics, mythology, semiotics, experimental glitch literature, and macabre philofictions.

As the primordial Ultrablack Noise fluctuates in intensity, it ruptures into sound and silence. Noise intensifies until it bursts over a limit; it erupts into our World through our ears. Silence comes after Noise, and only then can we arrive at Sound. What was that Noise? It was a Sound, a moment of Noise. Once you have two Sounds, you can have Rhythm. Once you have Rhythm, you have Code. Ultrablack is the Noise which escapes these dualisms: Noise/Silence, Noise/Sound, Noise/Rhythm, Noise/Code. It is the Noise that continuously exceeds the limits of its own sign, the Noise which keeps breaking until a Rhythm emerges from breaks - a break-beat - on-off, tick-tock. There is no positive, only double-negative, as Noise creates gaps within itself. Only where there is no sound, and no silence, can you hear the music of this infinite meta-rhythm, this rhythm-without-rhythm, this Noise-beyond-Noise.

Featuring works from: Achim Szepanski, Eugene Thacker, Gary Shipley, Eldritch Priest, Frédéric Neyrat, Jens Schröter, Obsolete Capitalism, Alessandro Sbordoni, Lain Iwakura, Giorgi Vachnadze, Palais Sinclaire, Darko Vukić, Stefan Paulus, Alberto Ricca, Holger Schulze, Jan Heintz, Luigi Monteanni & Gabriele de Seta, Kenji Siratori, Ross Birdwise, and Andrea Taeggi.

Reviews:
Unf*cking Work
by Neil Usher

A bold, fearless, uncompromising and yet practical advocacy for a more humane, honest and open world of work.

Every journey starts with the realization that we don’t have to take any more of this crap.

The world of work – and all that’s wrong with it – is dominated by 12 statements. We hear them every day. We utter them at will. But they’re all garbage.

What if we said – no more?

This is the business book for everyone who can’t bear to read business books. Which is most of us. It considers that in being part of the problem – an uncomfortable admission – we may also be the creators of the solution. In uncompromising, engaging and humorous fashion, it dismantles each statement and sets us on the path to a better world of work.

You can read each essay between meetings you’d rather not be at, after which, your working life will never be the same again.

Reviews:
The reality is it’s far easier to convince yourself you’re good at HR or management through platitudes than it is to actually hold a mirror up to yourself and really understand what needs to change. That’s what I got from this book - a call to forget everything you learned and re-frame what work is for, and where work is.

It takes the inscrutable understanding of work and through Socratic questioning leads you to better understand work - and your role in it. ~ Gethin Nadin | Author of A World of Good

I wanted to stand and applaud all the way through. It just flows perfectly. ~ Khurshed Dehnugara | Co-founder and co-owner, Relume

Insanely smart, funny and insightful. ~ Amelia Saberwal | Founder and owner, Kinesthetica Coaching
Universal Subject of Our Time, The
by Darius Nikbin

The Subject itself is the Subject of the Machine.

The Subject itself is the Subject of the Machine.

What does it mean to be human? We live in a technological age, where rapid advances in personal tech and the science of Artificial Intelligence are challenging us in ways never before imagined.

A book in two parts, The Universal Subject of Our Time begins with an exploration of 20th Century post-modernism's undermining of subjectivity with thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, Baudrillard and Althusser and continues with a description of the science wars, where physical realists challenged the post-modernists up to the 1990s when the intellectual conflict resulted in an uncompromising stand-off after the Sokal Hoax. In Part II the subject is resurrected by taking a look at arguments for machine intelligence and AI and also, from the perspective of physics, examines what subjectivity means, particularly in relation to black holes or black stars, and look to what lies ahead in the future, in terms of space exploration, Martian habitats and even the possibility of first contact with extra-terrestrials.

Reviews:
Nikbin's The Universal Subject of Our Time challenges the current discourse on human subjectivity and its difficult encounter with virtual technologies. Lucidly written and well argued, it is a concise philosophical-scientific primer for anybody who is concerned with the predicament of the human subject facing machine and its uncertain future—this is a necessary reading. ~ Nadir Lahiji

"This could be the Big Bang of philosophy..." ~ Slavoj Zizek

"In the last decades, the notion of human subject was undermined at two totally different levels: in deconstructionist theory which played with "the death of the subject", and in cognitive sciences which debunked the myth of unified conscious subject controlling its acts. Nikbin's book intervenes into this debates in a double way: it brings deconstructionism and cognitive sciences into a dialogue, plus it demonstrates how, out of this dialogue, a new universal subject can emerge. The Universal Subject of Our Time strikes at the very heart of our theoretical (and not only theoretical) traumas. It hurts, but all true healing begins with pain." ~ Slavoj Zizek
Unlearning Marx
by Steve Paxton

An authentically Marxist understanding of the USSR's place in Russian history. Unlearning Marx will surprise Marx’s admirers and his detractors alike.

The theories of Karl Marx and the practical existence of the Soviet Union are inseparable in the public imagination, but for all the wrong reasons. This book provides detailed analyses of both Marx’s theory of history and the course of Russian and Soviet development and delivers a new and insightful approach to the relationship between the two.

Most analyses of the Soviet Union, from any perspective, focus on trying to explain the failure to establish socialism, giving too much weight to the political pronouncements of the regime. But, for Marx, this approach to historical explanation is back-to-front, it's the political tail wagging the economic dog. When we move our focus from the stated aims of building socialism, and look at what actually happened in Russia from emancipation in the 1860s, through the Soviet era to the 1990s, we can clearly see the patterns which Marx identified as the essential features of the transition from feudalism to capitalism in England from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth. As such, the Soviet experiment forms an important part of Russia’s transition from feudalism to capitalism and provides an excellent example of the underlying forces at play in the course of historical development.

Unlearning Marx will surprise Marx’s admirers and his detractors alike, and not only shed new light on Marxism's relationship with the Soviet Union, but on his ongoing relationship with our world.

Reviews:
With its robust argument that the collapse of the Soviet Union vindicated rather than disproved Marxian theory, Steve Paxton’s timely book reclaims a vital part of humanity’s conceptual toolbox, just as we witness the persisting dry cough of capitalism approach its distressing conclusion. Highly recommended. ~ Alan Moore, author of novels and graphic novels including Watchmen and V for Vendetta

By returning to a carefully assembled ground of classical materialist analysis, Steve Paxton brings a rare clarity of critical perspective to the complexities of Soviet history and their placement in a larger framework of comparative socio-economic development. ~ Geoff Eley, Professor of Contemporary History, University of Michigan, author of Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000
Unmaking Merlin
by Elliot Murphy

A unique exploration of how anarchist philosophy and practice has inspired some of the English language's most revered, and reviled, authors.

A unique exploration of how anarchist philosophy and practice has inspired some of the English language's most revered, and reviled, authors.

Reviews:
'Murphy is remarkably erudite for such a young scholar. Though not even 25 years old, he zooms with apparent ease and familiarity from George Orwell to Friedrich Nietzsche to James Joyce to Christopher Hitchens ... The book is wide-ranging, touching on a number of themes – including education, representative democracy, the New Atheism, corporate power, crime, and poststructuralism. Throughout, Murphy does a good job of showing that the popular association of anarchism with violence and chaos is deeply inaccurate. He shows that the central concerns of anarchists have always been self-determination, mutual aid, and an end to structural violence.' ~ Tom Malleson, author of After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the 21st Century, https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/review-unmaking-merlin-anarchist-tendencies-english-literature-zero-books//

Elliot Murphy is a superb guide and analyst of the repressed and marginalised anarchist tradition in British culture. His fresh readings of both renowned and obscure writers and the historical political undercurrents with which they engaged will intrigue scholars and activists interested in politics and culture. The relevance of these concerns to our current neoliberal condition renders this a gripping and important book. ~ Anita Biressi, co-author of 'Class and Contemporary British Culture'
Vade Mecum
by Richard Skinner

A collection of highly-informed essays offering fresh perspectives on cutting-edge writers, musicians and filmmakers.

Vade Mecum brings together Richard Skinner’s best essays, reviews and interviews from 1992-2014. There are close critical engagements with writers (Kazuo Ishiguro, Italo Calvino, Shakespeare’s The Tempest) and composers (Erik Satie, Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari), meditations on films and filmmakers (Antonioni, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Chinatown) and idiosyncratic reflections on Werner Herzog’s Of Walking in Ice and Steely Dan.

Reviews:
'The British writer Richard Skinner has found new inputs in Erik Satie's creation in his dual/double narrative ‘The Mirror’. From the mundane to the imaginary, without adding anything, you just follow the stream of impressions, the silences that occur and the freedom in the small and simple ... through the feat of dissolving the real contours, Skinner manages to get the dream architecture to emerge, not unlike Satie's cartoon fantasies of Gothic cathedrals and hidden schemes.' ~ Magnus Haglund, GöteborgsPosten

'These novellas are two meditations on life. They resonate in the reader's imagination in truly memorable ways, often for what is left unsaid. We carry away the sense of two rich lives: from the perspective of one life yet to be lived and another that has been fully and truly lived.' ~ Dermot Bolger, Sunday Business Post

'There are tinges of the uncanny, strains of the gothic, to both stories. In each there are corridors and locked doors it would be best not to pry into. Skinner’s prose has the strangely contradictory quality of being so clear and crystalline that you feel it must be hiding something. It’s an effect that is, like the settings of both these highly unusual tales, creepingly claustrophobic.' ~ Lucy Daniel, Telegraph

'The story [of The Mirror] trickles out daintily at first before building to a torrent; Skinner’s elegant prose is restrained and increasingly hypnotic. These two narratives are linked by one eternal question: why are we here?' ~ Alexander Gilmour, Financial Times

'Bucking the trend for bulky, sweeping narratives, Skinner has produced two tightly crafted novellas with a dreamlike quality ... Two absorbing meditations on art and identity with a common thread: obsessive dedication to a calling and its effects, self-destructive or creative.' Book of the Week ~ Juanita Coulson, The Lady
Voodoo Science Park
by Steve Beard

A filmic essay which cross-cuts between Thomas Hobbes, William Blake, the science of accident investigation and the psychogeography of the Peak District.

Voodoo Science Park started life as a poetic film about the science of accident investigation practised by the Health and Safety Laboratory in the Peak District of England. In the book of the film, Victoria Halford and Steve Beard reveal the thinking that went into the preparation of the script. The Health and Safety Lab is the place where large-scale accidents such as tunnel collapses, fires and rail crashes are recreated to examine their destructive pathways. Halford and Beard explore the connections with imitative magic, drawing on the secret histories of dissident religious sects, miners and shamans as well as the prophecies of William Blake. They rethink the lab's industrial safety rigs as monstrous emblems of the state, as theorised by Thomas Hobbes, and retrace the steps of a journey the political philosopher took through the hollow lands of the Peak in 1626. Testimony from highwaymen, ramblers and urban explorers is collected along the way. The book is composed in a fragmentary style which weaves together philosophy, travelogue, history of science, sociology and religious study.

Reviews:
Voodoo Science Park convincingly demonstrates that history is only ever rewritten and that there can consequently be little room for ‘accidents’ in any of our accepted historical accounts. If this text overturns all orthodox readings of the documented past, it does so simply in the name of prophecy, the authors being bold enough to let the existing state of affairs speak for itself. Such eloquent restraint is extremely rare, extracting a simple yet undeniable poetry from the unearthing of connections between events. Through this gently persistent accumulation of facts, an enigmatic half-hidden landscape is gradually transformed into the starkest of mythologies.

~ Ken Hollings, Author of Welcome to Mars

Combining compelling archive with contemporary footage of the Health and Safety Laboratory in the Peak District, Derbyshire, Voodoo Science Park summons the poetic and political archetypes of Leviathan, Albion and Gogmagog in order to anatomise the powers of accident, reenactment, sacrifice, punishment, artificial life, magic, sleep and civil war in the state of Britain. Part video-essay, video-poem and video-guide, Voodoo Science Park is a vivid and erudite conjuration that redreams the history of our present with a passion and a purpose that is entirely visionary.

~ Kodwo Eshun, on the film-of-the-book

“Here maverick theorist Steve Beard, working with Victoria Halford, fashions a fascinating, Keiller-esque meditation on Hobbes’s Leviathan , the covert geographies of Albion and post-Ballardian crash theory.”

~ Sukhdev Sandhu, on the film-of-the-book
What Is Post-Modern Conservatism
by Matthew McManus

What Is Post-Modern Conservatism develops a way to understand the emergence of right wing populism in the era of postmodern capitalism.

What is post-modern conservatism? How it has come to dominate the political landscape in many developed countries? Edited by Matt McManus, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Tec de Monterrey, What Is Post-Modern Conservatism touches on how technological, economic, and social transformations of the post-modern epoch have brought about a political landscape where the irrational and traditionalist aspects of conservative thought have mutated into the hugely tremendous forms we see today.

With contributory essays from Dylan De Jong, Erik Tate, Borna Radnik, David Hollands and Conrad Hamilton.

Reviews:
Featuring contributory essays from Dylan De Jong, Erik Tate, Borna Radnik, David Hollands and Conrad Hamilton, "What Is Post-Modern Conservatism: Essays On Our Hugely Tremendous Times" is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why so many traditional Republicans have left the Republic Party, which itself has mutated into a haven for white supremacists, anti-immigrants, isolationists, entrench hostilities toward democratic institutions such as the State Department and the Judiciary, and effectively becoming a Donald Trump oriented cult of personality movement willing to abandoned traditional conservative Republic values of personal decency, balanced budgets, small government, and congressional oversight of the executive branch. "What Is Post-Modern Conservatism" truly lives up to its subtitle and is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary Political Science collections, as well as the personal reading lists of political science students, academia, political activists, and all former and current members of the Republican Party. ~ James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Mid West Book Review

This thoughtful essay collection speaks to a fundamental question of our times: when abundance and technological advance render struggle and meaning less pressing, what comes to replace these longstanding cornerstones of life? Sometimes the effort to fill that gap leads societies to some unexpected places. ~ Erich J Prince, Editor of Merion West
What's Left of the World
by David J. Blacker

For long-term viability the left must move beyond identity emotivism and articulate a larger worldview.

In 1960, Paul Goodman argued that the Fordist system that treated people as mere cogs in a machine had created a profound unhappiness in young people and in American society as a whole.

More than half a century later, professor David Blacker recognizes that decades of neoliberalism have pushed young people beyond unhappiness and into a collective identity crisis. Overall, Americans no longer feel needed to do jobs that had previously anchored them in society and are becoming disconnected and purposeless. The proliferation of new identities, based not on work but on consumption, is symptomatic of neoliberalism and its hyper-commodification and deregulation of everyday life.

Reviews:
This is an impressive overview of the enduring effects of neoliberalism on the interdependent areas of identity politics, progressivism. education and climate change. Its sweep is impressive, but at times, it does not allow its argument to breathe. The discussion of education is a case in point, focused predominantly on higher education in the USA; this undermines the generalisations it makes about education more widely (leaving aside the fact that many are accurate). Its concluding promotion of a pro-Gaia approach to climate recovery, although signalled earlier, is a little surprising but reasonably convincing, and Blacker's investment is obvious. A fascinating and informative overview overall. ~ Michael J , Netgalley

From a difficult beginning, the book manages to break through the soil and flower into something incredibly interesting. I kind of want to hand out copies, but the list of people who need to read it is too large and unfortunately I think those who could benefit most probably wouldn't read it because of how well it challenges their perspectives!

This is a book worth reading.

Full review at:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2734745668 ~ Ellie Strickland, GoodReads

A very timely and painstakingly done book. Interesting and well done, very highly informative and has a lot pf effort put in. The post modern style is very well done.

~ Tasnima Yasmin, NetGalley
When Journalism was a Thing
by Alexandra Kitty

Journalism used to be everything until the day it became nothing. What happened and why?

Journalism used to be a thing. It used to be a powerful and wonderful thing, yet now it has become a curiosity, and not even the Internet can resurrect it. When Journalism was a Thing considers the downfall and the reasons why, but also offers a model for a new approach to the once-noble profession.

Reviews:
Timely and needed analysis of the media relation to our common world. Perhaps since medium really became a message the trouble started. Propaganda-based broadcasting and writing was an exception (or a rule reserved only for tabloid-media) until the news and opinion became a product. Until that time one could expect from serious journalist informed opinion and balanced judgement. The young generation of media workers do not know about these standards. It is being attracted often by quick fame (social media) rather than work for common good. Ms Kitty elaborates on the problem brilliantly. Anyone who perceives herself or himself as an intelligent person should familiarise themselves with "When Journalism was a Thing". ~ Ben Goldberg, Journalist

A very timely book at a era when journalism and journalists are being attacked as fake news,this is a clear concise look at what journalists do & how important their jobs are.Young journalists should grab this book anyone interested in free presses role wil find this book well worth reading. ~ Rhonda Lomazow , NetGalley

As a lover in investigative journalism, I wanted to learn about the author's take on the rise and fall of general journalism.

Journalism is still everything, yet to some it has become like a joke.. Kitty explores the downfall of the profession and presents a solid strategy for its resurrection.

Informative read!

~ Erica Watkins, NetGalley

Growing up in a journalist’s home and having been a journalist myself, I was keen to read When Journalism was a Thing. As a profession, journalism used to be a powerful, positive force, one many young people aspired to pursue, especially after The Washington Post broke the Watergate scandal and helped to depose a President.

The advent and explosive growth of digital, however, relegated print to a red-haired stepchild position or worse ... changing the face of journalism forever. And the evolution from a truth-seeking entity to a biased ratings-driven hack has destroyed the profession’s credibility, claims author Alexandra Kitty.

Kitty, who has published three books, including Don’t Believe It!: How Lies Become News, and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, explains the forces that led to the death of “old journalism” while offering a model for a new version she believes can be noble again. She says, “It will take humility, honesty, idealism, and most of all, bravery to make the bold revolutionary changes ... where the battle for truth [not ratings] counts the most.” Highly recommended! ~ Literary Soiree, NetGalley
Who Makes the Fash
by Luca Carboni

A compelling analysis of the relationships between fascism, neoliberalism, art and popular culture over the last century, and their contemporary manifestations.

Who makes the Fash is a compelling analysis of the relationships between art and fascism. Originating from the desire of conceptualising an antifascist artistic practice, this book investigates fascism in Italy and its relationships with futurism and neoliberalism.

When seen in a historical context, the aesthetic appeal of the “new”, glamorous fascism is unmasked as a media-sponsored strategy of smoke and mirrors, functional to the preservation of a racist and patriarchal capitalism disguised as anti-systemic and innovative; from CasaPound, to the 5 Star Movement in Italy, to Elon Musk (hopefully soon in space).

What role can the arts have in this scenario? The assumption that this field is a stronghold of the left can not be held true anymore: if as artists we want to counter the making of fascist hegemony, we must embrace a responsibility that goes beyond our practice. This book offers an accessible historical overview, political analysis and a passionate call to radicalise the politics and practices of arts and culture around an outspokenly antifascist praxis.

Reviews:
From Breitbart to the New York Times to Jacobin, the consensus on the international resurgence of the far-right is that it is a cultural movement first, and a political movement second. Here is the first close-up English-language case study of another 'Italian laboratory' than the one we have been shown by the post-Operaist discourse of the recent past: how the cultural politics of Fascism unfolded from the Futurist and Mussolini all the way up to CasaPound and Salvini. Who Makes the Fash is a brilliantly executed genealogy of the Italian far-right from the perspective of cultural struggle, but it goes further, making a case for the importance of partisan activity for artists and cultural workers, lest the tired avowals of liberal subjectivity lead us directly to the gardens of 'CasaWeiwei'. ~ Marina Vishmidt, Goldsmith University, London

“Can art kill fascists?” “Why art of all things?” Two timely questions to be asked to anybody involved in art production and art education with a claim to relevance. Luca Carboni in his incisive book, Who makes the Fash poses them in the context of a carefully constructed case-study called “Italy”, and underpins them by linking local history and actuality to the present hegemony worldwide.

Carboni offers a much-needed antidote to the spectacularization of new fascisms by the neo-liberal media. By doing this he intricately lays bare one of the most painful truths of our time: fascism and neoliberalism are not in opposition, but can function perfectly well side by side. Art can and must confront this uncomfortable reality by firmly taking an anti-fascist stance without ever giving up on the notion of complexity (however tempting). ~ Gabriëlle Schleijpen, artistic director, Head of Program DAI Art Praxis, Arnhem
Who's Afraid of the Easter Rising? 1916-2016
by James Heartfield

Kevin Rooney

One hundred years on from the Rising that set Ireland free, Ireland's leaders in politics and letters are running scared from their history.

One hundred years ago, Easter 1916, Irish revolutionaries rose against the British Empire proclaiming a Republic from the steps of the General Post Office in Dublin. The men and women of the Easter Rising were defeated by the overwhelming force of the British Army, in five days of intense fighting. Their leaders were executed.

But the Easter Rising lit a fire that ended with the whole country turning against Westminster’s rule, and founding a nation.

But today, the heirs to the Irish state are embarrassed about 1916. They are ashamed that their state owes its origins to a revolution. Along with academics and other commentators in the press and on television they dismiss the Rising as the work of violent fanatics, and the defeat of constitutional politics.

Who’s Afraid of the Easter Rising? explains why today’s Dublin elite are recoiling from the origins of their state in a popular struggle.

Where the critics paint the Rising as an armed conspiracy, we explain that it was in fact a revolt against war; not a militaristic upsurge, but the first challenge to the awful slaughter of the First World War.

The Statesmen of Europe sacrificed millions upon the altar of war. Their recruiting sergeants in Ireland, Edward Carson and John Redmond sent 200,000 Irishmen into the slaughter and nearly 50,000 were killed.

The Easter Rising drew a halt to British recruitment, and the blow to the Empire was the first crack in a growing revolt against the war, followed by the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the German revolution the following year – which ended the conflict.

The Easter Rising was an inspiration to those who were challenging the Empires of Europe, from India to Vietnam, from New Zealand to Moscow; it was an inspiration to British activists like John Maclean and Sylvia Pankhurst; and it was an inspiration to the Irish men and women who rose up against British rule to free their nation.

Reviews:
'I recommend this book'

~ Professor Paul Bew

'a penetrating reflection on the controversies surrounding the Dublin revolt of 1916 as its centenary year approaches.'

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/recalling-the-spirit-of-the-easter-rising/17675#.Vv2EEZwguM9 ~ Michael Fitzpatrick, Spiked Online

'an interesting, valuable and timely short book on the 1916 Easter Rising and how it has been commemorated since 1966. ... a fine account of the Easter Rising and its context'

https://theirishrevolution.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/book-review-whos-afraid-of-the-easter-rising/ ~ Liam Ó Ruairc, The Irish Revolution blog
Why We Love Sociopaths
by Adam Kotsko

Argues that our fascination with cold and ruthless television characters reflects a broken social contract.

Sociopaths are pervasive in contemporary television, from high-brow drama all the way down to cartoons -- and of course the news as well. From the scheming Eric Cartman of South Park to the seductive imposter Don Draper of Mad Men, cold and ruthless characters captivate us, making us wish that we could be so effective and successful. Yet why should we admire characters who get ahead by being amoral and uncaring? In his follow-up to Awkwardness, Adam Kotsko argues that the popularity of the ruthless sociopath reflects our dissatisfaction with a failed social contract, showing that we believe that the world rewards the evil and uncaring rather than the good. By analyzing characters like the serial killer star of Dexter and the cynical Dr. House, Kotsko shows that the fantasy of the sociopath distracts us from our real problems -- but that we still might benefit from being a little more sociopathic.

Reviews:
amusing thoughts on the true meaning of Homer Simpson ~ Lucy Steigerwald, Reason Magazine US

What is it about our society, which makes sociopaths, i.e., the kind of ruthless individuals who make their own rules, so appealing? With his usual acuity, Adam Kotsko gives an analysis of contemporary TV shows (South Park, Mad Men, The Wire, etc.) to make the case that depictions of social disconnection are especially seductive at a time when our own society has become ever more destructive and amoral. Kotsko provokes us in suggesting how we might combine and reshape several features of the television sociopath, so that we might break the hold of the societal norms prevalent in late capitalism.

~ Lars Lyer, Author of the novel Spurious
World of Failing Machines, The
by Grant Hamilton

How speculative realism impacts the art of literary criticism.

The World of Failing Machines offers the first full-length discussion of the relationship between speculative realism and literary criticism. In identifying some of the most significant coordinates of speculative-realist thought, this book asks what the implications might be for the study of literature. It is argued that the first casualty might well be the form of the traditional essay.

Reviews:
It is rare that one can claim a truly groundbreaking approach to critical theory but this book has all the ingredients. What you hold in your hands is a lively and accessible discourse on reading and (literary) writing that cuts through the obfuscation to reveal a really new approach. ~ Bill Ashcroft, Professor of English Literature, UNSW

“Unputdownable! This book has enlarged my mind!” ~ Cha: An Asian Literary Journal

“What kind of existence do objects have, separate from our subjective interpretations of them? This is the provocative and controversial question posed by OOO and speculative realism, and in this book Grant Hamilton is the first to apply it to the most powerful and captivating of all objects: the book. What kind of object is a literary text and what existence can it have, independent of our subjective readings? Hamilton’s analysis is as fascinating as this question and the powerful little object that is this book takes on a life of its own, throwing open existing ideas of reader and text and re-interrogating theories of meaning.” ~ Hong Kong Review of Books
Writing Urban Space
by Liam Murray Bell

Gavin Goodwin

A collection of essays that explore the relationship between imaginative writing and the built environment.

From William Blake through to Iain Sinclair, literature has sought to engage with and transform urban space. Architects now seek the input of poets, and storytelling is employed in urban regeneration. Writing Urban Space investigates this relationship between imaginative writing and the built environment.

Reviews:
Zeitgeist Nostalgia
by Alessandro Gandini

The society constructed upon work has collapsed. The answer? Nostalgia.

We live an age of nostalgia, incarnated by populist fantasies of “taking back control” and making nations “great again". In the long aftermath of the 2007-08 economic crisis, nostalgia has been established as the cultural zeitgeist of Western society. Populist fantasies of nostalgia represent a cry for help against the demise of the societal model of the postwar era, based on stable employment and mass consumption. The promise of an impossible return to the 'good life' of the 20th century, Gandini contends, particularly appeals to the older generations, who are incapable of making sense of the evolution of Western societies after decades of globalization and neoliberal policies. The younger generations, in the meantime, are instead trying to build a new 'good life' based on another form of return, this time to old practices of craft production and consumption.

Reviews:
I highly recommend Zeitgeist Nostalgia to those with an interest in culture, history, politics, and economics. Gandini has filled the pages with thoughtful social critique backed by plenty of research and anecdotal examples of what he is discussing. Particularly in light of the radical divide between the values of older and younger generations, this book is helpful in understanding how we’ve gotten to this place as a society.

~ Alanna Kali musingmystical.com, Review

From Trump's backward-looking promise to "make America great again" to the hipster's fondness for a pre-industrial age of craft, nostalgia saturates our world. Gandini's book is a remarkable and insightful guide to this phenomenon, laying out the deep roots of its origins and setting out the contours of its limits. ~ Nick Srnicek, co-author of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work

Nostalgia has become a pivotal driver in politics, work and consumption, but the role it plays is complex. This book is the most insightful and accessible treatment of this important topic that I have read. A key text for understanding contemporary modernity. ~ Giana M. Eckhardt, Professor of Marketing, Royal Holloway University of London

An essential map for anyone seeking to navigate a time that is thoroughly out of joint. Gandini steers us through the rear-view fantasies of contemporary populist politics, the retro-artisanal imaginaries of consumption and work in the Hipster economy, and the spectre of Marx animating techno-utopian dreams of a fully-automated luxury communism. The result is enlightening and unsettling in equal measures. ~ Chris Land, Professor of Work and Organization, Anglia Ruskin University

Agree or disagree with its rangy, punchy takes spanning Brexit, hipsterdom, Trump, postcapitalism and the world of work, Gandini's page-turner is a a pacy and accessible primer to some of the central cultural, political and economic dynamics of our time and the possible futures that lie ahead. ~ Frederick Harry Pitts, Lecturer in Management, University of Bristol and co-editor of Futures of Work