The myths—and reality—behind the state of Israel In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. The “ten myths” that Pappe explores—repeated endlessly in the media, enforced by the military, accepted without question by the world’s governments—re ...
Combating the tendency to reduce Algeria’s tragedy to a clash of stereotypes, Roberts offers a radical corrective to Western misconceptions. The violence that has ravaged Algeria has often defied explanation. Regularly invoked in debates about political Islam, transitions to democracy, globalization, and the right of humanitarian interference, Algeria’s tragedy has been reduced to a clash of stereotypes: Islamists vs. a secular state, terrorist ...
The definitive account of exploitation in the Congo, introduced by Adam Hochschild. In the early twentieth century, the worldwide rubber boom led British enterpreneur Lord Leverhulme to the Belgian Congo. Warmly welcomed by the murderous regime of King Leopold II, Leverhulme set up a private kingdom reliant on the horrific Belgian system of forced labor, a program that reduced the population of Congo by half and accounted for more deaths than t ...
Preacher, Soldier, Rebel: Who was the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the most influential books ever written? John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is one of the most significant works of English literature. Translated into more than 200 languages, there was a time when almost every household in Britain was more likely to have a copy than the Bible. This classic biography of Bunyan by one of the leading historians of the 17th century offers a ...
What lessons can we learn from the defeat of the seventeenth century English revolution? The failure of the English Revolution in 1660 provoked a variety of responses among radical clergy, intellectuals and writers, as they struggled to accept and account for their defeat in the light of divine providence. Christopher Hill’s close analysis of the writings of the Levellers and Diggers, of Fox and other important early Quakers suggests that the r ...
Cultural production under Mao, and how artists and thinkers found autonomy in a culture of conformity In the 1950s, a French journalist joked that the Chinese were “blue ants under the red flag,” dressing identically and even marching in an identical fashion. When the Cultural Revolution officially began, this uniformity seemed to extend to the mind. From the outside, this was a monotonous world, full of repetitions and imitation, but a closer ...
A gripping narrative history of the English Revolution and the radical Levellers The Levellers, revolutionaries that grew out of the explosive tumult of the 1640s and the battlefields of the Civil War, are central figures in the history of democracy. In this thrilling narrative, John Rees brings to life the men—including John Lilburne, Rich-ard Overton, Thomas Rainsborough—and women who ensured victory at war, and brought England to the edge of ...
This updated edition considers Muhammad Ali and his legacy in light of the war on terror. In this timely antidote to the apolitical celebration of Muhammad Ali as 'a great American', Mike Marqusee puts the great boxer back in his true historical context, to explore a crucial moment at the crossroads of popular culture and mass resistance. And, in a new afterword for this second edition, he reflects on Ali's legacy in the era of t ...
A history of the cosmopolitan forces that made contemporary Iran “No ruling regime,” writes Hamid Dabashi, “could ever have a total claim over the idea of Iran as a nation, a people.” For decades, the narrative about Iran has been dominated by a false binary, in which the traditional ruling Islamist regime is counterposed against a modern population of educated, secular urbanites. However, Iran has for many centuries been a nation forged from a ...
