The New Dark Age

8 November, 2010 — Housmans Radical Books

Last year Housmans launched our online bookshop, offering a much-needed ethical alternative to Amazon. Amazon continues to use their near-monopoly position to squeeze publishers, and still prevents unionisation amongst their poorly-paid workforce, with sackings and intimidations commonplace for those who try (read more here).

Housmans prides itself on its independence and fairness to both publishers and customers. With this in mind we would like to ask for your support in making our online service a success by:

*buying a book from our online shop at housmans.com!

*helping to spread the word about the shop to your friends, family and colleagues. If you would like materials to help you do this, please email nik[at]housmans.com

Our online shop has over half a million titles, and creating an account takes just a few seconds, so if you haven’t tried out our online shop yet, please consider giving it a try. Visit: www.shop.housmans.com

Here are some seasonal recommendations to get you started:

Housmans Peace Diary
£8.95
The 58th edition of our world-renowned Peace Diary with a directory listing over 2,000 peace organisations in over 150 countries, and including notable quotations, a week-to-an-opening diary, and forward planner.
Click here to buy

The Spirit Level by Kate Pickett & Richard Wilkinson
(Penguin Books, 2009) £9.99
One of the most talked about books of 2010, ‘The Spirit Level’ presents research that emphatically makes the case that quality of life standards – from life expectancy to depression levels, violence to illiteracy – are affected, not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is.
Click here to buy

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano
(Monthly Review Press, 1997) £9.99
A history of Latin America, covering the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Recently given as a present by Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama, this could be an ideal diplomatic gift for Christmas!
Click here to buy

No Logo: 10th Anniversary edition by Naomi Klein
(Harper Collins, 2009) £9.99
‘No Logo’ was a book that defined a generation when it was first published in 1999. For its 10th anniversary, Naomi Klein has updated this iconic book which attacks the power of the branded world. The New York Times has called it a ‘movement bible’.
Click here to buy

Hopes & Prospects by Noam Chomsky
(Penguin Books, 2010) £18.99
Chomsky’s razor sharp analysis critically looks at the credit crunch, US exceptionalism under Obama, the gap between the world’s rich and poor, and Israeli-Palestinian relations. A literary giant, Chomsky peers behind the myth of American moral supremacy.
Click here to buy

Live Working Or Die Fighting by Paul Mason
(Harvil Secker, 2007) £8.99
Immensely readable history of key moments in workers’ struggles by Newsnight’s Paul Mason. By comparing struggles of the nineteenth century with those taking place today in the so-called developing world, you can’t help but realise how far there is to go. Essential and inspiring.
Click here to buy

Reclaiming the F Word by Catherine Redfern & Kristin Aune
(Zed Books, 2010) £12.99
From cosmetic surgery to celebrity culture and girl power to globalization, from rape to religion and sex to singleness, this book reveals the seven vital issues at stake for feminists, unveils the beginnings of a fresh and diverse wave of feminism, and calls a new generation to action.
Click here to buy

Local Food by Tamzin Pinkerton and Rob Hopkins
(Green Books, 2009) £12.95
An inspirational and practical guide for creating local food initiatives, showing how we can restore and establish community networks to generate healthy, locally produced food. Drawing on the practical experience of Transition initiatives and other community projects around the world, ‘Local Food’ demonstrates the power of working collaboratively.
Click here to buy

Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
(Pantheon Books, 1996) £16.99
Originally published in two volumes, ‘Maus’ is not only one of the finest graphic novels, but also one of the best pieces of writing about the Holocaust. Capturing with great humanity the horrors of his parent’s experience of Auschwitz, Art is also brutally honest about the psychological dysfunctions passed down the generations of survivors. A Pulitzer prize-winning masterpiece.
Click here to buy

Waltz With Bashir by Ari Folman & David Polonsky
(Metropolitan Books, 2009) £12.99
A gripping graphic novel dealing with the suppressed memories and dreams of an Israeli soldier who fought in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Click here to buy

Persepolis: The Story of an Iranian Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
(Pantheon, 2003) £14.99
Exemplary autobiographical graphic novel, in the tradition of Art Spiegelman’s classic Maus. Set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, it follows the young Satrapi, the six-year-old daughter of two committed and well-to-do Marxists. As she grows up, she witness first hand the effects that the revolution and the war with Iraq have on her home, family and school.
Click here to buy

Wall and Peace by Banksy
(Cornerstone, 2005) £20.00
The ever-popular compendium of the best of his work in a fully illustrated colour volume – including brand new material.
Click here to buy

Propaganda Prints by Colin Moore
(A&C Black Publishers, 2010) £35.00
Propaganda Prints reviews the history, cultural diversity and legacy of art in the service of social and political change.
Click here to buy

War Posters by James Aulich
(Thames & Hudson, 2007) £19.95
This book features over 300 of the most eye-catching and iconic posters from the Imperial War Museum’s international collection.
Click here to buy

The Enigma of Capital by David Harvey
(Profile Books, 2010) £14.99
Taking a long view of economic crisis, this title explains how capitalism came to dominate the world and why it resulted in the financial crisis. It examines the vast flows of money that surge round the world in daily volumes well in excess of the sum of its economies.
Click here to buy

Whoops! by John Lancaster
(Penguin, 2010) £9.99
We are, to use a technical economic term, screwed. The cowboy capitalists had a party with everyone’s money and we’re all paying for it. What went wrong? And will we learn our lesson – or just carry on as before, like celebrating surviving a heart attack with a packet of Rothmans? This title answers these questions.
Click here to buy

23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
(Penguin, 2010) £20.00
Shows how the economic system really works, including: There’s no such thing as a ‘free’ market; Globalisation isn’t making the world richer; We don’t live in a digital world – the washing machine has changed lives more than the internet; Poor countries are more entrepreneurial than rich ones; and, Higher paid managers don’t produce better results.
Click here to buy

The Age of Absurdity by Michael Foley
(Simon & Schuster, 2010) £10.99
A wry take on how contemporary culture is antithetical to happiness. Foley’s witty and engaging book tempts us to look at 21st century life in challenging new way.
Click here to buy

Them and Us by Will Hutton
(Little Brown Book Group, 2010) £20.00
An incisive look at how our society has fragmented into inequality and how to address this most crucial blight on our times.
Click here to buy

Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed by Paul Mason
(Verso, 2009) £7.99
The economics editor of BBC’s Newsnight plots the collapse of the banking system and posits why the age of neo-liberalism is dead. An insiders history of the credit crunch, which would make uncomfortable reading for the Cameron-Clegg Christmas Day dinner
Click here to buy

Electric Eden by Rob Young
(Faber & Faber 2010) £17.99
Receiving rave reviews from all corners, Young’s book documents one of the great untold stories of British music over the past century. This title surveys the visionary, topographic and esoteric impulses that have driven the margins of British visionary folk music from Vaughan Williams and Holst to The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, John Martyn and Aphex Twin.
Click here to buy
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