Spokesman Books

Slump and War The Spokesman 102 Edited by Ken Coates The election of Barack Obama came as the culmination of a profound surge of optimism in the United States, and of hope against hope in large parts of the rest of the world. Widely detested, the Bush administration was the most unpopular in living memory. Obama had fought an audacious campaign, calling in question not only the war in Iraq, but the train of events which had brought the United States into contempt all around the world. The American military, far from exercising full spectrum dominance, was arousing full spectrum detestation. Its symbols were Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, water boarding and extraordinary rendition. As the American economy raced from recession to slump, Obama’s campaign seemed to gather momentum. Earnest crowds of young people were seen on television singing the anthem of Woody Guthrie: ‘This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to New York Island.’ Would that it were so. This land crea...

The Levellers and the English Revolution H.N. Brailsford Edited by Christopher Hill 'To our generation fell the good fortune of re-discovering the Levellers. To the classical liberal historians they meant rather less than nothing. This neglect is puzzling. At the crisis of the English Revolution it was the Levellers and not from its commanders that the victorious New Model army derived its political ideas and its democratic drive.' H.N. Brailsford. The Levellers continue to inspire public interest. John Lilburne and Thomas Rainsborough are central to Channel 4's current production, The Devil's Whore . The four part series about the English Civil War continues tonight at 9pm, repeated Saturday. For more information about Brailsford's seminal work and other relevant titles, please visit: http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/The_Levellers.html Price: £18.00 816 pages Indexed

Ending War: A Recipe By Robert Hinde 'Not this year, not in my lifetime, perhaps in yours, and with a strong probability in my grandchildren's lifetimes, war will be seen as an unacceptable way of settling disputes between states. The aim of this book is to hasten the day.' Robert Hinde, British Pugwash Group The author was a Coastal Command Pilot, flying Catalinas and Sunderlands, in World War Two. After the war he worked as a biologist/psychologist at Cambridge University. He was appointed a Royal Society Research Professor in 1963, and was Master of St. John's College, Cambridge from 1989 to 1994. He is Deputy Chair (recently Chair) of the British Pugwash Group, Patron of the Movement for the Abolition of War, and Patron of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Awareness Programme. The British Pugwash Group is an affiliate of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize. Available from Spokesman Books Price £4.00 - 48pp - I...

An early start to celebrations to mark Thomas Paine's bi-centenary (he died in 1809) begin in November at Diss Corn Hall . At 8pm on Friday 7th November Mark Steel kick starts the festivities, which continue through to June 2009, when Trevor Griffiths will read from his screenplay These Are The Times: A Life of Thomas Paine . Further details of this nearer the time. For tickets to see Mark Steel contact Diss Library or Tourist Information Centre .

The Politics of Community 40 Years on To celebrate the Community Development Journal's 40th Year Anniversary , we have commissioned an International Reader of articles featured in the Journal during this period, which represent the richness and diversity in community development theory and practice, and its changing focus. We are celebrating the Reader's launch with a free seminar , to be followed by refreshments. All are welcome, including students, practitioners, academics, policy-makers and anybody interested in the politics of community. Friday 10 October 2008 2 - 4 pm London South Bank University, Manor Lecture Theatre, London Road Building, 110 London Road, SE1 6LN Panel: Tony Benn Amanda Greenwood , Community Development Xchange Akwugo Emejulu , University of Strathclyde Gary Craig , Co-Editor Community Development in Theory and Practice: An International Reader Chair: Mandy Wilson , Community Development Journal To book a place, please send your completed booking f...

New Statesman - 29 September 2008 John Pilger writes: … Two years ago, Stephen Cohen , professor of Russian Studies at New York University, wrote a landmark essay in the Nation which has now been reprinted in Britain.* He warns of “the gravest threats [posed] by the undeclared Cold War Washington has waged, under both parties, against post-communist Russia during the past 15 years”. He describes a catastrophic “relentless winner-take-all of Russia's post-1991 weakness”, with two-thirds of the population forced into poverty and life expectancy barely at 59. With most of us in the West unaware, Russia is being encircled by US and Nato bases and missiles in violation of a pledge by the United States not to expand Nato “one inch to the east”. The result, writes Cohen, “is a US -built reverse iron curtain [and] a US denial that Russia has any legit­imate national interests outside its own territory, even in eth­nically akin former republics such as Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia. [Th...

From Saturday 20th to Wednesday 24th September 2008 the Convention of the Left gathers together in Manchester under the banner 'Another World is Possible', at the same time as the Labour Party comes to town. "This bold venture comes as a result of people from different left and radical traditions – or none – getting together in Greater Manchester to say that there IS an alternative ... " Commencing at 12.30pm on Saturday with the Stop the War/CND demonstration , which assembles at All Saints, Cavendish Street, Manchester, the first session of the Convention follows at 3.00pm in the Friends Meeting House in Mount Street. The Final Programme for the many events, meetings and discussions which are taking place over the five day Convention is available from www.conventionoftheleft.org . Wednesday is 'Peace' day and is a must for those who want to give Peace a chance. Spokesman Books will attend the Covention. Copies of the new issue of The Spokesman - Tskhi...