Book Review: Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism, Kieran Allen (Pluto Press, 2011)

“It is true that labour produces wonderful things for the rich - but for the worker it produces privation … It produces beauty - but for the worker, deformity.” Karl Marx
Kieran Allen’s treatise dispels the conventional opinion that Marxism is obsolete - [...]

This is the third part of a three part review of Owen Jones’ book, Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class. Part 1 was published on Tuesday and Part 2 was published yesterday. Click here to see all three together.
Book Review: Owen Jones, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. London: Verso, 2011. 298 pages. [...]

This is the second part of a three part review of Owen Jones’ book, Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class. Part 1 was published yesterday, and the concluding part will appear tomorrow.
Book Review: Owen Jones, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. London: Verso, 2011. 298 pages. £14.99
It’s your own fault
No longer do we hear [...]

This is the first of a three part analysis of Owen Jones’ book Chavs. The second part will be published tomorrow, with the concluding part appearing on Thursday. All three can be read here.
Book Review: Owen Jones, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. London: Verso, 2011. 298 pages. £14.99

To get rid of class-distinctions you [...]

Book Review: Embassytown, China Miéville (Pan MacMillan) and Wittgenstein’s Antiphilosophy, Alain Badiou (Verso)
Words are a funny old kettle of fish and good sci fi has always been alert to this. In Heinlein’s novel The Whipping Star, what engages the reader’s attention throughout is the difficulty the central character has in communicating with Fannie [...]

Book Review:Diary of an Escape - Antonio Negri (Polity Press, 2010)

“The recent days have shown the enormous gap that exists between our capacity to produce truth and the court’s inert expression of its unbelievable desire to repress it.”
Antonio Negri.
A discussion of truth in any situation may well be defined as a paradox. Truth - [...]

Book Review: New Finnish Grammar,  Diego Marani  (Dedalus Books)

A man is found battered and close to death on the quayside in Trieste during World War II. His identity is unknown and the man himself has completely lost his memory. Who he is and why he was so violently attacked remains unknown.  Is he Sampo Karjalainen, [...]

Book Review: Sins of The Father by Conor McCabe, The History Press, Dublin. (ISBN 13: 9781845886936 ISBN 10: 1845886933)
Like a ship in distress or an army in retreat, Ireland is awash with rumours about what caused our downfall. Among certain liberal citizens the idea has taken hold that we’ve all been doomed by a kind [...]

Conor’s interview with DCTV about his book Sins of the Father: Tracing the Decisions that Shaped the Irish Economy. Just to remind people that the book launch is this Thursday, 30th of June 5.30 to 7pm, Connolly Books, Essex St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
Speakers include Michael Taft, Scott Millar and Mick O’Reilly. All Welcome. [...]

This week saw the release of Conor McCabe’s long-awaited (by me anyway) Sins of the Father: Tracing the Decisions that Shaped the Irish Economy. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get my hands on a copy for about another fortnight. Luckily enough, I have been reading another similar book which addresses many of the same issues. Chasing [...]