STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
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Bleak consequences of a malevolent machine age at the point of collapse
Fabian Scheidler's book pinpoints how the destructive history of militarised states, capital accumulation and ideological power is threatening our future, says JOHN GREEN
‘MEGAMACHINE’ VICTIM: Slum dweller, Jakarta
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
GORDON PARSONS is fascinated by a unique dream journal collected by a Jewish journalist in Nazi Berlin
Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
The End of the Megamachine
By Fabian Scheidler
(Zero Books, £19.99)
SPANNING 5,000 years of history, this magisterial book by Fabian Scheidler explains how and why both our ecosystems and societies are on the brink of collapse.
Scheidler does not provide a chronological history in the traditional sense but looks at the emergence of modern civilisation and the capitalist system from new and unusual perspectives. He does not aim to provide a history of humankind but the story of a specific social system.
To understand the origins and functioning of the “great machine,” he argues, one must also examine its prehistory and he looks at the role played by wars, the evolution of the metallurgical industries, the key role of coal, the origins of the military-industrial complex, colonialism, slavery and much else.
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