Passions and Politics
by Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate
(Polity, £15.99)

OPTIMISTIC, but not reassuring, Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate’s Passions and Politics maintains that politics can be more than “a mere experience of frustration” but only if we let go of cherished beliefs and develop a new critique of neoliberalism.

Well-formed logical arguments are always essential to political persuasion but we will need something more than rationality to challenge the seductive power of consumerism. The authors fling down a political gauntlet: we must, they claim, reflect on the rise of right-wing populism and consider whether its appeal to emotional values can be redirected towards progressive objectives.