STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie
Embrace the differences
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a deliciously dark thriller that explores the complex loyalties within a marriage
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
SETH SANDRONSKY appreciates a fresh take on a 100-year-old novel that helps to contextualise the current moment of conspicuous wealth, waste and climate chaos
Minority Rule: Adventures in the culture war
Ash Sarker, Bloomsbury, £18.99
MINORITY RULE sets out to explore the ways in which class politics are being fragmented: the way the right has been weakening working-class power through processes of “divide and rule.”
Marx and Engels identified the ways in which capitalism produces extreme wealth for the very few and impoverishment for everyone else — accompanied by environmental degradation on a global scale. But resistance to capitalism has been diminished as a result of divisions within and between different sections of the working-class.
Sarker focuses on the ways in which identity politics have been weaponised to exacerbate these divisions, steering resentment away from the underlying causes of poverty and inequality. Right-wing pundits have been peddling the notion that majority interests are being threatened by minorities (however defined) effectively reinforcing the real threat — of minority rule by financial elites.
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The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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RON JACOBS recommends a book filled with history and political theory that provides both a basis and inspiration to create a way forward
As the Establishment stokes a culture war against gender recognition — not in favour of it — the left must unite in support of the trans community, says TOM KING
HELEN MERCER takes issue with Caroline Lucas’s assertion that the left have failed to offer and alternative version of Englishness
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a guide to sharing knowledge, freely available both to academics and communities