JENNY MITCHELL, poetry co-editor for the Morning Star, introduces her priorities, and her first selection
Keep the working class happy
ALEX HALL is intrigued by the lessons drawn by an eminent scholar of the Bronze Age collapse of civilisation
SURVIVORS: Phoenician glass necklace from Olbia, 4th century BC
[Giovanni Dall'Orto/CC]
HENRY BELL is sceptical of the notion that ‘progress’ is an ideology that the ruling class uses exclusively to camouflage appropriation
In search of political understanding, MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes a critique of anti-semitism as codified by the Israeli state
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
JOHN GREEN is intrigued by the ethereal, ghostly quality of images of a London unobscured by the bustle of humanity
JENNY FARRELL relishes an outstanding Palestinian novel that immerses readers in the sensory reality of Gaza, then and now
AI-induced murder, last rites for the mob-dog, a gullible common herd, and an exemplary Christmas chiller
After 1177 BC The Survival of Civilizations
Eric H Cline
Princeton, £28
IN 1177 BC civilisation as we know it crumbled. In what is known as the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Cypriots all suffered disaster and lay in ruins.
Trade stopped, and written records disappear. A series of catastrophes ensued which included the destruction of cities, mass migration and climate change. Ultimately the Minoans and the Hittites vanished.
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