ALEX HALL recommends a book that places empirical evidence at the heart of understanding racism
The role of peasants in 20th century history
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
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A recognition that individually we are powerless both politically and socially is essential, writes GORDON PARSONS
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
The Last Peasant War — Violence and revolution in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe
by Jakub S Benes
Princeton University Press, £35
WHEN I first read the title of this book, I did a double take. I knew of peasant wars in the Middle Ages and of leaders like Wat Tyler and Thomas Muntzer, but peasant wars in the 20th century? Surely the publisher had the date wrong?
Benes soon disabused me of my ignorance. In his introduction he points out that both conservative and Marxist historians have largely ignored the more recent revolutionary roles played by the peasantry.
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