JOHN GREEN recommends a German comedy that celebrates the old GDR values of solidarity, community and a society not dominated by consumerism
John Green


JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal

Mountains of research show that hardcore material harms children, yet there are still no simple measures in place

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

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

JOHN GREEN recommends an entertaining, if harsh and instructive, study of bullying, discipline and power dynamics in schools and at work

JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party

As climate change makes vast mineral deposits accessible, the island’s 56,000 residents face unprecedented pressure from Trump’s territorial ambitions while struggling to maintain their traditional way of life, writes JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN is dissatisfied with a book that fails to address the promotion of ignorance as a ruling-class strategy to maintain control

JOHN GREEN takes issue with a mainstream novel designed to denigrate the GDR

JOHN GREEN advises caution when reading a highly informative account of the way thousands of top Nazis escaped justice and found employment in the West

Driven on by novel forms of hard-right populism like Modi and Trump, European neofascists are skillfully rebranding themselves and taking power by copying the left's language — just as they did in the last century, writes JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN debates the potential of a book that explores fascism in US history and its contemporary impact to reach the audience it deserves

JOHN GREEN wades through the autobiography of Angela Merkel in search any trace of political vision or historical awareness

JOHN GREEN appreciates a stunning record of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London

Despite its anti-socialist bias, JOHN GREEN recommends a new survey of British architecture that seeks to educate and provoke

JOHN GREEN recommends a history of the Black Sea peninsula, situated at a crossroads between Europe and Asia

JOHN GREEN marvels at the rediscovery of a radical US photographer who took the black civil rights movement to her heart

JOHN GREEN recommends a useful how-to guide for teaching children with special needs, aimed at those working in education

Behind the superficial glitter of the Republican election campaign, lie big money interests and an assortment of extreme right-wing groups – including white supremacists, anti-semites and bizarre conspiracy theorists, warns JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN applauds the clarity with which an upcoming exhibition and book make plain Britain's role in the slave trade

Covering the revolt for East German television 50 years ago, JOHN GREEN witnessed first-hand how the revolution blossomed and withered, as anti-worker and reformist forces aligned to keep the Communist Party from power

In part one of two articles, JOHN GREEN recounts his experience covering the fall of Portugal’s 41-year-old dictatorship in 24 hours, a remarkable moment of unity and hope, as the masses embraced freedom

With respect for the authors’ intentions, JOHN GREEN demonstrates the lack of class consciousness that undermines their critique of dysfunctional Britain

As more and more voices on the left contemplate the necessity and viability of a new vehicle for elections to fill the void left by Labour’s violent lurch to the right, JOHN GREEN assesses the terrain — and what not to do

JOHN GREEN finds an ideal travelling companion as he works his way from New England to Florida

Israeli tactics of obliterating the built and natural environments of Gaza remind JOHN GREEN of the methods he saw used by the reactionary forces of Renamo in Mozambique following its liberation from Portuguese colonial rule

JOHN GREEN recommends a stunning collection of images that is testament to the vibrancy of Palestinian society prior to occupation

JOHN GREEN recommends an excellent survey of the involvement of the British state, and British volunteers, in the Spanish Civil War

From working closely with Apartheid South Africa to develop its nuclear weapons to supplying the far-right terrorists in Nicaragua with their famous Uzis, Israel has always been a malevolent force internationally, writes JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN tells the largely forgotten story of Roosevelt’s progressive vice-president who wanted to pursue a more collaborative approach with the USSR — but was cheated out of the Democratic nomination by Truman

JOHN GREEN appreciates a meticulous dissection of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency that exposes political and economic structures in the US

JOHN GREEN is unimpressed by a novel that simply borrows the civil war as a backdrop

Far from being opposed to it, capitalism depends on debt as a way of enforcing loyalty to the profit system from those that have the least to gain from it, explains JOHN GREEN

The recently discovered collection of artworks at the Wismut mine from GDR period challenges ‘received wisdom’ about socialist art, writes JOHN GREEN

Three internationally renowned female photographers, whose work combines visual innovation, aesthetic brilliance and militancy, talk to JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN welcomes a new history that makes the reader question both origins and national identities

JOHN GREEN marvels at a vision of working-class lives in the industrial Midlands, pre-Thatcher

Capitalism drives modern warfare — but our species has waged determined and passionate campaigns of murder against each other long before its arrival. How can we begin to explain this, asks JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN looks at the Britain’s canal network, its historical arteries

JOHN GREEN pays tribute to the activism of a man of political fearlessness

Where do swallows go over winter, asks JOHN GREEN

The King was probably attracted to the organic farming methods at the largest ‘biodynamic’ farm in Germany, rather than the politics behind them, muses JOHN GREEN

JOHN GREEN takes issue with a well-researched but politically naive history of the evangelical churches in Latin America

JOHN GREEN reports on rewilding attempts in the capital and beyond in order to give a boost to rare or endangered wildlife

JOHN GREEN is fascinated to read a crime thriller written from the point of view of Europe’s northern indigenous people

JOHN GREEN yearns for the real-life stories behind a fairy-tale photobook of rural Russian life

On the anniversary of playwright Arthur Miller’s death JOHN GREEN explores the impact of anti-communist paranoia on his work

JOHN GREEN recommends an exposé of dangerous malpractice at the oldest and largest nuclear site in the US

None of the poets in this collection reveal any understanding whatsoever of the politics involved or the context, writes JOHN GREEN

Tapping with your phone, using chip and pin, paying online — it all seems so much easier than notes and coins. But nothing pushed by big tech and the financial industry giants is in our favour, argues JOHN GREEN

(February 24 1943 – November 22 2022)

JOHN GREEN sees uncomfortable parallels between the demise of ancient Greece and the accelerating decline faced today by Britain and the US

JOHN GREEN previews an exhibition that celebrates the human interrelationship with water

JOHN GREEN reports from the Leeds Palestinian Film Festival 2022

John Green talks to EMILY INGRAM whose moving documentary charts the remarkable resilience of Doncaster women at the time of the miners’ strike of 1984

The Shrewsbury 24 case was a travesty of justice on a unprecedented scale, writes JOHN GREEN