The Way I See It
The shipyard painter, political activist and razor-sharp cartoonist Bob Starrett has just written a new book The Way I See It on his eventful life and times. Below we reprint one of his stories and review an essential read
La Boheme
ENO's production of La Boheme is a triumph,
Books
A poignant tale of slavery
Sunday 21 December 2008
THE Hemings were families of slaves owned by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the US, who paradoxically railed against slavery all his life.
Attlee let his 'hares' steal the show
Sunday 21 December 2008
MANY today look back nostalgically to the post-World War II Labour government led by Clement Attlee, with its social reforms, full employment and nationalisation of basic industries. Giles Radice's book is of interest both to those who remember and those who still need to learn about that period.
Roma stories
Sunday 21 December 2008
DO you know what "atch pogering mandi" means? Or what a "kamali shay" is? You will after you've read Spokes.
Putin revealed
Sunday 21 December 2008
FLICKING through this book, my first reaction was that it wasn't one that I was likely to enjoy or find particularly useful. Michael Stuermer is no friend of the left, often going out of his way to rubbish the achievements of the Soviet era and his references to the present-day Communist Party, the only real alternative to Putin's regime, are dismissive and few and far between.
A solid history
Sunday 14 December 2008
GRAHAM STEVENSON praises Andrew Murray's even-handed insider account of the history and politics of the Transport and General Workers Union.
Poetic political insight
Sunday 14 December 2008
A Sivanandan is truly a key protagonist and writer of our times, whose sentences beat with the meanings of history as it transpires.
Women speak of Spanish war
Sunday 14 December 2008
Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War was reprinted to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the withdrawal of the International Brigades from Spain, when Dolores Ibarurri, who was also known as La Pasionaria, addressed their parade in Madrid with the immortal words: "You are history, you are legend."
An army with a huge price
Sunday 14 December 2008
THIS book concentrates on one particularly unpleasant aspect of recent events in Iraq - the role of the mercenaries.
Clamour for war
Sunday 07 December 2008
IAN SINCLAIR finds plenty to think about in a book highlighting the humanitarian bodies that have demanded armed intervention.
Essential reading on the rising
Sunday 07 December 2008
IRELAND'S Easter Rising of 1916 and the events that it sparked must surely rate as the most important revolutionary episode in the recent history of Britain, with consequences that are still unfolding.