Reviews

Blood-soaked mass-murderer Henry Kissinger once infamously asserted (to Chile's foreign minister) that, “Nothing important can come from the South. The axis of history starts in Moscow, goes to Bonn, crosses over to Washington, and then goes to Tokyo. What happens in the South is of no importance.” In reality, as this book makes abundantly clear, the supposedly civilised “north” has much to learn from the south - and not just from the third world, but also from the even older “fourth world” of indigenous peoples.

The inhabitants of…

A plaudit for this book calls it “proof that you don't have to stop rockin' once you become a parent”.

Having never started rockin', I'm perhaps not the intended audience but found it an interesting addition to the panoply of parenting books I've read over the past four years. The book started life as columns for US zine Maximum Rock and Roll, on the theme of “punk parent[ing]”, and much of the content reflects this origin.

There is some useful stuff here, not covered in other parenting books: setting up a childcare co-op and…

Despite his loud protestations to the contrary, Martin Amis's collected essays about the post-9/11 world demonstrate that he is indeed hostile to, and fearful of, Islam as a religion. At times in The Second Plane, Amis is careful to distinguish between Islam, the world religion, and “Islamism”, a violent and intolerant strand of belief.

Over and over again, however, Amis lets slip his underlying prejudices. In a chapter on “demographics”, he relays uncritically some scaremongering figures on European Muslim birth rates. More…

The ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the unfortunate distinction of being the world's biggest “forgotten emergency” according to a 2005 poll of experts by Reuters. The numbers are staggering, with the International Rescue Committee recently estimating that over 5 million people have died since 1998, the majority due to preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by the fighting.

Extensively referenced, with a useful chronology of events and a map to guide the reader, The Congo Wars is a concise, well-…

Under the Bombs is a stunning and intensely moving film set amongst the physical and emotional devastation of Lebanon under the Israeli onslaught of 2006.

The storyline is simple yet powerful: Zeina arrives in Beirut on a desperate mission to find her son in the confusion and terror of war-ravaged southern Lebanon.

Taxi driver Tony, a Christian, whilst initially motivated by making a fast buck, is drawn into Zeina's odyssey. Taking strength from each other, they see the quest through to a heart-stopping conclusion.

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Though a disproportionately white affair, the peace movement is a close relative of the anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-apartheid struggles that form a key strand in this wonderful selection from the Getty Images photo archive. As Paul Gilroy notes in the thought-provoking essay, while this is “not a book for black people only”, the history it marks out is, even now, one which “those who are complacent, powerful and indifferent to the suffering of Britain's minorities find easy to overlook.”

Most media coverage of the current…

A political biography of both Thabo Mbeki and the ANC since taking power, this book explores and evaluates the frustrations of the ANC's transformation from a national liberation movement to a strongly centrist political party committed to market-based economic policies. Packed with detail and context, the book can be read as a thorough introduction to current South African politics or as “what went wrong in post-liberation South Africa”.

Gumede gives an insight into the consequences of differing organisational structures used…

Gandhi and Beyond is divided into three parts: the first two chapters look at the work of Gandhi and Martin Luther King; the next three at how their ideas have been used by other activists such as Cesar Chavez and Dorothy Day; and the final two at issues of gender and principles for action. The author says in his introduction that he hopes it will add to academic knowledge about nonviolence, whilst also inspiring people to act. I think he is more successful in the former objective, than the latter, as it is often rather a theoretical read…

Why do we need another book on climate change? According to George Marshall, because climate change is “the greatest moral challenge we have ever faced” but is generally presented in a way which is “baffling, boring, and irrelevant” (oh, and we're all in denial about it anyway).

He aims - by presenting only the bare scientific facts, and concentrating on the essential issue of how to come to terms with the problem we face and reduce our personal emissions - to give us a book which will motivate us not only to act, but to persuade…

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I very much enjoyed reading this book, although its title is something of a misnomer, as it is mostly a history of war resistance and anti-war thought. Another slight irritant is the amount of pages devoted to events within the US, compared to the rest of the world. But that is more than enough criticism, for this is an excellent little book.

Starting with a review of anti-war thought within the main religions - and arguing strongly that each was fundamentally anti-violence and anti-war before being corrupted by becoming powerful -…

Starting in 2000, a wave of “people power” revolutions - spearheaded by vibrant youth movements - toppled governments in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine.

Each involved an unpopular government with authoritarian tendencies, a rigged election, an explicit commitment on the part of the “revolutionaries” (crucial to their success) to use only nonviolent tactics and, most controversially, financial support from Western governments and “democracy” foundations.

According to the Financial Times, Serbian opposition groups received “around…

Daisy, aged 15, is sent from New York to England to stay with her Aunt Penn and her cousins Edmund, Isaac, Osbert and Piper. Daisy starts to enjoy her stay although she is soon going to find out that this will last a lot longer than she expected.

A new war starts in Britain, Daisy and her cousins are cut off from Aunt Penn and Daisy's parents. Daisy is forced to grow up quickly and experiences terrible things, as well as new-found love for her cousins. When she is separated from Isaac, Osbert and Edmund she becomes a mother to Piper…

Not long after the discovery of oil in Persia in 1908, Winston Churchill instigated a programme to convert the British navy from coal-to oil- powered vessels. Control over the oilfields of the Middle East - including, of course, those of modern-day Iraq - became a major priority of western foreign policy, and to a large extent has shaped the face of the peace movement today.

Jon Sack's Iraqi Oil for Beginners is a comic history of Iraq which takes us through the fascinating (and for many activists largely unknown) history of Iraq,…

Originally produced as a catalogue to accompany an exhibition of prints which took place on artist Emily Johns' return from an Fellowship of Reconciliation peace delegation to Iran in May 2006, Drawing Paradise on the 'Axis of Evil' is ever more pertinent as the United States ratchets up its aggression and imposes more sanctions on Iran with UK backing.

Her pictures, exuding a calm stillness and beauty, are drawn with particular reference to the historical relationship between Britain, oil and Iran and are accompanied by informative…