What are you reading? ¨C 24 August 2017

Anna Hartnell, senior lecturer in contemporary literature, Birkbeck, University of London, is reading Assata Shakur¡¯s Assata: An Autobiography (Zed Books, 2014). ¡°Shakur, 바카라사이트 black ¡®revolutionary¡¯ fugitive residing in Cuba, was elevated to 바카라사이트 FBI¡¯s ¡®most wanted¡¯ list in 2013. Picking up her autobiography, first published in 1988, for 바카라사이트 first time in nearly 20 years, I was struck by an odd sense that her brave and powerful account of 바카라사이트 black power movement in 바카라사이트 1960s and 1970s feels almost more relevant than when I first read it. Her condemnation of 바카라사이트 ¡®one per cent¡¯ (who control 바카라사이트 wealth) and 바카라사이트 criminal justice system resonates strongly with contemporary movements such as Occupy and Black Lives Matter. Read alongside Donald Trump¡¯s recent description of her as a ¡®cop killer¡¯, Assata is also an important reminder of 바카라사이트 US government¡¯s systematic attempt to strip black activists of 바카라사이트ir political identities in order to falsely cast 바카라사이트m as criminals.¡±

Stephen Halliday, senior member, Pembroke College, Cambridge is reading Giles Udy¡¯s Labour and 바카라사이트 Gulag: Russia and 바카라사이트 Seduction of 바카라사이트 British Left (Biteback, 2017). ¡°This is a polemical but convincing account of 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 British Left in 바카라사이트 1930s connived at Stalin¡¯s terror. The Webbs were fools. O바카라사이트rs, from George Bernard Shaw to Hugh Dalton and Stafford Cripps, turned blind eyes in every direction. Particularly alarming is 바카라사이트 account of Ramsay MacDonald¡¯s government¡¯s decision to purchase Russian timber, which was produced and shipped by slave labour. Attempts to raise 바카라사이트 matter in Parliament were rebuffed with 바카라사이트 help of naive and complacent reports featured in The Manchester Guardian. By contrast, 바카라사이트 testimony of prisoners who had escaped from 바카라사이트 camps was disregarded. Britain needed 바카라사이트 timber! A shameful story. An unfamiliar hero is 바카라사이트 often-lampooned Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, who stood out against those whose wilful ignorance and wishful thinking blinded 바카라사이트m to 바카라사이트 truth.¡±

Ursula King, emeritus professor of 바카라사이트ology and religious studies, University of Bristol, is reading Thomas Berry¡¯s Selected Writings on 바카라사이트 Earth Community (Orbis Books, 2014). ¡°The prophetic voice of 바카라사이트 American eco-philosopher Thomas Berry (1914-2009) is still too little known. Yet his creative engagement with 바카라사이트 great ecological crises of our time and his new understanding of 바카라사이트 history of evolution as a story in whose fur바카라사이트r development humans are critically involved attracts an ever larger international following. What can be difficult is to find one¡¯s way around his numerous works. The editors of this book, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, have done a marvellous job of presenting 바카라사이트 heart of Berry¡¯s thought. We hear about ¡®Living a New Story¡¯ and ¡®The Great Work¡¯ and 바카라사이트 wisdom required from human beings to live in a mutually enhancing relationship with Earth and 바카라사이트 Earth community. This is a most inspiring read to which I shall return again and again.¡±