Round-up of Radical Reads

Reviewed by Mandy Vere

All the heavy-weights are out this month - Tariq Ali has a slim, but white-hot, volume, Rough Music: Blair, Bombs, Baghdad, London, Terror (Verso £5.99), which just about covers it all, while John Pilger's edited volume, Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and Its Triumphs (Vintage £8.99) is now out in paperback. And if you need a real door-stopper, Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (4th Estate £25) is a passionate outcry against the lies and deceit that have sent tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to their deaths.
Then we have the celebrations - Queen Coal: Women of the Miners' Strike by Triona Holden (Sutton £20), a lovely series of accounts showing how women's lives changed through struggle. And how about the remarkable Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution by Richard Gott (Verso £9.99) - what is going on in Venezuela is an inspiration, a revolution from below which is seriously getting up the noses of the Bush administration. And for a more wide-ranging view, Rebecca Solnit gives us Hope in the Dark: the Untold History of People Power (Canongate £7.99). It's easy to feel in these tough times that there are no victories to celebrate, no hope to be had, but consider S.Africa's Truth & Reconciliation Commission, US rulings in support of gay marriage or the Mexican Zapatistas…
And now for something practical - Listening Effectively to Children by Patty Wipfler (Rational Island £5) is a little gem of a book for parents, teachers and the rest to transform our relations with young ones, and hence the power of the young, a liberation movement whose time is yet to come. And hot on the heels of Black History Month, Paul Kivel's book, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice (New Society £13.50) is the ultimate ally's handbook, essential, uplifting reading.
Finally I'd like to recommend a novel you might have missed - I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb (Harper Collins £8.99). Dominick Birdsey, whose life is bound up with his schizophrenic twin, Thomas, must confront the pain of his past and a lot of dark secrets in order to forgive his brutal step-father, and finally rebuild himself. The book is deeply moving, especially in terms of a man's emotional life, the writing is involving and it's just such a great read. Go on, beg, buy or borrow!

These books can be ordered from News from Nowhere bookshop.