Birmingham


Book Description

This new, factually rich and visually stunning publication is the first major history of Birmingham for more than four decades.




The Chartist Movement


Book Description

"Chartism was a Victorian era working class movement for political reform in Britain between 1838 and 1848. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. The term "Chartism" is the umbrella name for numerous loosely coordinated local groups, often named "Working Men's Association," articulating grievances in many cities from 1837. Its peak activity came in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It began among skilled artisans in small shops, such as shoemakers, printers, and tailors. The movement was more aggressive in areas with many distressed handloom workers, such as in Lancashire and the Midlands. It began as a petition movement which tried to mobilize "moral force", but soon attracted men who advocated strikes, General strikes and physical violence, such as Feargus O'Connor and known as "physical force" chartists."--Wikipedia







Political Unions, Popular Politics and the Great Reform Act of 1832


Book Description

This book is the first on the creation, development and influence of popular politics, specifically the role of Political Unions, on the Great Reform Act of 1832. Political Unions and the force of public opinion played a vital role in seeing the Reform Bill through Parliament and setting England on the path of peaceful, legislative reform. Their emphasis on representing the 'industrious' classes linked the Unions to the emerging debates - political and socio-economic - in later Victorian Britain and the evolution of British participatory democracy.




How To Change It


Book Description

Introducing the new ‘How To...’ series from #Merky Books: unlock your potential with our short, practical pocket-sized guides. _______________________________________________________ How to Change It: your indispensable guide to activism Is it possible to create real change? How can we as individuals help to solve some of the biggest issues of today? How can we overcome injustice and inequality wherever we are? Where does power sit, and how can we get it? How to Change It provides the answers to these questions, and many more. In three simple steps - educate, organise and agitate - artist and organiser Joshua Virasami sets out several lessons for successful campaigning, drawing on the experience and actions of a number of activist and political movements, including Extinction Rebellion, Occupy and Black Lives Matter. Written by Joshua Virasami Introduced by Patrisse Cullors: artist, organiser and freedom fighter from Los Angeles and co-founder of Black Lives Matter. She is the author of critically acclaimed When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. _______________________________________________________ Designed to inspire and encourage readers to unlock their potential and provoke change, the How To series offers a new model in publishing, helping to break down knowledge barriers and uplift the next generation. Creatively presented and packed with clear, step-by-step, practical advice, this series is essential reading for anyone seeking guidance to thrive in the modern world. Curate your bookshelf with these collectible titles.




The Language(s) of Politics


Book Description

Multilingualism is an ever-present feature in political contexts around the world, including multilingual states and international organizations. Increasingly, consequential political decisions are negotiated between politicians who do not share a common native language. Nils Ringe uses the European Union to investigate how politicians’ reliance on shared foreign languages and translation services affects politics and policy-making. Ringe's research illustrates how multilingualism is an inherent and consequential feature of EU politics—that it depoliticizes policy-making by reducing its political nature and potential for conflict. An atmosphere with both foreign language use and a reliance on translation leads to communication that is simple, utilitarian, neutralized, and involves commonly shared phrases and expressions. Policymakers tend to disregard politically charged language and they are constrained in their ability to use vague or ambiguous language to gloss over disagreements by the need for consistency across languages.







Hammer and Hoe


Book Description

A groundbreaking contribution to the history of the "long Civil Rights movement," Hammer and Hoe tells the story of how, during the 1930s and 40s, Communists took on Alabama's repressive, racist police state to fight for economic justice, civil and political rights, and racial equality. The Alabama Communist Party was made up of working people without a Euro-American radical political tradition: devoutly religious and semiliterate black laborers and sharecroppers, and a handful of whites, including unemployed industrial workers, housewives, youth, and renegade liberals. In this book, Robin D. G. Kelley reveals how the experiences and identities of these people from Alabama's farms, factories, mines, kitchens, and city streets shaped the Party's tactics and unique political culture. The result was a remarkably resilient movement forged in a racist world that had little tolerance for radicals. After discussing the book's origins and impact in a new preface written for this twenty-fifth-anniversary edition, Kelley reflects on what a militantly antiracist, radical movement in the heart of Dixie might teach contemporary social movements confronting rampant inequality, police violence, mass incarceration, and neoliberalism.