Black Star documents the vibrant Asian Youth Movements in 1970s and 80s Britain who struggled against the racism of the street and the state. Anandi Ramamurthy shows how they drew inspiration from Black Power movements as well as anti-imperialist and workers' struggles across the globe.This book is populated by landmark events in anti-racist struggle, from the Grunwick strike, to the Handsworth riots, and the acquittal of the Bradford 12. Ramamurthy writes of the evolution of a pol...

First published in 2006, this volume provides the first in-depth analysis of the place of visual representations within the process of decolonisation during the period 1945 to 1970. The chapters trace the way in which different visual genres – art, film, advertising, photography, news reports and ephemera – represented and contributed to the political and social struggles over Empire and decolonisation during the mid-Twentieth century. The book examines both the direct visual representatio...

As a small boy in Epping Forest, Jack Straw could never have imagined that one day he would become Britain's Lord Chancellor. As one of five children of divorced parents, he was bright enough to get a scholarship to a direct-grant school, but spent his holidays as a plumbers' mate for his uncles to bring in some much-needed extra income. Yet he spent 13 years and 11 days in government, including long and influential spells as Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. This is the story of how h...

The British Empire, wrote Adam Smith, 'has hitherto been not an empire, but the project of an empire' and John Darwin offers a magisterial global history of the rise and fall of that great imperial project. The British Empire, he argues, was much more than a group of colonies ruled over by a scattering of British expatriates until eventual independence. It was, above all, a global phenomenon. Its power derived rather less from the assertion of imperial authority than from the fusing togeth...

Shortlisted, John W. Dafoe Book PrizeSaturday, November 3, 1956The United Nations, New York City about 10 p.m.Lester Pearson, Canada's foreign minister (and future prime minister) stands before the United Nations General Assembly. He is about to speak, reading from a proposal composed of seventy-eight painstakingly chosen words. These words, shaped by caution and hope, are a last-ditch attempt to prevent a conflict in Egypt from igniting a conflagra...

In the fall of 1956, the world was on the brink of war. Egyptian President Gamel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, and Britain, France, and Israel attacked him. Russia supported Nasser, and Soviet Premier Khrushchev threatened nuclear holocaust if the United States became militarily involved. Soon, the matter became a major problem for the United Nations.Fortunately, because of the efforts of Lester Pearson, then Canada's Minister of External Affairs, the crisis was defused. Pear...

There are currently between twenty and thirty civil wars worldwide, while at a global level the Cold War has been succeeded by a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" that continues to rage a decade after 9/11. Why is this, when we know how destructive war is in both human and economic terms? Why do the efforts of aid organizations and international diplomats founder so often?In this important book David Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when ...

Guardians of Power is a thought-provoking and controversial challenge to the idea that western media is unbiased, fearless and open to different ideas.This book argues that a corporate media system be never be expected to tell the truth about a world dominated by corporations. It challenges the complacent view that newspapers, including the 'liberal' Guardian and the Independent, tell the truth about climate change, war and problems in society when they are profit-oriented business...

What is state crime? This book sets out the parameters of state crime and highlights the complex issues involved. The authors provide a clear chapter-by-chapter assessment of state violence, corruption, state involvement in organised and corporate crime, avoidable 'natural' disasters, torture, criminal policing, war crimes and genocide.Penny Green and Tony Ward put forward a powerful argument drawing from a range of disciplines including law, criminology, human rights, internationa...

This book presents a comprehensive overview of EU immigration, asylum, race and security policies.Liz Fekete argues that at the same time as the EU introduces selective migration policies, it closes its borders against asylum seekers who were the first victims of the growth of the security state which now embraces Muslims. She explores the way in which antiterrorist legislation has been used to evict undesirable migrants, how deportation policies commodify and dehumanise the most v...

The Oxford History of the British Empire is a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. From the founding of colonies in North America and the West Indies in the seventeenth century to the reversion of Hong Kong to China at the end of the twentieth, British imperialism was a catalyst for far-reaching change. The Oxford History of the British Empire as a comprehensive study allows us to understa...

This introduction to Suez covers the background to the crisis, the invasion, and its aftermath. The Suez-Crisis provides:* key documents, as primary sources, incorporated in the text* an extensive range of other source material, including images* analysis of the significance of the sources discussed, and their usefulness as historical evidence* commentary on the historical context of the crisis* an analysis of the wider implications of the crisis...