SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Auf den Schultern von Marx. Hrsg. Sablowski, von Thomas (et al.). Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2020. 552 pp. € 40.00.

This comprehensive volume sheds light on Marx's core concerns: recognizing reality, and theoretical and political confrontation with reality in order to transform it into a society worth living in for everyone. The thirty contributions elaborate on problems related to the development of capital relationships, critiquing and clarifying the positions, theses and theorems that Marx devised and formulated, and explaining the nature and development of these problems. The texts aim to update Marx's theory and examine its impulses in light of later social developments. In addition to questions of criticism of political economy, social issues, and gender relations, politics, culture, and art are addressed.

Bondon, Roméo. Le bestiaire libertaire d'Elisée Reclus. Atelier de création libertaire, Lyon 2020. 125 pp. € 8.00.

Already in his time (1830–1905), in his experience as a walker, a traveller, and a geographer, Elisée Reclus saw the decline in biodiversity and the disappearance of wild species. In this essay, Roméo Bondon explores Reclus's ethical concern that the progress of science and technology instrumentalized by capitalism would not only worsen the exploitation of the working classes and reinforce the domination of the bourgeoisie, but would also seriously disrupt the natural balance. According to the author, Reclus's aesthetic approach to nature demonstrates the ugliness of industrial civilization and inspires the desire for a more harmonious social life.

Hsu, Rachel Hui-Chi. Emma Goldman, Mother Earth, and the Anarchist Awakening. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame (IN) 2021. xv, 447 pp. Ill. Maps. $45.00. (E-book: $35.99.)

Mother Earth (1906–1917), an anarchist monthly published by Emma Goldman, played a key role in sparking and spreading the movement around the world. Professor Hsu argues that Mother Earth stirred an unprecedented anarchist awakening, inspiring an anti-authoritarian spirit across social, ethnic, and cultural divides and transforming US radicalism. The magazine's broad readership was forced to reflect on society and their lives while opening it to diversified interpretations and practices. This anarchist awakening was more effective at personal and intellectual levels than at a collective, socioeconomic one. The author explores the history of Mother Earth, headquartered in New York City, and clearly conveys the magazine's influence by examining the teamwork beyond Goldman.

Lange, Elena Louisa. Value without Fetish. Uno Kōzō's Theory of “Pure Capitalism” in Light of Marx's Critique of Political Economy. [Historical Materialism, Vol. 227.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2021. x, 578 pp. € 215.00; $258.00. (Open Access.)

This book presents an in-depth study of the theory of “pure capitalism”, devised by the influential Japanese economist Uno Kōzō (1897–1977) in light of the method and object of Marx's Critique of Political Economy. Close analysis of the theories of value, production, and reproduction and crisis in Uno's central texts from the 1930s to the 1970s reveals his departure from Marx's central insights about the fetishistic character of the capitalist mode of production. Dr Lange traces this departure back to the failed epistemology of value developed in Uno's earliest writings. By disavowing the complex relation between value and fetish that structures Marx's critique, Uno adopts the paradigms of neoclassical theories to present an apology rather than a critique of capitalism.

Livingstone, D.W., Adams, Tracey Lynn and Sawchuk, Peter H.. Professional Power and Skill Use in the “Knowledge Economy”. A Class Analysis. [The Knowledge Economy and Education.] Brill Sense, Leiden [etc.] 2021. xvi, 286 pp. € 127.00; $153.00. (Paper: € 40.00; $48.00; E-book: € 127.00; $153.00.)

This is a systematic analysis of the class structure of professionals. Their growing numbers, including non-managerial professional employees, as well as self-employed professionals, professional employers, and professional managers, have been conflated in prior studies. In this book, evidence is gathered from a unique series of large-scale surveys that have taken place since the 1980s and from recent comparative case studies of engineers and nurses, focused primarily on issues of job control and skill utilization among these knowledge workers, widely regarded as pivotal to sustaining knowledge economies. Professional employees in particular face declining job control, diminishing use of their skills, and increasing barriers to continued learning.

Malon, Benoît. Lettres à André Léo (1868–1871), à Mathilde Roederer (1872–1876), et à quelques autres. Préc. Des vies parallèles d'André Léo et Benoît Malon par Lucien Descaves. Textes éd. et ann. Par Jean-Pierre Bonnet. Préf. De Claude Latta. Ressouvenances, Coeuvres-et-Valsery 2020. 315 pp. € 21.99.

Formed in June 1994, the Association of Friends of Benoît Malon (1841–1893) aims to revive the memory of Malon as a thinker of unifying and universal socialism. This book consists of three sections: Part One, “The parallel lives of André Léo and Benoît Malon”, is a biography by Lucien Descaves; Part Two consists of the letters sent by Benoît Malon to André Léo (née Léodile Béra), a protagonist of combatant feminism and socialism; and Part Three comprises the letters sent to Mathilde Roederer. These daily accounts of friendships and political reflections offer an emotional as well as an intellectual palette. The preface by Claude Latta and the notes of Jean-Pierre Bonnet place the letters in their historical context.

Mayblin, Lucy and Turner, Joe. Migration Studies and Colonialism. Polity Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2021. x, 246 pp. £55.00; € 62.20. (Paper: £16.99; € 19.20; E-book: £16.99; € 22.90.)

The history of migration is deeply entangled with colonialism. To this day, colonial logics continue to shape the dynamics of migration. Starting from the premise that colonial histories should be central to migration studies, Dr Mayblin and Dr Turner argue that scholars need not forge new theories but must learn from and be inspired by the wealth of literature that already exists across the world. Providing a range of inspiring and challenging perspectives on migration, the authors aim to demonstrate what paying attention to colonialism, through using the tools offered by postcolonial, decolonial, and related scholarship, can offer those studying international migration today.

Merrifield, Andy. Marx, Dead and Alive. Reading Capital in Precarious Times. Monthly Review Press, New York 2020. 184 pp. Ill. $89.00. (Paper: $23.00; E-book: $12.00.)

Karl Marx saw the ruling class as a sorcerer, no longer able to control the ominous powers it has summoned from the netherworld. As our modern world becomes ever more mist-enveloped, contends the author, the works of Marx can help us to see through the fog.

In this book, Dr Merrifield makes a case for a critical thinker still able to offer people a route towards personal and social authenticity. Bolstering his argument with examples of literature and history, from Shakespeare and Beckett to the Luddites and the Black Panthers, he demonstrates how Marx can reveal our individual lives to us within a collective perspective and a historical continuum.

Patnaik, Utsa and Patnaik, Prabhat. Capital and Imperialism. Theory, History, and the Present. Monthly Review Press, New York 2021. 384 pp. $89.00. (Paper: $27.00; E-book: $17.00.)

In this award-winning book, radical political economists Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik argue that the accumulation of capital has always required obtaining land, raw materials, and bodies from non-capitalist modes of production. Even after slavery was abolished, millions of people in the Global South continued to fall prey to the ongoing lethal exigencies of the marketplace. After World War II, when decolonization led to the end of the so-called Golden Age of Capitalism, neoliberal economies stepped in to reclaim the Global South, imposing drastic “austerity” measures on working people. According to the Patnaiks, however, this neoliberal economy is doomed to a protracted crisis. In its demise, we are beginning to see the transcendence of the capitalist system.

State Transformations. Classes, Strategy, Socialism. Ed. by Albo, Gregory, Maher, Stephen and Zuege, Alan. [Studies in Critical Social Sciences.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2021. xii, 387 pp. € 197.00; $237.00. (E-book: € 197.00; $237.00.)

Critical and especially Marxist state theory is often said to have begun to lose its central place in the study of comparative politics in the 1980s. The fourteen essays in this volume address the impoverishment of state theory in recent decades and insist that class analysis remains salient to the study of states. Organized in four parts, the volume covers the thematic areas of: state theory and capitalist democracy; imperialistic restructuring and global capitalism; from neoliberalism to political crisis; and the transformation of class politics and the state. The essays collected here are a tribute to Leo Panitch, whose work has shaped four decades of debate on the state, imperialism, and socialism.

Violence, Slavery, and Freedom between Hegel and Fanon. Ed. by Kistner, Ulrike and Van Haute, Philippe. Wits University Press, Johannesburg 2020. xxiii, 152 pp. ZAR 300.00; $20.00.

Hegel is often mentioned as one of the paradigmatic exponents of Eurocentrism and racism in Western philosophy, but his ideas also played a crucial role in the work of Frantz Fanon, one of the thinkers of the “decolonial turn”. This can be explained by the much-quoted “lord-bondsman” dialectic, described in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Fanon views this dialectic negatively in contexts of violence-riven (post-)slavery and colonialism; yet, he upholds a Hegelian-inspired vision of freedom. The six essays in this collection offer close readings of Hegel's text and of responses that highlight the entangled history of the translations, transpositions, and transformations of Hegel in the work of Fanon and, more generally, in colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial contexts.

Fanxi, Wang, Mao Zedong Thought. Ed., Transl. and with an Introd. by Benton, Gregor. [Historical Materialism Book Series, Vol. 210.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2020. ix, 326 pp. € 150.00; $180.00. (E-book: € 150.00; $180.00.)

Wang Fanxi, a leader of the Chinese Trotskyists, wrote this book on Mao more than fifty years ago while in exile in Macau (then a Portuguese colony), across the water from Hong Kong. He had been sent there in 1949 to represent his comrades in China, who would soon disappear for decades into Mao's jails. This analytical study is less a description of Mao's life and more an explanation of Maoism and an elaboration of a radical view on Maoism as a political movement and a current of thought within the Marxist tradition to which both Wang and Mao belonged. See also Felix Wemheuer's review in this volume, pp. 509–511.

HISTORY

Chirot, Daniel. You Say You Want a Revolution? Radical Idealism and Its Tragic Consequences. Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) 2020. ix, 171 pp. $29.95; £25.00.

Why have so many of the iconic revolutions of modern times ended in bloody tragedies? In this book, Professor Chirot examines a wide range of right- and left-wing revolutions around the world, from the late eighteenth century to today, finding that moderate solutions to serious social, economic, and political problems were overwhelmed by radical ideologies that promised simpler, drastic remedies. He developed four stages that revolutions might follow and which determine their outcome. Revolutions occur when existing elites fail to solve major problems, counterrevolutionary reaction leads to increasingly contentious politics and often civil war or foreign intervention, radical revolutionary leaders tend to hold unrealistic views and insist on pushing unworkable ideals, and, finally, committed revolutionaries eventually make compromises.

Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism. Ed. by Gehler, Michael, Piotr Kosicki, H. and Wohnout, Helmut. Leuven University Press, Leuven 2019. 357 pp. € 69.50. (E-book: € 52.00.)

In this edited volume, the contributing authors reconstruct the role of Christian Democracy in the fall of communism from a bird's-eye perspective by covering the entire region and by considering “third-way” options in the broader political imaginary of late-Cold War Europe. Presenting recent insights on this topic and relating scholarship on the Iron Curtain's collapse to scholarship on political Catholicism, the twelve chapters of this book offer a twofold perspective. The first approach examines the efforts undertaken by Western European actors who wanted to foster or support Christian Democratic initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. The second approach is devoted to the (re-)emergence of homegrown Christian Democratic formations in the 1980s and 90s.

Civilizing Missions in the Twentieth Century. Ed. by Barth, Boris and Hobson, Rolf. [Studies in Global Social History, Vol. 40.] Brill, Leiden 2020. viii, 234 pp. € 126.00; $152.00. (E-book: € 126.00; $152.00.)

The civilizing mission, an attempt by a dominant society to transform a subordinate society into its own self-image, became increasingly difficult to justify during the twentieth century. After World War II, in the context of decolonization, new ideological justifications for Western attempts to transform other societies had to be invented and reformulated. The nine contributions in this volume discuss the influence of these justifications on Polish nation building, Scandinavian disarmament proposals, and technocratic social policies in the interwar years. Regarding the second half of the century, the changing cultural context of European humanitarianism is covered, as well as the influence of American social science on US foreign policy, more particularly democracy promotion.

Cockshott, Paul. How the World Works. The Story of Human Labor from Prehistory to the Modern Day. Monthly Review Press, New York 2019. 376 pp. Ill. $89.00. (Paper: $32.00; E-book: $23.00.)

This book is about the successive economic and social forms within which our history has taken place. Using the dual lenses of Marxist economics and technological advance, computer engineer Paul Cockshott elaborates on broad themes, such as the interaction of human reproduction with technology, social domination, and the division of labour. Ranging from pre-class to slave economy, from peasant economy to capitalism, the author provides illuminating insight into the functionality of economic systems, complementing Marx and Engels's classic analyses of labour and wealth, with a systematic account of how economies and societies are shaped by energy sources and technologies, focusing on transitions from early societies to contemporary capitalism.

The Internationalisation of the Labour Question. Ideological Antagonism, Workers’ Movements and the ILO since 1919. Ed. by Bellucci, Stefano and Weiss, Holger (eds). [Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements.] Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2020. xxi, 436 pp. € 119.89. (Paper: € 87.19; E-book: € 67.40.)

This edited collection is a global history of workers’ organizations since 1919, when the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Comintern, and the International Federation of Trade Unions were formed. The sixteen case studies in this centenary volume analyse the relationship between global workers’ organizations and the new ideological confrontation between liberal capitalism, socialism, and communism. Workers’ organizations, and trade unions in particular, grew in importance and managed to organize internationally, forming alliances cemented by ideology and sustained by international institutional bodies or centrals and seeming to decline with the end of ideological antagonism. The authors emphasize global labour issues such as gender, as well as international workers’ histories from Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Kelly, Alexandra Celia. Consuming Ivory. Mercantile Legacies of East Africa and New England. [Culture, Place and Nature. Studies in Anthropology and Environment.] University of Washington Press, Seattle (WA) 2021. xix, 255 pp. Ill. $99.00. (Paper: $30.00.)

The economic prosperity of two nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New England towns rested on factories that manufactured piano keys, billiard balls, combs, and other items made from ivory imported from East Africa. While towns like Ivoryton and Deep River, Connecticut, thrived, the African ivory trade caused massive human exploitation and ecological devastation. At the same time, dynamic East African engagement with capitalism and imperialism took place within these trade histories. Drawing on extensive archival and field research, Professor Kelly investigates the complex global legacies of the historical ivory trade. She explains the complexities of this trade and analyses Anglo-American narratives about Africa, questioning why elephants and ivory feature so centrally in those representations.

Lenin 150 (Samizdat). 2nd Revised and Expanded Edition by Joffre-Eichhorn, Hjalmar Jorge, Anderson, P. and Salazar, Johann. Daraja Press, Ottawa 2021. xxiii, 343 pp. Ill. CAD $34.36. (E-book: CAD $10.00.)

“Chillin’ with Lenin” is the aim of the editors of this book. This collection seeks to examine the relevance of Lenin today in general and, on occasion, in relation to the specifics of the country where the writer is based, in the spirit of critical solidarity with Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Conceived from ideas of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, the book brings together twenty-five contributors, a mixed set of activists and academics writing in various styles, from lyrical and personal to discursive and theoretical. As such, the work is a collection of writings and photographs exploring the political footsteps of Lenin worth following today.

Metcalf, Alida C. Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (MD) 2020. xiii, 224 pp. Ill. Maps. $54.95. (E-book: $54.95.)

Beginning around 1500, the Atlantic Ocean moved from the periphery to the centre on European world maps. Professor Metcalf examines how sixteenth-century chart makers and mapmakers conceptualized and presented an interconnected Atlantic World that was open and navigable. Blending scholarship from historical cartography and Atlantic history, she explains why Renaissance cosmographers first incorporated sailing charts into their maps and began to reject classical models for mapping the world. Combined with the new placement of the Atlantic, the visual imagery on Atlantic maps, featuring decorative compass roses, animals, landscapes, and native peoples, communicated the accessibility of distant places with valuable commodities.

Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone. Aspects of Mobility between Africa, Asia and Europe, 300–1500 CE. Ed. by Preiser-Kapeller, Johannes, Reinfandt, Lucian [and], Stouraitis, Yannis. [Studies in Global Social History, Vol. 39; Studies in Global Migration History, Vol. 13.] Brill, Leiden 2020. xiii, 478 pp. Ill. Maps. € 130.00; $156.00. (Open Access.)

The transition zone between Africa, Asia, and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. This volume covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era. The book is divided into five parts. Part One is on migration in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, 6th–10th centuries; Part Two looks at migrations into and within the Byzantine world; Part Three focuses on migration in early Islamic societies; Part Four examines diasporas and migrations across the Medieval Afroeurasian transition zone; and Part Five is on forced mobility and slavery.

Scarcity in the Modern World. History, Politics, Society, and Sustainability, 1800–2075. Ed. by Jonsson, Fredrik Albritton (et al.). Bloomsbury Academic, London [etc.] 2019. xiv, 294 pp. Ill. $120.00. (Paper: $39.95; E-book: $35.95.)

This edited volume brings together sixteen contributions that examine how concerns about the scarcity of environmental resources such as water, food, energy, and materials have developed and subsequently been managed, from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. These multidisciplinary essays situate contemporary concerns about scarcity within their longer history and address recent forecasts and debates surrounding the future scarcity of fossil fuels, renewable energy, and water up to 2075. In doing so, the authors acknowledge that this challenge is complex and cannot be addressed by a single discipline but requires a concerted effort to think about its political and social, as well as its technical and economic dimensions.

Torstendahl, Rolf. Engineers in Western Europe: Ascent and Decline? A Profession Torn between Technology and Economy, 1850–1990, with Outlooks to the Present. Springer, Cham 2021. xix, 334 pp. € 108.99. (E-book: € 85.59.)

In this book on collectives of engineers in Western Europe, Professor Torstendahl approaches various developments from around 1850 to the present. Examining the educational patterns and career paths, and how different types of training for engineers existed in Britain, France, and Germany, he demonstrates that, although differences remain, patterns have gradually become similar. The author delves into professional organizations of engineers, varying from alumni associations to powerful lobby organizations. In the third approach, he considers engineers versus sociological theories of professionalism, on the one hand, and theories of managerialism on the other, and, in the last chapter, discusses topics such as technocracy and the responsibility of engineers.

Vanhaute, Eric. Peasants in World History. [Themes in World History.] Routledge, New York [etc.] 2021. x, 146 pp. £96.00. (Paper, E-book: £27.99.)

In this world history of peasants the multiple transformations of peasant life through history are analysed by focusing on three primary areas: the organization of peasant societies; their integration within wider societal structures; and the changing connections between local, regional, and global processes. Peasants have been a vital component in human history over the last 10,000 years. Their role as rural producers of ever-new surpluses instigated complex and often conflicting processes of social and spatial change throughout the world. Professor Vanhaute frames this social change in a story of evolving peasant frontiers. These frontiers provide a global comparative-historical lens through which to view social, economic, and ecological changes within village systems, agrarian empires, and global capitalism.

Weiss, Holger. A Global Radical Waterfront. The International Propaganda Committee of Transport Workers and the International of Seamen and Harbour Workers, 1921–1937. [Studies in Global Social History, Vol. 43.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2021. xv, 507 pp. Ill. € 144.00; $173.00. (E-book: Open Access.)

This volume investigates the ambition of the Red International of Labour Unions to radicalize the global waterfront during the interwar period. The main vehicle was the International Propaganda Committee of Transport Workers, replaced in 1930 by the International of Seamen and Harbour Workers as well as their agitation and propaganda centres, the International Harbour Bureaus and the International Seamen's Clubs. Dr Weiss scrutinizes their solidarity campaigns in support of local and national strikes as well as their agitation against discrimination, segregation, and racism within the unions, their demands to organize non-white maritime transport workers and their appeals for engagement in anti-fascist, anti-war, and anti-imperialist actions.

COMPARATIVE HISTORY

Chinese Immigrants in Europe. Image, Identity, and Social Participation. Ed. by Yue, Liu and Simeng, Wang. [Chinese-Western Discourse, Vol. 5.] De Gruyter, Berlin [etc.] 2020. 236 pp. Maps. € 89.95.

After the introduction of the Reform and Opening Up policy, over ten million migrants left China after 1978, with Europe their main destination. Focusing on two European countries, France and Germany, the ten contributions in this volume provide multidisciplinary answers to questions such as: How and to what extent do Chinese immigrants participate in their host societies? What kind of impact is the increasing number of highly qualified immigrants from China having on the development and perception of overseas Chinese communities in Europe? How is the development of Chinese identity transforming in relation to generational change?

Connolly, Heather, Stefania, Marino, and Lucio, Miguel Martínez. The Politics of Social Inclusion and Labor Representation. Immigrants and Trade Unions in the European Context. Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 2019. xviii, 200 pp. $58.95. (E-book: $38.99.)

In this book, the authors compare trade union responses to immigration and the related political and labour market developments in the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Examining the idea of social inclusion and how trade unions are coping with and adapting to the need to support immigrant workers and develop various types of engagement and solidarity strategies in the European context, they traverse the shifting immigration patterns since the 1970s, in which capitalism, the labour market, and society underwent a major crisis, concurrent with the contingent rise of anti-immigration sentiment and new forms of xenophobia. Moreover, they assess and map how trade unions have understood and framed these issues and immigrant labour to varying degrees.

Global 1968. Cultural Revolutions in Europe and Latin America. Ed. by McAdams, A. James and Monta, Anthony P.. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame (IN) 2021. xv, 517 pp. Ill. $150.00. (Paper: $45.00; E-book: $35.99.)

The 1960s was a time of global revolutionary ferment. In this volume, historians, filmmakers, musicologists, and novelists explore to what extent the period we associate with the year 1968 constituted a cultural revolution. Comparing the different manifestations of this transformational era in Europe and Latin America, the eighteen contributors show how new social mores, innovative forms of artistic expression, and cultural, religious, and political resistance were debated and tested on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet, they also find that the impulse to overturn the status quo was fuelled by the interplay of a host of factors that converged at the end of the 1960s and accelerated the transition from one generation to the next.

Palm, Daniel. Seizing the Square. 1989 Protests in China and Germany from a Global Perspective. [SpatioTemporality/ RaumZeitlichkeit, Vol./Bd. 9.] De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin [etc.] 2020. 231 pp. Ill. Maps. € 59.95. (E-book: € 59.95.)

This book offers a comparative discussion of the global dynamics behind the synchronous outburst of protests in China and Germany in 1989 and the local acts of dissent on the squares. Breaking with the national timelines of protests in 1989, it provides insight into the spatial manifestation of the global moment of 1989. Establishing the importance of the “SpaceTime” for the seized squares in 1989, Dr Palm also discusses more recent protests forming on city squares and provides a global perspective on a phenomenon that became global in recent decades. He explains that seizing the square is deeply embedded in a history that extends beyond national timelines and connects otherwise distinctive reasons for and impacts of protests.

Van Nederveen Meerkerk, Elise. Women, Work, and Colonialism in the Netherlands and Java. Comparisons, Contrasts, and Connections, 1830–1940. [Palgrave Studies in Economic History.] Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2019. xx, 283 pp. € 108.99. (E-book: € 85.59.)

Recent postcolonial studies have stressed the importance of the reciprocal influences of colonialism between colony and metropole. Professor Van Nederveen Meerkerk explores how the allocation of household labour within the Dutch Empire developed and the extent to which it was affected by colonial connections between 1830 and 1940. The changing role of economic activities of households and particularly women in the Netherlands and Java forms a case study for understanding the connections and disparities between colony and metropole. Using a wide array of new data, the author analyses the impact of changes in the second half of the nineteenth century, when more distinctions emerged in views of and policies towards Dutch working-class and Javanese peasant households.

Von der KPD zu den Post-Autonomen. Orientierungen im Feld der radikalen Linken. Hrsg. Deycke, von Alexander (et al.). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2020. 407 pp. € 45.00. (E-book: € 37.99.)

Since the riots at the anti-G20 protests in July 2017, the radical left has received increased media attention, concurrent with investigations into the backgrounds of the actors and networks of left militancy, with a view to understanding who the autonomists and Antifa actually are. The fifteen contributions in this volume examine left-wing militancy concepts, give a historical overview, elaborate on German and European case studies, and research continuities and changes. The authors describe how the radical left in its various and often competing forms and cycles has been an actor in political disputes since the origins of liberal democracy.

Vries, Peer and Vries, Annelieke. Atlas of Material Life. Northwestern Europe and East Asia, 15th to 19th Century. Leiden University Press, Leiden 2020. 340 pp. Ill. Maps. € 49.50.

This book describes material life in Northwestern Europe and East Asia, for the period from the late fifteenth to the late nineteenth centuries, focusing on developments in Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, on the one hand, and in China and Japan on the other hand. With prominent and integral maps, tables, graphs, and figures, the book provides information on the main characteristics of the economic landscape of this period. The authors demonstrate the constraints to which all pre-industrial economies were subject because of their dependence on organic natural resources, as well as the different ways in which the societies discussed dealt with those constraints.

Workers Inquiry and Global Class Struggle. Strategies, Tactics, Objectives. Ed. by Ovetz, Robert. [Wildcat: Workers’ Movements and Global Capitalism.] Pluto Press, London 2020. ix, 272 pp. £75.00. (Paper, E-book: £19.99.)

Rising from the ashes of the old trade union movement, workers’ struggle is being reborn from below. By engaging in what Karl Marx called a workers’ inquiry, workers and militant co-researchers study their working conditions, the technical composition of capital, and how to recompose their own power in order to devise new tactics, strategies, organizational forms, and objectives. In this study, Dr Ovetz has collected nine case studies, looking at workers’ movements in China, Mexico, the United States, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, India, and the United Kingdom, revealing how these new forms of struggle are not limited to single sectors of the economy or contained by state borders. See also Rosa Kösters's review in this volume, pp. 501–504.

Worlds of Labour Turned Upside Down. Revolutions and Labour Relations in Global Historical Perspective. Ed. by Brandon, Pepijn, Jafari, Peyman, and Müller, Stefan. [Studies in Global Social History, Vol. 21.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2021. xi, 336 pp. Ill. Maps. € 153.00; $184.00. (Open Access.)

The eleven essays collected in this book provide global case studies, examining changes in labour relations as a causal factor in revolutions. The authors also elaborate on existing labour relations as a motivating factor during revolutions and the long-term impact of revolutions on the evolution of labour relations. The volume examines a wide range of revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, covering examples from South America, Africa, Asia, and Western and Eastern Europe. Going beyond merely examining the place of industrial workers, the chapters also consider the position of slaves, women working on the front line of civil war, colonial forced labourers, and white-collar workers.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

Díaz-Barriga, Miguel and Dorsey, Margaret E.. Fencing in Democracy. Border Walls, Necrocitizenship, and the Security State. [Global Insecurities.] Duke University Press, Durham (NC) [etc.] 2020. xv, 178 pp. Ill. Maps. $94.95. (Paper: $24.95.)

The border walls constructed by more than thirty nation states permeate our world. Professors Dorsey and Díaz-Barriga argue that border-wall construction manifests transformations in citizenship practices aimed not only at keeping migrants out, but also at enmeshing citizens into a wider politics of exclusion. For a decade, the authors studied the US-Mexico border wall, constructed by the Department of Homeland Security, observing the political protests and legal challenges that residents mounted in opposition to the wall. In this book, the authors take us to those border communities most affected by the wall, and often ignored in national discussions about border security, to highlight how the state restricts citizens’ rights.

Global Production Networks and Rural Development. Southeast Asia as a Fruit Supplier to China. Ed. by Pritchard, Bill. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2021. vii, 184 pp. £80.00. (E-book: £25.00.)

This book provides an update on how current trade methodologies are implemented, as China becomes one of the world's largest fresh fruit importers from countries such as Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Using empirical evidence from four countries, the nine contributions consider the distinctive trade aspects and what can be learned from alternative practices carried out in other countries through the use of global production networks. An in-depth analysis provides the reader with insight into existing processes from production through to export, often through informal routes, with a marketing structure attributing greater power to distributors and brokers and having mixed effects for farmers.

Grassroots Economies. Living with Austerity in Southern Europe. Ed. by Narotzky, Susana. [Anthropology. Culture and Society.] Pluto Press, London 2020. xi, 247 pp. £75.00. (Paper, E-book: £24.99.)

The austerity crisis has radically altered the economic landscape of Southern Europe. The eleven essays in this book propose a bottom-up approach to studying the impact of economic crises and structural adjustment policies on the livelihoods of working people. The book is divided into three parts. Part One focuses on tensions and conflicts that arise in the search for material resources, and on how fragmented or cohesive identities emerge around diverse regulatory bodies. Part Two focuses on the everyday reproduction of social life framed in social units such as domestic networks, with the reproduction of an encompassing and differentiated social system. Part Three looks at the gendered effects of increased livelihood vulnerability on minds and bodies.

Heinikoski, Saila. The History and Politics of Free Movement within the European Union. European Borders of Justice. [Europe's Legacy in the Modern World.] Bloomsbury Academic, London [etc.] 2021. xi, 224 pp. $115.00. (E-book: $103.50.)

The right to free movement is the privilege that EU citizens value the most, but it has also been the source of much political controversy. Introducing a new conceptual framework for analysing practical reasoning in political discourses, Dr Heinikoski examines how European politicians have justified and criticized free movement from the commencement of the first Commission of the EU-25 in 2004 to the Brexit referendum in 2016. In addition to the discourses of national leaders, including heads of state, governments, and Ministers of the Interior from six major European states (the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Romania), the speeches of European Commissioners responsible for free movement matters are considered in the analysis.

Levinson, Marc. Outside the Box. How Globalization Changed from Moving Stuff to Spreading Ideas. Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) [etc.] 2020. vi, 277 pp. $26.95; £22.00. (Paper: $18.95; £14.99.)

Globalization is one of the most contentious issues of our time. While it may have made goods less expensive, it has also sent massive flows of money across borders and shaken the global balance of power. This book shows how globalization has evolved over two centuries in response to changes in demographics, technology, and consumer tastes, and how the nature of globalization changed dramatically in the 1980s with the creation of long-distance value chains. Drawing on new archival research, interviews, and academic literature, Marc Levinson explains why, in the early twenty-first century, globalization developed in ways counterproductive for many of the countries and many of the firms that eagerly embraced it.

Pedwell, Carolyn. Revolutionary Routines. The Habits of Social Transformation. [Outspoken.] McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 2021. xxiii, 223 pp. CAD $130.00. (Paper: CAD $37.95.)

Through its account of influential socio-political processes, such as the resurgence of fascism and white supremacy, the crafting of new technologies of governance and the operation of digital media and algorithms, Professor Pedwell rethinks not only how change works, but also what counts as change. Drawing examples from the affective politics of Trumpism and Brexit, nudge theory and behaviour change, social media and the international refugee crisis, and the networked activism of Occupy and Black Lives Matter, the author argues that minor gestures may be as significant as major happenings, revealing the powerful potential in our ability to remake shared habits and imaginatively reinhabit everyday life.

Shilton, Siobhán. Art and the Arab Spring. Aesthetics of Revolution and Resistance in Tunisia and Beyond. [The Global Middle East, Vol. 16.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2021. xi, 249 pp. Ill. £85.00. (E-book: $88.00.)

The revolutions that swept across countries in North Africa and the Middle East in December 2010 have often been articulated simply as successes or failures. These internal and external clichés are perpetuated by what Jellel Gasteli has called “icons of revolutionary exoticism”. Paying particular attention to works from the Tunisian Revolution of 2011, this book examines a diverse body of art, including photography, sculpture, graffiti, performance, video, and installations by over twenty-five artists. Examining how art can evoke the idea of revolution, Professor Shilton reveals a new way of understanding these revolutions, their profound cultural impact and the meaning of the term “revolution”.

Smith, Molly and Mac, Juno. Revolting Prostitutes. The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights. Verso, London 2020. 278 pp. £9.99. (E-book: £9.99.)

Often seen as subject to the whims of others, sex workers have shaped and contributed to social movements across the world. In this book, sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith shed new light on questions such as how the law harms sex workers, and how sex workers align with feminist and anti-capitalist politics. Speaking from a growing global sex worker rights movement and situating their argument firmly within broader questions of migration, work, feminism, and resistance to white supremacy, the authors adopt entrenched positions in the feminist struggles over prostitution work and propose a subtle but powerful shift in the terrain of future debate.

Social Problems in Southern Europe. A Comparative Assessment. Ed. by Entrena-Durán, Francisco, Soriano-Miras, Rosa M., and Calvache, Ricardo-Duque. [Southern European Societies.] Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2020. xvii, 197 pp. £85.00. (E-book: £25.00.)

As the European Union struggles to establish an agenda to tackle social problems, this book presents a set of comparative sociological studies in southern European countries from scholars working in the region. Widening the debate by looking at a series of specific social problems of southern Europe, the fourteen contributions examine pressing social issues, such as social unrest, Islamophobia, childhood and educational needs, deindustrialization, unemployment, and environmental degradation, addressing not only the implications of these issues, but also their societal perception and their impact on national and regional identities. Chapters highlight shared trends and critical regional disparities that may improve our understanding of social problems in Mediterranean welfare states.

Zafirovski, Milan. Capitalist Dictatorship. A Study of Its Social Systems, Dimensions, Forms, and Indicators. [Studies in Critical Social Sciences, Vol. 187.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2021. xii, 459 pp. € 207.00; $249.00. (E-book: € 207.00; $249.00.)

In this book, Dr Zafirovski identifies and investigates the resurgence of capitalist dictatorship in contemporary society, especially after 2016, exploring the capitalist dictatorship as a total social system composed of specific systems such as a coercive economy, repressive polity, illiberal civil society, and irrational culture in contrast to liberal democracy. He also examines multiple dimensions, forms, and indicators of capitalist dictatorship and calculates degrees of capitalist dictatorship for contemporary Western and comparable societies, such as OECD countries. Capitalist dictatorship, including autocracy, Zafirovski argues, is the gravest threat to contemporary democratic society post-2016.

AFRICA

Across the Copperbelt. Urban and Social Change in Central Africa's Borderland Communities. Ed. by Larmer, Miles (et al.). Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge [etc.] 2021. xix, 414 pp. Ill. Maps. £19.99; $25.95. (E-book: £19.99; $24.99.)

The thirteen essays in this volume expand upon earlier studies on the Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, addressing industrial mining, male-dominated formal labour organization, and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to the present. Demonstrating the constant changes in the meaning and relevance of the border to the Copperbelt's mixed and mobile population over time, the contributors explore the sense of identity within Copperbelt communities, as expressed in comic strips and football matches, their precarious and inventive ways of life, their involvement in church and education, and the processes and impact of urbanization and development, environmental degradation, and changing gender relations.

General Labour History of Africa. Workers, Employers, and Governments, 20th–21st Centuries. Ed. by Bellucci, Stefano and Eckert, Andreas. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2019. xx, 761 pp. Maps. £95.00. (Paper: £30.00.)

Co-published with the International Labour Organization, this volume analyses key developments in the general labour history of Africa, such as the emergence of wage labour, the transformation in labour relations, the role of capital and employers, labour movements, the diversity of formal and informal labour, and the impact of gender and age on the workplace. The twenty-two contributors examine issues such as mobility, migration, forced labour, security, the growth of entrepreneurial labour, the informal sector and self-employment, and the impact of trade unionism, welfare, and state relations in sectors such as mining, agriculture, industry, transport, domestic work, and sport, tourism, and entertainment, as well as the international dimension and the history and impact of the International Labour Organization.

Groves, Zoë R. Malawian Migration to Zimbabwe, 1900–1965. Tracing Machona. [Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series.] Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2020. xvii, 254 pp. Maps. € 98.09. (E-book: € 74.89.)

This book explores the culture of migration that emerged in Malawi in the early twentieth century. Migrants who travelled to Zimbabwe stayed for years or decades, and those who never returned became known as machona, “the lost ones”. Based on colonial archives and oral histories, Dr Groves captures a range of migrant experiences during a period of political change, including the rise of nationalist politics and the creation and demise of the Central African Federation. Following migrants, the author explores gender, generation, ethnicity, and class and highlights life beyond the workplace. Ultimately, the voluntary movement of Africans within the African continent raises important questions about the history of diaspora communities and the politics of belonging in post-colonial Africa.

We Rise for Our Land. Land Struggles and State Repression in Southern Africa. Ed. by Monjane, Boaventura. Forew. by Shivji, Issa. Afterw. by Madzwamuse, Masego. Daraja Press, Ottawa 2021. xxii, 217 pp. Ill. Maps. CAD $25.00. (E-book: CAD $12.00.)

In recent years, southern Africa has aroused the interest of domestic and foreign investors. Agrarian and extractive capital has been penetrating the countryside and has caused land conflicts and displacement of local peasant communities. Primarily neoliberally oriented, SADC states have positioned themselves in favour of capital. The rural people, in alliance with non-governmental organizations, have raised their voices, questioning developmentalist logics that deprive them of their means of production and violate their rights. The eleven essays in this book, from DRC, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, eSwatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, and Madagascar, seek to bring useful theoretical, conceptual, and practical contributions to the struggles of agrarian and rural movements that represent the “subalternised” rural and urban people.

AMERICA

De la Fuente, Alejandro and Gross, Ariela J.. Becoming Free, Becoming Black. Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana. [Studies in Legal History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2020. xiv, 281 pp. Ill. Maps. £19.99. (E-book: $20.00.)

How did Africans become “blacks” in the Americas? This book tells the story of enslaved and free people of colour who used the law to claim freedom and citizenship. Professors de la Fuente and Gross demonstrate that the law of freedom, not slavery, established the meaning of blackness in law. The first chapters explore the early colonial period, beginning with the settlement of Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana, especially the laws regarding manumission and the regulation of interracial marriage. In the final chapters, the authors explore the growing restrictions on manumission and free people of colour in Louisiana and Virginia, which contrasted with the less successful efforts of Cuban slaveholders to limit the rights of freed people.

Marsh, Ben. Unravelled Dreams. Silk and the Atlantic World, 1500–1840. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020. xiv, 487 pp. Ill. Maps. £29.99. (E-book: $32.00.)

One of the hopes and expectations that accompanied American colonialism was that Atlantic settlers would be able to locate new sources of raw silk, with which to satiate the boundless desire for luxurious fabrics in European markets. Examining numerous failed experiments across New Spain, New France, British North America, and the early United States, Dr Marsh reveals new insights into aspiration, labour, environment, and economy in these societies. This account of commodity failure, in contrast to the stories of greater successes of silver, sugar, tobacco, rice, and cotton, sheds new light on the distinctive features of British, French, and Spanish Atlantic settlements and environments and demonstrates how failed schemes nonetheless contributed to colonial life and landscapes.

Wintersteen, Kristin A. The Fishmeal Revolution. The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current Ecosystem. University of California Press, Oakland (CA) 2021. xvii, 225 pp. Ill. Maps. $85.00; £66.00. (Paper, E-book: $29.95; £24.00.)

Off the Pacific coast of South America, nutrients mingle with cool waters rising from the ocean's depths, creating one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems: the Humboldt Current. Converting the region's fish populations into a key ingredient in animal feed (fishmeal) fuelled the revolution in chicken, hog, and fish farming that swept the United States and Northern Europe after World War II. Dr Wintersteen explores industrialization along the Peru-Chile coast as fishmeal producers pulverized and exported unprecedented volumes of marine proteins to satisfy the growing appetite for meat in the Global North. A relentless drive to maximize profits from the sea occurred at the same time that Peru and Chile grappled with the challenge of environmental uncertainty and its potentially devastating impact.

ASIA

EUROPE

Carney, Megan A. Island of Hope. Migration and Solidarity in the Mediterranean. University of California Press, Oakland (CA) 2021. xv, 223 pp. Ill. Maps. $85.00; £66.00. (Paper, E-book: $29.95; £24.00.)

With thousands of migrants attempting the perilous maritime journey from North Africa to Europe each year, transnational migration is a defining feature of social life in the Mediterranean today. On the island of Sicily, the contours of migrant reception and integration are frequently animated by broader concerns for human rights and social justice. Professor Carney sheds light on social solidarity initiatives and networks forged between citizens and non-citizens working together to improve local livelihoods and mobilizing for political change. Basing her argument on ethnographic fieldwork with frontline communities in Sicily, the author asserts that such mobilizations hold significance not only for the rights of migrants, but also for the material and affective well-being of society at large.

Conservation's Roots. Managing for Sustainability in Preindustrial Europe, 1100–1800. Ed. by Dowling, Abigail P. and Keyser, Richard. [The Environment in History: International Perspectives, Vol. 19.] Berghahn Books, New York [etc.] 2020. ix, 364 pp. Ill. Maps. $120.00; £89.00.

While conservation today has been entwined with processes of modernity, its historical roots run deep. Considering a variety of preindustrial European settings, this book assembles twelve case studies from the medieval and early modern eras to demonstrate that practices like those advocated by modern conservationists were widespread and intentional. The aim is to enhance understanding of resource management and the ways it reflected and shaped broader sociocultural developments. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is about multiple-use resource management in preindustrial societies; the essays in Part Two deal with the governance of aquatic resources such as fishing and freshwater; and Part Three considers the deep roots of woodland conservation.