Books published by Pluto Press

This magisterial analysis of human history - from 'Lucy', the first hominid, to the current Great Recession - combines the insights of earlier generations of Marxist historians with radical new ideas about the historical process.*BR**BR*Reading history against the grain, Neil Faulkner reveals that what happened in the past was not predetermined. Choices were frequent and numerous. Different outcomes - liberation or barbarism - were often possible. Rejecting the top-down approach of conventional history, Faulkner contends that it is the mass action of ordinary people that drives great events.*BR**BR*At the beginning of the 21st century - with economic disaster, war, climate catastrophe and deep class divisions - humans face perhaps the greatest crisis in the long history of our species. The lesson of A Marxist History of the World is that, if we created our past, we can also create a better future.

Brings together innovative and fresh perspectives on contemporary anarchism.

How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women looks at the remarkable impact of war on women in Britain. It shows how conflict has changed women's lives and how those changes have put women at the centre of peace campaigning. *BR**BR*Lindsey German, one of the UK's leading anti-war activists and commentators, shows how women have played a central role in anti-war and peace movements, including the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The women themselves talk about how they overcame prejudice and difficulty to become valued members of the struggle. The book integrates this experience with a historical overview, analysing the two world wars as catalysts of social change for women. It looks at how the changing nature of war, especially the involvement of civilians, increasingly involves significant numbers of women. As well as providing an inspiring account of women's opposition to war, the book also turns a critical eye to contemporary developments, challenging negative assumptions about Muslim women and showing how anti-war movements are feeding into a broader desire to change society.

This is the untold story of the truly groundbreaking linguistic and educational developments that took place among Republican prisoners in Long Kesh prison from 1972-2000.*BR**BR*During a period of bitter struggle between Republican prisoners and the British state, the Irish language was taught and spoken as a form of resistance during incarceration. Based on unprecedented interviews, Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh explores the undertakings of veteran prisoners from the 1940s and 50's, Bobby Sands and the Blanket protesters and the female prisoners at Armagh and Maghaberry, revealing not only the impact of colonialism on minority languages, but the rejuvenating impact this reclamation of the native tongue had on cultural revival in the nationalist community within and beyond the prison walls.

This book reveals the role played by identity documents in Israel's apartheid policies towards the Palestinians, from the red passes of the 1950s to the orange, green and blue passes of today.*BR**BR*The authors chronicle how millions of Palestinians have been denationalised through the bureaucratic tools of census, population registration, blacklisting and a discriminatory legal framework. They show how identity documents are used by Israel as a means of coercion, extortion, humiliation and informant recruitment. Movement restrictions tied to IDs and population registers threaten Palestinian livelihoods, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as health and education.*BR**BR*Unfree in Palestine is a masterful expose of the web of bureaucracy used by Israel to deprive the Palestinians of basic rights and freedoms, and calls for international justice and inclusive security in place of discrimination and division.

The Cancer Stage of Capitalism is a modern classic of critical philosophy and political economy, renowned for its depth and comprehensive research. It provides a step-by-step diagnosis of the continuing economic collapse in the US and Europe and has had an enormous influence on new visions of economic alternatives.*BR**BR*John McMurtry argues that our world disorder of unending crises is the predictable result of a cancerous economic system multiplying out of all control and destroying ecological, social and organic life - a process he describes as 'global ecogenocide'. In this updated edition he explains the 'social immune response' required to fight this cancer, prescribing developments akin to the Occupy movement and the 'Pink Tide' democratic social transformation occurring in Latin America. *BR**BR*In a global cultural orthodoxy that is increasingly hostile to life, this book shows the necessity and possibility of building a sustainable society based on a universal commitment to nature and humanity.*BR*

A pioneering look at the methods of undermining and co-opting state-run militaries, for revolutionary ends

A sober and critical reflection of the wave of social movement struggles which have taken place in post-Apartheid South Africa.

Power Beyond Scrutiny uncovers the forces which distort and limit public debate in the media. From the misuse of politicians' expenses to recent phone hacking scandals, establishment corruption has never been more in the headlines. Yet amidst the din there have been seismic silences. *BR**BR*Justin Schlosberg interrogates these silences - why did a plea bargain which allowed Britain's biggest arms company to escape bribery prosecution go almost entirely unchallenged in television news? Why did journalists routinely endorse the official explanation of how intelligence analyst David Kelly died, whilst ignoring the mounting evidence which undermined it? Why, in 2010, did broadcasters offer an unchallenged platform to critics of Wikileaks but not its supporters? *BR**BR*These are some of the questions and imbalances that Schlosberg seeks to address as he explains the nature of public debate in the digital age. In doing so he uncovers a range of news blockages that are more than just accidents of a fragmented, chaotic mediascape. They are ultimately ideological forces which ensure that contestability and dissent remain within definable limits.

Rejecting the dominant narratives of the Troubles, this is a unique in-depth investigation into working-class Loyalism in Northern Ireland, as represented by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the Red Hand Commando (RHC) and their political allies.*BR**BR*In an unorthodox account, that disputes the idea that loyalism was apolitical and sectarian, Tony Novosel argues that loyalist groups, seen as implacable enemies by Republicans and the left, developed a political analysis of the Northern Ireland conflict in the 1970s which involved a compromise peace with all political parties and warring factions - something that historians and writers have largely ignored. *BR**BR*Distinctive, deeply informed and provocative, Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity is the first study to focus not on the violent actions of the UVF/RHC but on their political vision and programme which, Novosel argues, undeniably contributed to the Conflict Transformation Process, by upholding the potential for a viable peace based on compromise with all groups, including the Irish Republican Army.

Complacency and Collusion focuses on the practice of financial and business journalism, giving compelling explanations for why big business needs the press and why the press needs big business.*BR**BR*The growing passivity and changing bias of Western journalists is widely acknowledged. Across the media, in newspapers, TV, media and the internet, journalism is increasingly hollowed out by writers who are no longer gathering news but rather churning out unsourced information, PR texts and online snippets. Behind this dubious practice is an increasingly invested corporate sector whose stake in the mainstream media as a mouthpiece has exponentially increased in the last few decades.*BR**BR*The book cuts through the misreporting that has occurred since the financial crisis and makes clear the inadequacies of articles in prestigious papers and magazines, such as the Economist and Financial Times. It reflects on what the growth and spread of complacent corporate journalism will mean for the future of a free media.

Reviled as one of the worst healthcare providers in the world, the United States has among the worst indicators of health in the industrialised world, whilst paradoxically spending significantly more on its health care system than any other industrial nation. *BR**BR*Economists Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson explain this contradictory phenomenon as the product of the unique brand of capitalism that has developed in the US. It is this particular form of capitalism that analogously created social and economic conditions that influence health, such as, highly industrialised labour that produced chronic disease amongst the labouring classes, alongside an inefficient, unpopular and inaccessible health care system that is incapable of dealing with those same patients. In order to improve health in America, the authors argue that a change is required in the conditions in the capitalist system in which people live and work, as well as a restructured health care system.

The Maoists in India delves deep into the decades long battle between the Indian state and Maoist groups - one of the most intractable insurgencies in the developing world.*BR**BR*Nirmalangshu Mukherji uncovers the devastating impact of neoliberalism on India's tribal population, armed aggression by the State, as well as the impact of the armed struggle by the Maoists. Unlike most accounts, Mukherji takes an honest and unflinching look at each of the Maoists' interventions and critically examines the ideology and programme proposed by their theoreticians and prominent intellectual sympathisers.*BR**BR*By focussing on the Maoists' political philosophy, the extent of their democracy, as well as the roles of intellectuals, Mukherji reaches conclusions about whether their strategy can help to deliver social justice and liberation for India's poor.

Uncovering the rich heritage of common ownership which existed before the dominance of capitalist property relations, Giovanna Ricoveri argues that the subsistence commons of the past can be reinvented today to provide an alternative to the current destructive economic order. *BR**BR*Ricoveri outlines the distinct features of common ownership as it has existed in history through cooperatives, sustainable use of natural resources and direct democracy. In doing so, she shows how it is possible to provide goods and services which are not commodities exchanged on the capitalistic market, something still demonstrated today in village communities across the global South.*BR**BR*Tracing the erosion of the commons from the European enclosures at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution to the new enclosures of modern capitalism, the book concludes by arguing that a new commons is needed today. It will be essential reading for activists as well as students and academics in history, politics, economics and development studies.

The fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of contemporary Russian capitalism are often all too often read as a juncture with the past. In reality, Russia's current capitalist system originated in the degenerated Soviet bureaucracy, alongside the pressures of global capital. *BR**BR*From Roman Abramovich to Leonid Mikhelson, the reign of the CEO in Russia corporations mirrors the autocracy of the Soviet Union's leaders: the Russian tradition of the Cult of Personality lives on. The conception of the massive corporations, and the autocrats that lead them, occurred towards the end of the Soviet Union, when the would-be owners seized corporate assets and, taking advantage of Gorbachev's reforms, transformed publicly owned industry into private enterprises with themselves at the helm. By comparing the practices of Russian corporate governance, labour practices and investment strategies to the typical models of corporate governance and investment behaviour of big firms in the West, Ruslan Dzarasov exposes the parallels between the core and the periphery of the capitalist world-system.*BR**BR*Drawing on the theory of Leon Trotsky, as well as Immanuel Wallerstein and Robert Brenner, this study disrupts many of the myths about Russia's political economy. *BR*

Argues that therapeutic and applied psychology have little basis in science and that they prosper because they serve the interests of power.

The traditional view of the Scottish nation holds that it first arose during the Wars of Independence from England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Although Scotland was absorbed into Britain in 1707 with the Treaty of Union, Scottish identity is supposed to have remained alive in the new state through separate institutions of religion (the Church of Scotland), education, and the legal system.*BR**BR*Neil Davidson argues otherwise. The Scottish nation did not exist before 1707. The Scottish national consciousness we know today was not preserved by institutions carried over from the pre-Union period, but arose after and as a result of the Union, for only then were the material obstacles to nationhood - most importantly the Highland/Lowland divide - overcome. This Scottish nation was constructed simultaneously with and as part of the British nation, and the eighteenth century Scottish bourgeoisie were at the forefront of constructing both. The majority of Scots entered the Industrial Revolution with a dual national consciousness, but only one nationalism, which was British. The Scottish nationalism which arose in Scotland during the twentieth century is therefore not a revival of a pre-Union nationalism after 300 years, but an entirely new formation. *BR**BR*Davidson provides a revisionist history of the origins of Scottish and British national consciousness that sheds light on many of the contemporary debates about nationalism.

A pioneering analysis of doing ethnographic fieldwork in different types of complex organisations.

Conflict over information has become a central part of modern politics and culture. The sites of struggle are numerous, the actors beyond count. Currents of liberation and exploitation course through the debates about Edward Snowden and surveillance, Anonymous, search engines and social media.*BR**BR*In Information Politics, Tim Jordan identifies all these issues in relation to a general understanding of the nature of an information politics that emerged with the rise of mass digital cultures and the internet. He locates it within a field of power and rebellion that is populated by many interwoven social and political conflicts including gender, class and ecology.*BR**BR*The exploitations both facilitated by, and contested through increases in information flows; the embedding of information technologies in daily life, and the intersection of network and control protocols are all examined. Anyone hoping to get to grips with the rapidly changing terrain of digital culture and conflict should start here.

This is the history of the world, from the origins of the Cosmos to the present day, seen through three major narratives: work, sex and power - the forces that have done more than any other to shape the world as we see it now. *BR**BR*It expertly explores the foundations of our developing society by showing how these grand themes have recurred throughout the various phases of global history. From communities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, through feudalism and onto the capitalistic machine-civilisation of recent centuries, Willie Thompson takes us on a journey that is fundamentally opposed to mainstream histories which concentrate on monarchs, politicians and military commanders. *BR**BR*At the centre of this book lies the interaction between humans and their environment. By exploring history in this way, it reveals a simple yet powerful materialist understanding of how we got to where we are today, and opens a door to a different reading of our world.

Leading anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen shows how anthropology is a revolutionary way of thinking about the human world. Perfect for students, but also for those who have never encountered anthropology before, this book explores the key issues in an exciting and innovative way. Eriksen explains how to see the world from below and from within - emphasising the importance of adopting an insider's perspective. He reveals how seemingly enormous cultural differences actually conceal the deep unity of humanity. Lucid and accessible, What is Anthropology? draws examples from current affairs as well as anthropological studies. The first section presents the history of anthropology, its unique research methods and some of its central concepts, such as society, culture and translation. Eriksen shows how anthropology helps to shape contemporary thinking and why it is inherently radical. In the second section he discusses core issues in greater detail. Reciprocity, or exchange, or gift-giving, is shown to be the basis of every society. Eriksen examines kinship in traditional societies, and shows why it remains important in complex ones. He argues nature is partly cultural, and explores anthropological views on human nature as well as ecology. He delves into cultural relativism and the problem of understanding others. Finally, he describes the paradoxes of identity - ethnic, national, religious or postmodern, as the case may be.

Explores the different facets of how austerity in Britain is a form of institutional violence

Unpacks the political economy of new science and technology projects, and the implications for a utopian future

Biography of the anti-imperialist fighter and slave liberator Toussaint Louverture, explored through the prism of his radical politics

There was once a time when 'work' was inextricably linked to survival and self-preservation; where the farmer ploughed the land so their family could eat. But the sun has long since set on this idyllic tableau, and what was once an integral part of life has slowly morphed into a painful and meaningless ritual, colonising almost every part of our lives - endless and inescapable.*BR**BR*In The Mythology of Work, Peter Fleming examines how neoliberal society uses the ritual of work (and the threat of its denial) to maintain the late capitalist class order. As our society is transformed into a factory that never sleeps, work becomes a universal reference point for everything else, devoid of any moral or political worth.*BR**BR*Blending critical theory with recent accounts of job related suicides, office-induced paranoia, fear of relaxation, managerial sadism and cynical corporate social responsibility campaigns, Fleming paints a bleak picture of neoliberal capitalism in which the economic and emotional dysfunctions of a society of wage slaves greatly outweigh its professed benefits.

This is the first comprehensive overview of the work of Murray Bookchin, the left-libertarian social theorist and political ecologist who is widely regarded as the visionary precursor of anti-corporate politics. *BR**BR*Bookchin's writing spans fifty years and engages with a wide variety of issues: from ecology to urban planning, from environmental ethics to debates about radical democracy. Weaving insights from Hegel and Marx, Kropotkin and Mumford, Bookchin presents a critical theory whose central utopian message is 'things could be other than they are'. *BR**BR*This accessible introduction maps the evolution of Bookchin's project. It traces his controversial engagements with Marxism, anarchism, critical theory, postmodernism and eco-centric thought. It evaluates his attempt to develop a social ecology. Finally, it considers how his thinking relates to current debates in social theory and environmentalism, critical theory and philosophy, political ecology and urban theory. *BR**BR*Offering a clear account of Bookchin's key themes, this book provides a critical but sympathetic account of the strengths and weaknesses of Bookchin's writing.

'India Shining' has become the brand name for a new India presented in Bollywood films, adverts and books. A key part of this image is the software industry, held up as the symbol of prosperity and post-modernity.*BR**BR*Dot.compradors reveals the darker reality behind 'India Shining', providing a history of the industry from the 1970s to the present. Jyoti Saraswati punctures the myth of a free-market industry by revealing the role of state intervention and how vested interests and elite corruption have shaped, and continue to shape, one of the world's most dynamic sectors. *BR**BR*Saraswati argues that the interests attached to the software industry and the policies they are pursuing are both an impediment to the growth of local software firms and to a broader-based, more egalitarian form of development in India.*BR*

A myth-busting history of Ireland, rejecting the tired narratives of imperialism and nationalism.

This history reclaims the Second World War as a global fight 'from below'. The vast majority of historical accounts have focused on the regular armies of the allied powers, however, the often-neglected people's militias were crucial not only to the defeat of fascism, but also colonialism, imperialism and even capitalism.*BR**BR*Looking at militias in Yugoslavia, Greece, Poland and Latvia, as well as the Warsaw Uprising and anti-fascist movements in Germany, it presents a different battle, fought on different terms. Widening its scope to India - where an independence movement was shaking an already weak British Empire, and onto alternative anti-imperialist struggles in Indonesia and Vietnam, a global picture of people's resistance is revealed.*BR**BR*Despite these radical elements, the allied governments were more interested in creating a new order to suit their interests, and many of these movements were ultimately betrayed. However, many shook the existing world order to its core.