Books published by Verso Books

Quintessential thinker of the postmodern on the uniqueness of all things

A classic examination of the role of black working class struggles throughout the twentieth century

Mahmoud Darwish was the Palestinian national poet. His poems display a brilliant acuity, a passion for and openness to the world and, above all, a deep and abiding humanity. This book presents a translation of two of Darwish's later works.

Proletarian Nights, previously published in English as Nights of Labor and one of Ranciere's most important works, dramatically reinterprets the Revolution of 1830, contending that workers were not rebelling against specific hardships and conditions but against the unyielding predetermination of their lives. Through a study of worker-run newspapers, letters, journals, and worker-poetry, Ranciere reveals the contradictory and conflicting stories that challenge the coherence of these statements celebrating labor.This updated edition includes a new preface by the author, revisiting the work twenty years since its first publication in France.

In this set of devastating essays, Gareth Peirce analyzes the corruption of legalprinciples and practices in both the US and the UK that has accompanied the';War on Terror'. Exploring the few cases of torture that have come to light, such asthose of Guantnamo detainees Shafiq Rasul and Binyam Mohamed, Peirce arguesthat they are evidence of a deeply entrenched culture of impunity among thoseinvestigating presumed radicals among British Muslim nationals and residents,who constitute the new suspect community in the UK. Peirce shows that theBritish government has colluded in a whole range of extrajudicialactivitiesrendition, internment without trial, tortureand has gone toextraordinary lengths to conceal its actions. Its devices for maintainingsecrecy are probably more deep-rooted than those of any other comparabledemocracy. If the government continues along this path, Peirce argues, it willdestroy the moral and legal fabric it claims to be protecting.

Leader of the Frankfurt School on the music of modernism.

A collection of essays by the leading French thinker

Acclaimed French philosopher on metaphysics and politics

The existentialist philosopher chronicles his time in the Resistance in the Second World War.

The sociologist and philosopher analyses the dawning of modernity.

Classic introduction to Kant's philosophy.

Cities are the new battleground of our increasingly urban world. From the slums of the global South to the wealthy financial centers of the West, Cities Under Siege traces the spread of political violence through the sites, spaces, infrastructure and symbols of the world's rapidly expanding metropolitan areas.Drawing on a wealth of original research, Stephen Graham shows how Western militaries and security forces now perceive all urban terrain as a conflict zone inhabited by lurking shadow enemies. Urban inhabitants have become targets that need to be continually tracked, scanned and controlled. Graham examines the transformation of Western armies into high-tech urban counter-insurgency forces. He looks at the militarization and surveillance of international borders, the use of ';security' concerns to suppress democratic dissent, and the enacting of legislation to suspend civilian law. In doing so, he reveals how the New Military Urbanism permeates the entire fabric of urban life, from subway and transport networks hardwired with high-tech ';command and control' systems to the insidious militarization of a popular culture corrupted by the all-pervasive discourse of ';terrorism.'

Groundbreaking analysis of the birth of racism in America - volume 1.

The classic history of the Paris Commune.

Born in Martinique, Frantz Fanon (192561) trained as a psychiatrist in Lyon before taking up a post in colonial Algeria. He had already experienced racism as a volunteer in the Free French Army, in which he saw combat at the end of the Second World War. In Algeria, Fanon came into contact with the Front de Libration Nationale, whose ruthless struggle for independence was met with exceptional violence from the French forces. He identified closely with the liberation movement, and his political sympathies eventually forced him out the country, whereupon he became a propagandist and ambassador for the FLN, as well as a seminal anticolonial theorist.David Macey's eloquent life of Fanon provides a comprehensive account of a complex individual's personal, intellectual and political development. It is also a richly detailed depiction of postwar French culture. Fanon is revealed as a flawed and passionate humanist deeply committed to eradicating colonialism.Now updated with new historical material, Frantz Fanon remains the definitive biography of a truly revolutionary thinker.

What is life really like in Gaza and the West Bank?

Dej vu, which doubles and confuses our experience of time, is a psychological phenomenon with peculiar relevance to our contemporary historical circumstances. From this starting point, the acclaimed Italian philosopher Paolo Virno examines the construct of memory, the passage of time, and the ';end of history.' Through thinkers such as Bergson, Kojeve and Nietzsche, Virno shows how our perception of history can become suspended or paralysed, making the distinction between ';before' and ';after,' cause and effect, seem derisory. In examining the way the experience of time becomes historical, Virno forms a radical new theory of historical temporality.