Books & music

Book covers

Four years on from the outbreak of COVID-19, Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus introduces new reads for reds and greens, including four important new books on capitalism and the pandemic.

DJ deck with dove of peace

With the escalating conflict in Gaza, the disproportionate violence and ongoing occupation of Palestine, a group of DJs, and performers in Sydney started talking about ways they could demonstrate their solidarity with people feeling the pain of war, reports Kerry Smith.

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John Tully reviews Boris Frankel's memoir, which recounts his family's eye-opening experience emigrating from Australia to the Soviet Union in 1956.

two book covers

February 24 marks the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ever since the war began it has generated debate on the left, which is why these two new works reflecting on the conflict are essential reading, writes Federico Fuentes.

book cover, man's face

Derek Wall reviews Hall Greenland’s biography of Michel Pablo, an Egyptian-born Greek revolutionary leader.

book cover, refugees fleeing in 1948

Lenni Brenner's edited volume, 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis is important reading today in the context of the United States-backed Israeli genocidal war in Gaza, writes Barry Sheppard.

book cover and picture of author

Zane Alcorn reviews Kings of the New Age, the debut futuristic novel by Muloobinba/Newcastle-based author and musician Nathan Bell, set in his home town.

book cover and protest in Egypt

Maree F Roberts reviews Vincent Bevins' book If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, which chronicles the 2010's uprisings in Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, Ukraine and elsewhere, and asks why these mass protest movements failed to bring about revolutionary change.

Book cover, Rodney Syme addresses a protest

Suzanne James reviews Dr Rodney Symes' book, which reveals the societal abandonment of the basic human rights and bodily autonomy of our most vulnerable: dementia sufferers, the aged, the disabled and the terminally ill.

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Alex Salmon reviews Knocking the top off: A people’s history of alcohol in Australia, edited by Alex Ettling and Iain McIntyre.

Book cover against images of drugs

Chris Slee reviews Benjamin Fong's book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which examines the history of drug use and prohibition in the United States.

book cover and background image of woman's face

Andrew Chuter reviews Their Blood Got Mixed, a graphic memoir through the heart of a remarkable experiment in self-determination.