NEW RELEASES
Cat sitter, insomniac, former schoolteacher. Ania worries she is a 'stand-in occupant', a substitute in her own life. When she receives a request from her father to visit her dying uncle Agustín in Argentina, she makes the long journey across the Andes from Chile to Campana, where her family immigrated from Italy. Her trip, one she used to make every summer with her father, will be an escape from the present and a journey to the borders of memory. What follows is an ambitious portrait of alienation and belonging, and of two families and countries separated by a range of mountains. The book is threaded together with encyclopedia entries, pages from an old immigrant manual, typing class exercises, passages from children's books, half-faded photos, and letters mailed between continents.
An elegy for a friendship cut short prematurely by death. The memory of this friendship becomes a model for how we might relate to others in sympathy, solidarity and rebellion. At once intimate and expansive, Crawford's book-length essay explores loss in many forms: disappeared artworks, effaced histories, abandoned futures. From the turmoil of grief and the solace of memory, her perspective embraces histories of protest and revolution, art-making and cinema, border policing, and especially our relationships with animals.
Plundered spans the American continents, from a bone-strewn Peruvian desert to inland South Texas to the streets of Mexico City, and considers the violence that shaped it. In fifteen stories, the collection delves into extraction, exploitation, and defiance. How does a community, an individual, resist the plundering of land and peoples? Contributions by: Valeria Luiselli and Heather Cleary, Karen Tei Yamashita and Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira, Gabriela Wiener
Laia Jufresa, Carlos Manuel Álvarez, Sophie Braxton, Gabriela Jauregui, Julia Wong Kcomt, Brenda Lozano, Mahogany L. Browne, Samanta Schweblin, Sabrina Helen Li, Edmundo Paz Soldán, Nimmi Gowrinathan, MJ Bond, C. T. Mexica.
Iain Sinclair and his daughter travel through Peru, guided by — and in reaction to — an ill-fated colonial expedition led by his great-grandfather, Arthur Sinclair. The incursions of Catholic bounty hunters and Adventist missionaries are contrasted with today's ecotourists and short-cut vision seekers. The family history of a displaced Scottish highlander fades into the brutal reality of a major land grab. The historic thirst for gold and the establishment of sprawling coffee plantations leave terrible wounds on virgin territory. What might once have been portrayed as an intrepid adventure is transformed into a shocking tale of the violated rights of indigenous people, secret dealings between London finance and Peruvian government, and the collusion of the church in colonial expansion.
If we extend the concept of rights to nature, do we also extend the concept of culpability and ethical responsibility? History is full of ways in which humans have imposed their thinking upon plants and animals. Mary Roach's book is an amusing but serious look at the often uncomfortable borderline between huamsn and nature.
For women artists in the early twentieth century, including Ethel Sands, Nina Hamnett, Vanessa Bell and Gwen John, who lived in and around the Bloomsbury Group, th still life art form was a conduit for their lives, their rebellions, their quiet loves for men and women. Gluck, who challenged the framing of her gender and her art, painted flowers arranged by the woman she loved; Dora Carrington, a Slade School graduate, recorded eggs on a table at Tidmarsh Mill, where she built a fulfilling if delicate life with Lytton Strachey. But for every artist we remember, there is one we have forgotten; who leaves only elusive traces; whose art was replaced by being a mother or wife; whose remaining artworks lie dusty in archives or attics.
Artists probe corruption, human rights violations, environmental crimes and technological domination. At the same time, areas not usually thought of as artistic make powerful use of aesthetics. Journalists and legal professionals pore over opensource videos and satellite imagery to undertake visual investigations. This combination of diverse fields is what the authors call "investigative aesthetics" the mobilisation of sensibilities associated with art, architecture and other such practices in order to speak truth to power. Investigative Aesthetics draws on theories of knowledge, ecology and technology; evaluates the methods of citizen counter-forensics, micro-history and art; and examines radical practices such as those of WikiLeaks, Bellingcat, and Forensic Architecture.
70 artists each share and illustrate a recipe — the best culinary concoction they have ever invented, or an especially meaningful dish. The result is an exciting range of contributions spanning all manner of meals and drinks, both savory and sweet, from around the globe, brilliantly brought to life by a wealth of sketches, photographs, collages, paintings, and personal snaps.
Hare House by Sally Hinchcliffe $38
A woman arrives in Scotland having left her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. Moving into a cottage on the remote estate of Hare House, she begins to explore her new home – a patchwork of hills, moorland and forest. But among the tiny roads, dykes and scattered houses, something more sinister lurks: local tales of witchcraft, clay figures and young men sent mad. Striking up a friendship with her landlord, Grant, and his younger sister, Cass, she begins to suspect that all might not be quite as it seems at Hare House. And as autumn turns to winter, and a heavy snowfall traps the inhabitants of the estate within its walls, tensions rise to fever pitch.
A Previous Life by Edmund White $33
Aging Sicilian aristocrat and musician Ruggero, and his young American wife, Constance, agree to break their marital silence and write their Confessions. Until now they had a ban on speaking about the past, since transparency had wrecked their previous marriages. As the two take turns reading the memoirs they've written about their lives, Constance reveals her multiple marriages to older men, and Ruggero details the affairs he's had with men and women across his lifetime — most importantly his passionate affair with the author Edmund White. A metafiction exploring sexualities, aging, love, and the politics of intimate relationships.
"The best book in Edmund White's long and extraordinary career." —Benjamin Moser
Send Nudes by Saba Sams $33
"An exceptional debut collection. Sams joins the ranks of writers such as Megan Nolan and Frances Leviston with these acute portraits of the fragile intimacies and euphoric moments snatched by a generation of women coming of age into a precarious future. This exhilarating collection captures the light and dark of negotiating relationships, solitude, sexuality and loss. Rare and uplifting." —Guardian
In this gripping companion to the first Scary Stories for Young Foxes book, fox kit O-370 hungers for a life of adventure, like those lived long ago by Mia and Uly. But on the Farm, foxes know only the safety of their wire dens and the promise of eternal happiness in the White Barn. Or so they're told. When O-370 gets free of his cage, he witnesses the gruesome reality awaiting all the Farm's foxes and narrowly escapes with his life. In a nearby suburb, young Cozy and her skulk are facing an unknown danger, one that hunts foxes. Forced to flee their den, they travel to a terrifying new world: the City. That's where they encounter O-370, and where they'll need to fight for their lives against mad hounds, killer robots, and the most dangerous of all creatures: humans.
Implicit bias leads us to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, body type and a host of other factors. It robs organisations of talent, science of breakthroughs, art of wisdom, politics of insight, individuals of their futures, and communities of justice. For the past thirty years, scientists, psychologists, teachers and entrepreneurs have been coming up with ways to overcome our biases and end unconscious discrimination.
Feminisms: A global history by Lucy Delap $26
Feminism's origins have often been framed around a limited cast of mostly white and educated foremothers, but the truth is that feminism has been and continues to be a global movement. For centuries, women from all walks of life have been mobilising for gender justice.
Averno by Louise Glück $26
This original reworking of the Persephone myth takes us to the icy shores of Averno, the crater lake regarded by the ancient Romans as the entrance to the underworld. Here, the consolations of rebirth and renewal are eclipsed by the immediacy of loss - by a mother's possessive grief, an abducted girl's equivocal memories, a farmer's lament for a lost harvest. This chorus offers neither comfort nor solace but deepened understanding, its sorrow textured by the poet's luminous wit. Together, the poems of Averno swell to a staggeringly powerful lamentation, through which the reader glimpses the ecstasy of the inevitable, only to find it resisted by the insistent, impersonal presence of the Earth.
The World Turned Inside Out: Settler colonialism as a political idea by Lorenzo Veracini $45
"A brilliant exploration of settler colonialism as a political tradition in the making, predicated on a search for actual space in order to get away in Europe from existing upheavals or removing those who potentially can cause such an upheaval. Lorenzo Veracini focuses on such dislocations that brought displacement of indigenous people as part of the history of Western revolution and counter revolution. As such it asks us to rethink both tradition and revolution as transnational and global phenomena that sustained the tradition of settler colonialism even after most of these projects ended, preserving inside and outside the West Eurocentrism, racism, and capitalism. While the revisited historical chapters might seem familiar, you are invited here to reappraise them from a new and contemporary vantage point—in the midst of a new era of dislocation, displacement, resettlement and maybe even unsettlement. The hu-man tendency to dislocate (and displace) in order to avoid upheaval, insoluble predicaments and persecution may move in the future be-yond to extra-terrestrial spaces.” –Ilan Pappe
It's March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most.
"Very, very Russian... in the best possible way." —Guardian
Can We Talk About Israel? A guide for the curious, confused and conflicted by Daniel Sokatch, with illustrations by Christopher Noxon $40
"A supremely nuanced discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, past and present. It is broad in scope yet detailed in analysis, thought-provoking for the well-informed yet accessible for the new learner. It is an important and needed addition to the books on the subject. Sokatch is remarkably deft at holding multiple competing narratives at once. The detailed prose moves quickly, beginning with succinct explanations of Israel’s history, from ancient to present. Sokatch simultaneously describes the Zionist joy upon receipt of the Balfour Declaration, and why Palestinians felt so betrayed by the British dismissal of Hussein-McMahon promises. In the same breath, Sokatch summarizes why the Zionists accepted the Peel Commission proposal and the Palestinians rejected it, honoring and clarifying both sides. When revisiting the destruction of the village of Suba (Tzuba), Sokatch takes the reader on a quick journey beneath the soil to reveal why the Palestinians of Suba mourn the loss of their home, and why the Israelis who then founded Palmach Tzuba see themselves as reclaiming land lost almost two thousand years ago. Sokatch’s discussion of the assassination of Rabin is similarly nuanced, painting a complex picture of how Rabin’s hopes and Yigal Amir’s fears (stoked by others) collided in tragedy. The book is not overly slanted for or against Israel, Israelis, or Palestinians. Sokatch poses critical questions, and strives to give honor to why different peoples hold different memories about historical events, or feel differently about possible solutions to contemporary challenges." —Jewish Book Council
Amorangi and Millie habve lost their mum. Their only clue to her whereabouts is a carving on a tree that says I’m in the past! Rescue me! To do this, Amorangi and Millie must travel up every branch of their family tree and collect an object from each ancestor they meet. They must then be back in the modern day before the sun sets, or they’ll all be trapped forever in the past. But can they do it in time? In their travels, the children experience aspects of events in New Zealand history, such as the invasion of Parihaka, the Great Depression, World War Two, the Musket Wars and the eruption of Mount Taranaki. They also experience changes in the town and landscape, the attitudes of people and the way people live their lives.
Do We Have to Work? A primer for the 21st century by Matthew Taylor $30
COVID-induced work from home, demand for government support, changing attitudes toward paternity leave, climate change and advances in AI: these and other factors have profoundly changed our relationship to work. Taylor reviews how the meaning, status, and structure of work have changed across history and societies and posits that we are approaching a new era of work. He outlines some of the factors that might lead to change, including the adoption of forms of universal basic income, the growth of the zero- or low-cost economy (renewable energy, user-generated content, community mutual support), and the growth of self-employment and quasi- autonomous ways of working (including from home) in organisations. He concludes that such changes might foster a more fundamental shift: a growing intolerance of the idea of work as a burden and a desire to transform it from something imposed on us into simply the means by which we live our best lives together.