MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
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Bleak consequences of a malevolent machine age at the point of collapse
Fabian Scheidler's book pinpoints how the destructive history of militarised states, capital accumulation and ideological power is threatening our future, says JOHN GREEN
‘MEGAMACHINE’ VICTIM: Slum dweller, Jakarta
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
New releases from Paul Weller, Wet Leg, and Dino Saluzzi
PAUL DONOVAN relishes the spectacle of a 1950s detective in pursuit of a 500-year-old murder mystery
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
The End of the Megamachine
By Fabian Scheidler
(Zero Books, £19.99)
SPANNING 5,000 years of history, this magisterial book by Fabian Scheidler explains how and why both our ecosystems and societies are on the brink of collapse.
Scheidler does not provide a chronological history in the traditional sense but looks at the emergence of modern civilisation and the capitalist system from new and unusual perspectives. He does not aim to provide a history of humankind but the story of a specific social system.
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JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation
JOHN GREEN applauds an excellent and accessible demonstration that the capitalist economy is the biggest threat to our existence
JOHN GREEN isn’t helped by the utopian fantasy of a New York Times bestseller that ignores class struggle and blames the so-called ’progressives’
