MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
Latest editorial
Telling traces of an inspirational man of the left
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Definable Traces in the Atmosphere
by Mike Marqusee
(O/R Books, £13)
MIKE MARQUSEE was a lovely, committed man who wrote skilfully about an incredible range of often unexplored and neglected subjects.
In her introduction to this timely collection of progressive journalism, Liz Davies notes that in common with many other of the best writers he was a complete perfectionist when it came to putting pen to paper and would often agonise about the smallest of issues within an essay.
His love of life, people, travel and culture helped him blend together personal interests with wider political analyses. While many on the left tend to ignore, if not mock, those with an interest in sporting cultures, Marqusee was simply fascinated by them, so much so that many have often come to his writing through pieces on football, boxing and, most of all, cricket — and him from the US, the sheer impertinence of it all.
More from this author
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
STEVEN ANDREW welcomes the third instalment of autobiography by a libertarian socialist whose political work is charged with Gramscian realism
STEVEN ANDREW has reservations about the political slant of an otherwise indispensable guide to life in the Soviet Union
STEVEN ANDREW is inspired to pull on his boots by this engaging and class-conscious account of a trek through Wales
