Category Archives: Books

Verso’s reading list – ‘Against Patriotism, Against Monarchy’

Are you drowning in deluded celebrations of a reactionary political system, a country facing economic collapse and a sporting spectacle sucking funds from our welfare system? Are you disgusted by pleas for everyone to ‘pull together in this time of … Continue reading

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Marking finished

Finally finished marking. Over the past month or so it’s been a lot of essays; 10 dissertations on topics from Portuguese music to Terry Pratchett novels to the war on terror; and 180 exam papers. These have been interspersed with quite … Continue reading

Posted in Conferences, Cricket, Cycling, The Birth of Territory, Universities, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Patience (After Sebald)

An interesting, though slow, documentary film taking W.G. Sebald’s Rings of Saturn as its basis. Rings of Saturnwas the first of Sebald’s books I read, and since I grew up in East Anglia – born in Ipswich and relatives there … Continue reading

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Alexandra Hall – Border Watch

And via Carceral Geography (also mentioned by Peter), news that my former Durham colleague Alex Hall’s new book Border Watch is listed on the Pluto website – due out in July. Questions over immigration and asylum face almost all Western countries. … Continue reading

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Tracy B. Strong – Politics Without Vision reviewed

Very positive review in THES. The book – full details at the University of Chicago Press page and press release – discusses Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Lenin, Carl Schmitt, Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt. Strong’s book Friedrich … Continue reading

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Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects

Interesting edited collection now available in print or free download. Details here. Animal, Mineral, Vegetable examines what happens when we cease to assume that only humans exert agency. Through a careful examination of medieval, early modern and contemporary lifeworlds, these … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Medieval Studies, Publishing | 2 Comments

Beyond Walls and Cages

Important collection forthcoming later this year, edited by Jenna M. Loyd, Matt Mitchelson, and my Durham IBRU colleague Andrew Burridge. The crisis of borders and prisons can be seen starkly in statistics. In 2011 some 1,500 migrants died trying to … Continue reading

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Earth book series – Waterfall and Volcano

Interesting looking series just launched with two titles out. One of the planned chapters of my The Space of the World book is on ‘earth’ and I’m interested in the relation between theories of the earth and world. But I … Continue reading

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GO: On the Geographies of Gunnar Olsson

Interesting looking (though expensive) collection on the work of Gunnar Olsson – one of geography’s most original voices. Since the early 1960s, the internationally acclaimed and highly distinguished Swedish geographer Gunnar Olsson has made substantial contributions to his own discipline. … Continue reading

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Scott Kirsch on State, Space, World

Another detailed review – in Antipode by Scott Kirsch. The whole review appears to be available free. Here’s two paragraphs – the second and the last: Of course, it is not surprising that Lefebvre’s opus on space became the touchstone … Continue reading

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