Polity

22/10/2025

Two brilliant books just published in the UK.

📚'Chinese Platforms: A Critical Introduction' by Jian Lin, Wilfred Yang Wang, Ping Sun: The rise of the Chinese internet has reconfigured digital culture around the world. From social media platforms such as Tik Tok, WeChat and Douyin to utility platforms Didi and Eleme, the Chinese platform economy has shown a remarkable capability of innovation and growth, receiving great limitation as well as protection from the Chinese state. This is the first textbook to centre Chinese platforms and offer a critical introduction to their history, governance and social-political implications.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=chinese-platforms-a-critical-introduction--9781509559176

📚'Fighting Polarisation: Shared Communicative Spaces in Divided Democracies' by Cherian George : Polarisation — the division of society into antagonistic “us-them” groups — is a global phenomenon undermining democracy in many societies. These divides are constructed, perpetuated, and toxified through communication. In the first global study of its kind, Cherian George demonstrates how people can counter polarisation through communicative practices.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=fighting-polarisation-shared-communicative-spaces-in-divided-democracies--9781509564552

21/10/2025

“Engrossing … Marseille 1940 helps set the record straight of a man who saved thousands when the United States was turning away those huddled masses yearning for freedom. In these reactionary times, when millions of refugees are at risk all across the world, Wittstock’s book ought to shame us all into action.”
-Morten Høi Jensen,
Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) review 'Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature'.

Morten Høi Jensen reviews Uwe Wittstock’s “Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature,” translated by Daniel Bowles.

16/10/2025

Six brilliant books now out in the UK!

📚'White' by Sylvain Tesson - An exquisite literary travelogue into the heart of the Alps.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=white--9781509565528

📚'Living With Men: Reflections on the Pelicot Trial' by Manon Garcia - A powerful feminist reflection on the Pelicot trial.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=living-with-men-reflections-on-the-pelicot-trial--9781509573134

📚'The End of the Gay Rights Revolution: How Hubris and Overreach Threaten Gay Freedom' by Ronan McCrea - Why we risk a great regression on gay rights in the west – and how to stop it.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-end-of-the-gay-rights-revolution-how-hubris-and-overreach-threaten-gay-freedom--9781509569991

📚'The Social Determinants of Health: Looking Upstream, 2nd Edition' by Kathryn Strother Ratcliff & Linda Axtell-Thompson - How unequal living and working conditions in society create and maintain health disparities.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-social-determinants-of-health-looking-upstream-2nd-edition--9781509565573

📚'What is Politics?' by Colin Hay - The definitive guide to politics in our polarized times,
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=what-is-politics--9781509559053

📚'Rules of Activism: Organizing, Protest, and the Fight for Democracy' by Charles Euchner - A field guide to the 15 rules for activism to make a difference.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=rules-of-activism-organizing-protest-and-the-fight-for-democracy--9781509569557

07/10/2025

Don't miss Chang Kyung-Sup's webcast on Korea's compressed modernity and its risks

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | 8 AM (EDT)

See more: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/2037-koreas-compressed-modernity-and-its-risks

25/09/2025

This is SUCH an important and well-written book, by my friend Ronan McCrea.

Gay people have been the biggest winners in the liberal rights revolution. Now that revolution is being reversed. This is a book about how we won, what it means that we are starting to lose, and how to protect ourselves now. Everyone should read it.

It’s published by Polity

24/09/2025

We published eight fantastic new books this week!

📚'The Diver of Paestum: Youth, Eros, and the Sea in Ancient Greece' by Tonio Hölscher - The mysteries of Ancient Greece unravelled through a brilliant interpretation of a beautiful and enigmatic image.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-diver-of-paestum-youth-eros-and-the-sea-in-ancient-greece--9781509568130
📚'Who Owns Beauty?' by Bénédicte Savoy - A leading art historian shows what we can learn about our history by retracing the journeys of famous works of art from their origins to their destinations.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=who-owns-beauty--9781509568611
📚'Sex Robots: The End of Love' by Kathleen Richardson - A radical critique from the leading figure advocating for a complete ban on s*x robots.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=s*x-robots-the-end-of-love--9781509530281
📚'Germany' by Andrew I. Port - A fresh and insightful history of German recovery and reunification from WWII to the present.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=germany--9781509546664
📚'Existential Hope: Facing Our Future When the Signs Look Bad' by SJ Beard - Why we should be hopeful about the future of humanity in a world that’s falling apart.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=existential-hope-facing-our-future-when-the-signs-look-bad--9781509563043
📚'Witch Power: Hexing the Patriarchy with Feminist Magic' by Emma Quilty - Why we still need witches.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=witch-power-hexing-the-patriarchy-with-feminist-magic--9781509564460
📚'The Magic Kingdom and the Meaning of Life: A Philosopher Visits Disney World' by Adam Kadlac - An engaging and surprising philosophical exploration of Disney World, the “happiest place on earth”.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-magic-kingdom-and-the-meaning-of-life-a-philosopher-visits-disney-world--9781509567423
📚'The Refusalist International: A Theory of the New Protest Cycle' by Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen - Why the mass protests of recent years represent a new kind of political struggle that rejects existing institutions.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-refusalist-international-a-theory-of-the-new-protest-cycle--9781509568277

19/09/2025

New York visitors and locals, don't miss an evening with Philippe Descola, author of Forms of the Visible, in conversation with Professor Elizabeth A. Povinelli

Friday, September 26, 2025 | 5pm
Albertine Books Albertine Books in French and English

Details:
https://villa-albertine.org/va/events/forms-of-the-visible-an-evening-with-distinguished-anthropologist-philippe-descola/

Villa Albertine

Descola will be joined by Elizabeth A. Povinelli, a renowned Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University.Philippe Descola compares a wide variety of visual images and artworks, establishing the theoretical foundations for an anthropology of figuration. He examines works rangi...

16/09/2025

We have some brilliant books newly out in paperback!

📚'Life With Lacan' by Catherine Millot - A beautifully written memoir on life with the greatest psychoanalyst since Freud.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=life-with-lacan--9781509525010

📚'Lineages of Modernity: A History of Humanity from the Stone Age to Homo Americanus' by Emmanuel Todd - A brilliant reinterpretation of human history from one France’s most original thinkers .
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=lineages-of-modernity-a-history-of-humanity-from-the-stone-age-to-homo-americanus--9781509534470

📚'The Metaphysics of German Idealism: A New Interpretation of Schelling's Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom and Matters' by Martin Heidegger - A major work by one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, published here in English for the first time.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-metaphysics-of-german-idealism-a-new-interpretation-of-schellings-philosophical-investigations-into-the-essence-of-human-freedom-and-matters--9781509540105

📚'Schizophrenia: An Unfinished History' by Orna Ophir - A radical new understanding of schizophrenia.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=schizophrenia-an-unfinished-history--9781509536474

📚'History of the Adriatic: A Sea and Its Civilization' by Egidio Ivetic - A comprehensive history of the Adriatic Sea – the sea within a sea that is the meeting point of East and West
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=history-of-the-adriatic-a-sea-and-its-civilization--9781509552528

📚'Metaphysics and Nihilism: 1 - The Overcoming of Metaphysics 2 - The Essence of Nihilism' by Martin Heidegger - Two key texts by Heidegger on metaphysics and nihilism, now available in English for the first time.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=metaphysics-and-nihilism-1--the-overcoming-of-metaphysics-2--the-essence-of-nihilism--9781509540051

15/09/2025

“a taut and much-needed introduction to the British philosopher-statesman that should be a starting point for any student in their initiation into Burke studies.”

Ross Carroll's 'Edmund Burke' reviewed in The Review of Politics

See more:

Ross Carroll: Edmund Burke and the Varieties of Misrule. (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2024. Pp. x, 226.)

15/09/2025

The online Manosphere has exploded in recent years. For a cohort of alienated men, the promise of community provides a space of understanding, connection and purpose.

Listen to Simon Copland discuss his book 'The Male Complaint' on New Books Network