Polity

05/06/2026

We have four new books publishing in the UK today.

📚'The Future of the Past: When Cultural Heritage Meets Climate Change' by Thijs Weststeijn - A deeply informed account of the threat posed to art and culture by global warming.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-future-of-the-past-when-cultural-heritage-meets-climate-change--9781509567843

📚'The Rise and Fall of American Europe' by Glyn Morgan - America made the European Union. Now its unmaking it.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-rise-and-fall-of-american-europe--9781509573202

📚'Gender Identity: The Career of a Category' by Rogers Brubaker - A rigorous analysis of how gender identity has become a key principle of social classification and has triggered intense controversy in contemporary societies.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=gender-identity-the-career-of-a-category--9781509575558

📚'Platforms: A Critical Introduction' by Anne Helmond & Fernando van der Vlist - The first entry-level introduction to platform studies for students.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=platforms-a-critical-introduction--9781509568109

04/06/2026

“a vital work. It is a book that reminds us that while the past may be another country, the present bears its contours.”
- History Today review 'The German-Russian Century: History of a Tangled Relationship' by Stefan Creuzberger

Read more:

From Rapallo to the Zeitenwende, The German-Russian Century: History of a Tangled Relationship by Stefan Creuzberger discovers the dynamic that defines Europe.

01/06/2026

Delighted to see Andrei Kolesnikov and his brilliant book 'The Closing of the Russian Mind' shortlisted for the Pushkin House Book Prize 2026!

29/05/2026

We have 8 new books publishing in the UK today.

📚'Time: The Dream of Killing Chronos' by Guido Tonelli - A captivating account of the nature and physics of time.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=time-the-dream-of-killing-chronos--9781509571598

📚'The Trust Spiral: Why the Media Needs Objectivity' by Tara Henley - A leading journalist makes a powerful plea for reporters to recommit to objectivity.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-trust-spiral-why-the-media-needs-objectivity--9781509570935

📚'Saving African Nature: An Ecological Mission and the Violence of History' by Guillaume Blanc - The dark story of self-interest, colonialism and exploitation at the heart of African national parks.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=saving-african-nature-an-ecological-mission-and-the-violence-of-history--9781509568680

📚'The Breast: A Cultural and Political History' by Anja Zimmermann - An engrossing cultural and political history of the breast.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-breast-a-cultural-and-political-history--9781509567829

📚'Capitalism and the Media: Key Concepts for Understanding Communications and Technology' by Des Freedman - An ambitious introduction to the relationship between capitalism and media.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=capitalism-and-the-media-key-concepts-for-understanding-communications-and-technology--9781509565306

📚'Feminism in Africa: Gender, Knowledge and Resistance' by Fatou Sow - A leading African feminist analyses the struggles of African women.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=feminism-in-africa-gender-knowledge-and-resistance--9781509567737

📚'The Postcolonial Volk' by Benjamin Zachariah - A searing exposé of the darker side of postcolonial thinking.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-postcolonial-volk--9781509562633

📚'What is Philosophy of Language?' by Claudine Verheggen - The liveliest and most student-friendly introduction to philosophy of language.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=what-is-philosophy-of-language--9781509556960

28/05/2026

Read an interview with Ulrich Brand, author of Capitalism at the Limit, on The London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE Blog!

Zeynep Öztürk interviews Ulrich Brand, co-author of Capitalism at the Limit, about the intertwinement of the socio-ecological crisis & the capitalist system.

28/05/2026

Major environmental problems threaten our planet and evoke within us a need to act – a need to do something, no matter how small, to slow the damage.

But what kind of action? Businesses, governments and some environmental groups tell us that buying environmentally friendly products while living more lightly on the planet is a winning strategy. Do the little things for the earth, the story goes, and others will follow, creating an environmental tsunami of change in norms, values and behaviors. The planet will thrive.

Michael Maniates isn't buying it. He believes the mantra of 'buy green, live lean, save the planet' is a con of recent and unseemly origin. It fosters pernicious assumptions about social change, separates individuals from their real power in the world, and fuels damaging consumption. It thrives because it meets the short-term priorities of governments and business, not the long-term needs of the planet's human and non-human inhabitants.

Environmentally concerned individuals can make a meaningful difference in the world, and living green is a start. But alone, it can do more harm than good. We must embrace more rewarding and effective practices for saving the planet. This book shows us how.

The Living-Green Myth: The Promise and Limits of Lifestyle Environmentalism by Michael Maniates is available worldwide.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-living-green-myth-the-promise-and-limits-of-lifestyle-environmentalism--9781509527465

27/05/2026

‘Anja Zimmerman […] takes us on a deep and detailed dive into her history of the female breast – “sinful, attractive, sacred, liberating, repulsive, heroic.”’
Irish Independent review Anja Zimmermann's The Breast.

In her new book, German professor Anja Zimmermann explores why breasts are weighted with so much cultural, political and sexual baggage

22/05/2026

We have four new books publishing in the UK today!

📚'In Defence of Populism' by Frank Furedi - A fearless defence of the democratic value of populism.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=in-defence-of-populism--9781509571673

📚'Gender: In World Perspective, 5th Edition' by Raewyn Connell & Tristan Bridges - The indispensable guide to gender studies.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=gender-in-world-perspective--9781509568840

📚'Rethinking the Penal State' by Loïc Wacquant - A major re-assessment of criminal punishment as a core component of the modern state.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=rethinking-the-penal-state--9781509573035

📚'Empire on the Cheap: The Political Economy of French Colonialism Since 1800' by Denis Cogneau - The benchmark economic history of the French colonial empire and its legacy.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=empire-on-the-cheap-the-political-economy-of-french-colonialism-since-1800--9781509563333

22/05/2026

"Scanlon’s position on the subject of freedom and responsibility is sophisticated and coherent; it finds that nothing about the natural order of causation is incompatible with the ways we legitimately hold people responsible."

Delighted to see this review of 'Morality and Responsibility' by T.M Scanlon in London Review of Books

Whether the causal order of nature is deterministic or partly random, people do not create themselves. So how can it...