Politics Entertainment

Recognized as one of the great poets of modern times, and as a deeply respected and influential political and cultural activist and social critic, Linton Kwesi Johnson is also a prolific writer of non-fiction. Here, he selects some of his most powerful prose for the first time. Written over many decades, it is a body of work that draws creatively and critically on Johnson’s own Jamaican roots and on Caribbean history to explore the politics of race and ethnicity that continue to inform the Black British experience.

It is rare in history that so many nations in the developed world are in crisis at the same time. There has been a disintegration of trust in political leaders and in the media that holds them to account. For all the progress humankind has made, for all the inventions and new technologies, our society is being undermined by inequality. We should care not simply because of its impact on productivity and growth, but because it's wrong. It's wrong that some don't have enough money to eat whilst others fly wagyu beef halfway across the planet for a couple of amusing mouthfuls.

Authors John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony and who won and why. Twenty films are reviewed in-depth, alongside 10 detailed 'making-of' accounts and capsule reviews of every single Best Picture winner in history. In addition, each Best Picture winner is carefully scrutinised to answer the ultimate question: 'did the Academy get it right?'

In How You Get Famous, journalist Nicole Pasulka raucously documents the rebirth of the New York drag scene, following a group of iconoclastic performers with undeniable charisma, talent, and a hell of a lot to prove. In the past decade, drag has become a place where edgy, competitive showoffs can find security in a callous and over priced city, a shot at real money, and a level of recognition queer people rarely achieve. But can drag keep its edge as it travels from the backroom to the main stage?

From Nelson George, supervising producer and writer of the hit Netflix series The Get Down, this passionate and provocative book tells the complete story of Black music in the last 50 years, and in doing so, outlines the perilous position of Black culture within white American society. In a fast-paced narrative, Nelson George’s book chronicles the rise and fall of “race music” and its transformation into the R&B that eventually dominated the airwaves, only to find itself diluted and submerged as crossover music.

In his 1967 megahit "San Francisco," Scott McKenzie sang of "people in motion" coming from all across the country to San Francisco, the white-hot center of rock music and anti-war protests. At the same time, another large group of young Americans was also in motion, less eagerly, heading for the jungles of Vietnam.

Throughout the 1990s, Prince feuded with his record label, Warner Bros., over his rights as an independent recording artist - and made some of the most brilliant music of his career. During that time, Jim Walsh covered Prince for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and wrote about him passionately, thoughtfully, exhaustively. Here, in real-time, is that coverage: a look back at Prince in the '90s. Walsh's newly unearthed interviews, essays, columns, and reviews make Gold Experience an essential slice of history.

Greg Mitchell's The Beginning or the End chronicles the first efforts of American media and culture to process the Atomic Age. A movie that began as a cautionary tale inspired by atomic scientists aiming to warn the world against a nuclear arms race would be drained of all impact due to revisions and retakes ordered by President Truman and the military.

Alcatraz, the Maze, Rikers, Bangkwang, Sabaneta, ADX Florence - the names alone can chill the blood. Along with La Santé, Diyarbakir, Tadmor, and Carandiru, these are 10 of the toughest prisons in the world. Their walls have housed those guilty of some of the most heinous crimes in history - and frequently served as virtual torture chambers for those whose only crime is to fight for their political beliefs. Some have been the scene of massacres and other atrocities, while others house their inmates in conditions judged inhumane and degrading.

Actress Jodie Foster narrates this classic from the Brothers Grimm. One day, a poor fisherman catches and then frees an enchanted flounder who is able to grant any wish imaginable. A simple man without pretensions, the fisherman would rather leave well enough alone. But his wife's greed forces the fisherman to return to the flounder time after time until it is too late.

Trudi Gerster (1919-2013) war die bekannteste Märchenerzählerin der Schweiz, Schauspielerin und Politikerin. 70 Jahre lang stand sie auf der Bühne und berührte mit ihrer einzigartigen Erzählkunst Hunderttausende von Menschen. Sie sammelte und bearbeite Geschichten aus aller Welt. Trudi Gerster setzte ihre Stimme auch politisch ein und trat 1968 mit den ersten Frauen in den Grossen Rat in Basel Stadt ein. Sie engagierte sich für Frauenrechte, Umweltschutz, Kultur, fairere Bedingungen für Kulturschaffende und Heimatschutz.

Pour avoir dit non à Pinochet après le coup d'état du 11 septembre 1973, le chanteur chilien et militant communiste Victor Jara fut exécuté dans le stade de Santiago.

Long before the United States had presidents from the world of movies and reality TV, we had scores of politicians with connections to country music. In I'd Fight the World, Peter La Chapelle traces the deep bonds between country music and politics. These performers and politicians both rode and resisted cultural waves: some advocated for the poor and dispossessed, and others voiced religious and racial anger, but they all walked the line between exploiting their celebrity and righteously taking on the world.

For decades the suburbs have been where art happens despite: despite the conformity, the emptiness, the sameness. Time and again, the story is one of gems formed under pressure and that resentment of the suburbs is the key ingredient for creative transcendence. But what if, contrary to that, the suburb has actually been an incubator for distinctly American art, as positively and as surely as in any other cultural hothouse?

The true, inspiring tales in Random Acts of Kindness spotlight ordinary people from ages nine to 100 who have found unique ways to show compassion and make a difference. Some of these stories will warm your heart and make you laugh; others will make you smile; and a few might make you cry—in a good way—with the joy of knowing there is so much goodness and generosity in the world.

Alles über Battlestar Galactica: Wie sehr gleichen uns die Zylonen? Künstliche Lebensformen. Auf der Suche nach einer zweiten Erde. 10 Dinge, die man über Battlestar Galactica wissen sollte.

Kelly Osbourne is the child of one of the best documented - and least ordinary - families in Britain and life under the spotlight means she has had to learn from her mistakes the hard way. Fierce takes us from Kelly's first period to her first night in Chicago. From depression and dealing with alcohol and drugs, to coping with the ultimate embarrassing dad, this book is totally honest and totally Kelly.

Holly Hunter reads this popular nursery tale in which the greedy troll who lives under the bridge is no match for the biggest of the Billy Goats Gruff. It comes packaged with a second classic story, "The Three Little Pigs", which is also read by Holly Hunter. Both readings are accompanied by whimsical music performed by Art Lande. Ages four and up will enjoy listening to both stories, which are part of the award-winning Rabbit Ears series Storybook Classics.

With humor and honesty, Girls on Film looks at the good, the bad, and the unfairly written women in film. A celebration of the power of cinema and the hidden messages within media and culture, this collection of personal essays explores the women who inspired and confused a young film enthusiast.

Before his murder at age twenty-five, Tupac Shakur rose to staggering artistic heights as the preeminent storyteller of the 1990s, building, in the process, one of the most iconic public personas of the last half century. He recorded no fewer than ten platinum albums, starred in major films, and became an activist and political hero known the world over. In this cultural history, journalist Van Nguyen reckons with Tupac’s coming of age, fame, and cultural capital, and how the political machinations that shaped him as a boy have since buoyed his legacy as a revolutionary.