Paul Mason

Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone continual change - economic cycles that lurch from boom to bust - and has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason wonders whether today we are on the brink of a change so big, so profound, that this time capitalism itself, the immensely complex system by which entire societies function, has reached its limits and is changing into something wholly new. At the heart of this change is information technology: a revolution that, as Mason shows, has the potential to reshape utterly our familiar notions of work, production and value, and to destroy an economy based on markets and private ownership - in fact, he contends, it is already doing so. Almost unnoticed, in the niches and hollows of the market system, whole swathes of economic life are changing. Goods and services that no longer respond to the dictates of neoliberalism are appearing, from parallel currencies and time banks, to cooperatives and self-managed online spaces. Vast numbers of people are changing their behaviour, discovering new forms of ownership, lending and doing business that are distinct from, and contrary to, the current system of state-backed corporate capitalism. In this groundbreaking book Mason shows how, from the ashes of the recent financial crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy. Moving beyond capitalism, he shows, is no longer a utopian dream. This is the first time in human history in which, equipped with an understanding of what is happening around us, we can predict and shape, rather than simply react to, seismic change. 'An original, engaging, and bracingly articulated vision of real alternatives, it is sure to spark many vigorous debates, and they are precisely the ones we should be having.' Naomi Klein

A Guide to Our Future

Postcapitalism

Has capitalism stripped us of our common humanity? In an age of fragmented identities and authoritarianism, award-winning journalist Paul Mason calls for a new humanism. Our world order is under pressure as never before. From new authoritarian regimes in the US, Turkey and Russia, to the imminent break-up of the European Union and a social media awash with intolerance, things look set to fall apart just as abruptly as the Soviet Union did some thirty years ago. How did we get here, and what do we do now? In this searching new exploration of our crisis, Paul Mason argues that at its heart lies an attack on the idea of humanity itself. As the free-market system reduced us to two-dimensional consumers, genetics has stripped us of our belief in humans as agents of change. And now the dystopian forces of the authoritarian right are pushing the world towards a pre-modern understanding of the human being: one that aims to destroy the very concept of universal human rights, and create a new world in which we are biologically destined to form hierarchies based on ethnicity and gender, and to obey the demands of religious conformity. If these forces are not stopped, Mason warns, we will relive something even worse than the 1930s. In response, he demands a radical defence of the human being: a reinvention of humanism; a re-assertion of the universality of human rights; and a struggle for a society where biologically determined hierarchies are abolished. We have the power to imagine and design a better system. We must, Mason concludes, reach deep into the history and experience of resistance in order to be our own saviours.

A Radical Defence of the Human Being

Clear Bright Future

Randi Kreger

Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care about Has Borderline Personality Disorder

Stop Walking on Eggshells

Ella is in the Himalayas with her uncle searching for yeti. But what seems like the adventure of a lifetime is cut short when she realizes that these secretive creatures might not want to be found. Tick knows it's against yeti law to approach humans. So when some arrive on the mountain, why does he find himself peering through the trees to get a closer look? What Tick doesn't know is that his actions will set off a series of events that threaten the existence of yeti all over the world. What can he do to make things right? Just when all hope seems lost, help comes in the most unexpected form...

The International Yeti Collective

Tells the story of the financial crash that destroyed West's investment banks, brought the global economy to its knees, and undermined neoliberal orthodoxy. This book explores the roots of the US and UK's financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences from the Ford factory, to Wall Street, to the City of London.

the end of the age of greed

Meltdown

Und wie man ihn stoppt

Faschismus

Como Travar o Fascismo - História, Ideologia, Resistência

Il futuro migliore. In difesa dell'essere umano. Manifesto per un ottimismo radicale

Incisive grassroots account of the new global revolutions by acclaimed BBC journalist. The world is facing a wave of uprisings, protests and revolutions: Arab dictators swept away, public spaces occupied, slum-dwellers in revolt, cyberspace buzzing with utopian dreams. Events we were told were consigned to history—democratic revolt and social revolution—are being lived by millions of people. In this compelling new book, Paul Mason explores the causes and consequences of this great unrest. From Cairo to Athens, Wall Street and Westminster to Manila, Mason goes in search of the changes in society, technology and human behavior that have propelled a generation onto the streets in search of social justice. In a narrative that blends historical insight with first-person reportage, Mason shines a light on these new forms of activism, from the vast, agile networks of cyberprotest to the culture wars and tent camps of the #occupy movement. The events, says Mason, reflect the expanding power of the individual and call for new political alternatives to elite rule and global poverty.

Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions

Crimson Tide

How the Working Class Went Global

Live Working or Die Fighting

Answers quirky questions about history, from if the Aztecs sent postcards to where fries came from.

And Other Questions about History

Did the Romans Eat Chips?

And other questions about History

And Other Questions about the Human Body

Can You Lick Your Own Elbow?

Originally published in 2012 to wide acclaim, this updated edition, Why It’s Still Kicking Off Everywhere, includes coverage of the most recent events in the wave of revolt and revolution sweeping the planet—riots in Athens, student occupations in the UK, Quebec and Moscow, the emergence of the Occupy Movement and the tumult of the Arab Spring. Economic crisis, social networking and a new political consciousness have come together to ignite a new generation of radicals. BBC journalist and author Paul Mason combines the anecdotes gleaned through first-hand reportage with political, economic and historical analysis to tell the story of today’s networked revolution. Why It’s Still Kicking Off Everywhere not only addresses contemporary struggles, it provides insights into the future of global revolt.

The New Global Revolutions

Why It's Still Kicking Off Everywhere

Presents a sobering account of the global financial collapse that has pushed the world economy toward a major recession, identifying what the author believes to be the sources of the collapse while making cautionary predictions about a potential rise of hyper-regulated capitalism.

The End of the Age of Greed

'For its historical depth, analytical vigour and mobilizational potential, this book is unparalleled. How to Stop Fascism is a visceral reminder of what's at stake, and every page is an urgent invitation to resist' David Lammy MP 'History is a reminder that we are never far from the risk of living under fascism. It can happen anywhere. Mason tells that history with passion and sincerity, framing it perfectly against the present' Angela Saini, author of Superior: The Return of Race Science The bestselling author of PostCapitalism offers a guide to resisting the far right The far right is on the rise across the world. From Modi's India to Bolsonaro's Brazil and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is not a horror that we have left in the past; it is a recurring nightmare that is happening again - and we need to find a better way to fight it. In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon: its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, one that has haunted us throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. History shows us the conditions that breed fascism, and how it can be successfully overcome. But it is up to us in the present to challenge it, and time is running out. From the ashes of Covid-19, we have an opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society. To do so, we must ask ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we going to do about it?

History, Ideology, Resistance

How to Stop Fascism

Anna Franklin

Lammas (or Lughnasa) is now one of the most obscure of the eight festivals of the witches' Wheel of the Year. This book features practical advice on how to celebrate the festival, themes to explore, recipes, incense, spells, traditional types of divination, and information about several full rituals.

Celebrating Fruits of the First Harvest

Lammas

Andrew and his fiancée, Hannah, are on board a whale-watching boat in the Bay of Fundy when the vessel is hit by a rogue wave. Thirty-eight people are rescued by the coast guard, but Hannah is not one of them, and she is subsequently presumed to have drowned. Some weeks later, however, a friend sends Andrew a link to a wedding video shot in southern Mexico, and who is there but Hannah, sitting next to a man her friends do not recognize. Desperate to get to the truth and find his fiancée, Andrew hires a detective, Matthew Harding, whose search takes him from New Brunswick to Mexico to the United Kingdom and finally to the caves under Peterborough, Ontario. A fast-paced thriller full of colourful characters and supernatural elements, The Rogue Wave hits the reader broadside.

The Rogue Wave

A washed up TV reporter stumbles onto a corruption scandal in Western China. Pursued through the desert by a psychotic spin-doctor and a world-weary cop, he discovers the real China: illegal metal mines, a fashion-crazed gang of girl bikers, a whole commune of Tiananmen Square survivors and the up-market sleaze-joints of Beijing. En route, he clashes with a stellar cast of people-traffickers, prostitutes and TV execs. But then the unquiet dead begin to intervene: ghosts from his own past and the past of Chinese Communism; the 'spirits that hover three feet above our heads' of Chinese folklore. Rare Earth is a story about love, journalism, ghosts, metallurgy, vintage militaria and large motorcycles set in the badlands of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. It is about the west's inability to understand the East; one man's epic journey across a dying landscape, where 'thousands of pairs of eyes peer beyond grimy windowpanes into the moonless sky, looking for something better.'

Paul Mason

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