First published in 1962, this account of the meaning and benefits of politics is updated for the 21st century. Bernard Crick asserts that politics with its compromises and power struggles remains the only tested alternative to government by coercion, making both freedom and order possible in heterogeneous societies. For Crick, politics is messy and complex, and his book defends it against those who would identify it with (and reduce it to) ideology, democracy, nationalism or technology. This fifth edition includes a substantial new preface and an afterword on "how politicians can threaten citizenship and common humanity". In it, Crick discusses the popular distrust for politicians both in the UK and USA, arguing that they have lowered the level of public debate for short-term gain. He looks at the tension between party government and citizenship; and he discusses how such short-termism is preventing timely attempts to tackle despoilation of the global environment.

Product Description: Active Citizenship gathers a group of political actors and academics who believe a radically more active citizenship is a worthy aim. They spell out how it can be achieved in their particular area of concern, looking at the obstacles and how they might be overcome...read more

Citizenship, both the subject and practice, should be a bridge between the vocational aims of education and education for its own sake. Not all of life is productive: there is leisure, there is culture, both of which active citizens can defend, indeed enhance. This book may, I hope, help teachers and all involved in education (governors, parents and even inspectors) gain or reinforce a sense of civic pride and mission.

Product Description: This book considers the government of the United Kingdom and relationships with Ireland in the light of the sense of identity of each of the nations and regions. It examines the extent to which this receives satisfactory institutional expression and whether these institutions need reform, both internally in each case and in the totality of relationships and interrelationships; and analyzes the impact of 1992 and moves to European integration...read more

Product Description: The companion volume to Bernard Crick's "Essays on Politics and Literature", this book is a mixture of the critic's academic and journalistic writing. He aims to rescue political philosophy from the clutches of academia and to stimulate popular political debate...read more

Product Description: What kind of person was the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four? A writer famed for his clear, precise style, Orwell the man contained many contraindications. He was an Old Etonian who despised the upper classes, a policeman in Burma who hated Imperialism, a freedom fighter who disliked war...read more

The first and only authorized biography of George Orwell, written with the cooperation of Orwell's widow, relates the private facts of the political writer's life to the substance of his writing