John Seed – författare

This book of readings, meditations, rituals and workshop notes prepared on three continents helps us remember that environmental defense is nothing less than "Self" defense. Including magnificent illustrations of Australia's rainforests, Thinking Like a Mountain provides a context for ritual identification with the natural environment, inviting us to begin a process of "community therapy" in defense of Mother Earth. It helps us experience our place in the web of life, rather than on the apex of some human-centred pyramid. An important deep ecology educational tool for activist, school and religious groups, Thinking Like a Mountain can also be used for personal reflection.Thinking Like a Mountain has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field. For more information on New Catalyst Books click here.

This book is a collective journal of the COVID-19 pandemic. With first-hand accounts of the pandemic as it unfolded, it explores the social and the political through the lens of the outbreak. Featuring contributors located in India, the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Bulgaria, the book presents us with simultaneous multiple histories of our time.The volume documents the beginning of social distancing and lockdown measures adopted by countries around the world and analyses how these bore upon prevailing social conditions in specific locations. It presents the authors’ personal observations in a lucid conversational style as they reflect on themes such as the reorganization of political debates and issues, the experience of the marginalized, theodicy, government policy responses, and shifts into digital space under lockdown, all of these under an overarching narrative of the healthcare and economic crisis facing the world. A unique and engaging contribution, this book will be useful to students and researchers of sociology, public health, political economy, public policy, and comparative politics. It will also appeal to general readers interested in pandemic literature.

This book is a collective journal of the COVID-19 pandemic. With first-hand accounts of the pandemic as it unfolded, it explores the social and the political through the lens of the outbreak. Featuring contributors located in India, the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Bulgaria, the book presents us with simultaneous multiple histories of our time.The volume documents the beginning of social distancing and lockdown measures adopted by countries around the world and analyses how these bore upon prevailing social conditions in specific locations. It presents the authors’ personal observations in a lucid conversational style as they reflect on themes such as the reorganization of political debates and issues, the experience of the marginalized, theodicy, government policy responses, and shifts into digital space under lockdown, all of these under an overarching narrative of the healthcare and economic crisis facing the world. A unique and engaging contribution, this book will be useful to students and researchers of sociology, public health, political economy, public policy, and comparative politics. It will also appeal to general readers interested in pandemic literature.

Are the cultural upheavals of the sixties just a media myth? The Summer of Love with its ambience of marijuana and sitar music, the glitterati of Swinging London, and student protesters battling with the police evoke a period of material prosperity, cultural innovation and youthful rebellion. But how significant were the radical aspirations and utopian ideals of the sixties? And what is the legacy of the social, political and cultural transformations which characterized the decade? In an interdisciplinary collection of specially commissioned essays, the contributors to Cultural Revolution uncover the complex economic and political contexts in which these changes took place. Covering a wide variety of art forms - drama, television, film, poetry, the novel, popular music, dance, cinema and the visual arts - they investigate how sixties' culture became politicized, and how its inherent contradictions still have repercussions for the arts today.

Are the cultural upheavals of the sixties just a media myth? The Summer of Love with its ambience of marijuana and sitar music, the glitterati of Swinging London, and student protesters battling with the police evoke a period of material prosperity, cultural innovation and youthful rebellion. But how significant were the radical aspirations and utopian ideals of the sixties? And what is the legacy of the social, political and cultural transformations which characterized the decade? In an interdisciplinary collection of specially commissioned essays, the contributors to Cultural Revolution uncover the complex economic and political contexts in which these changes took place. Covering a wide variety of art forms - drama, television, film, poetry, the novel, popular music, dance, cinema and the visual arts - they investigate how sixties' culture became politicized, and how its inherent contradictions still have repercussions for the arts today.

The Gordon riots of June 1780 were the most devastating outbreak of urban violence in British history. For almost a week large parts of central London were ablaze, prisons were destroyed and the Bank of England attacked. Hundreds of rioters were shot dead by troops and for many observers it seemed that England was on the verge of a revolution. The first scholarly study in a generation, this book brings together leading scholars from historical and literary studies to provide new perspectives on these momentous events. The essays include new archival work on the religious, political and international contexts of the riots and new interpretations of contemporary literary and artistic sources. For too long the significance of the Gordon riots has been overshadowed by the impact of the French revolution on British society and culture: this book restores the riots to their central position in late eighteenth-century Britain.

The first major study of the historical writings of religious dissenters in England between the 1690s and the 1790s, this book redefines the way we understand religious and political identities in the eighteenth century.Dissenting Histories provides a synoptic overview of the development of religious dissent in England between the Restoration and the early nineteenth century, using Dissenters' writings to open up new and different perspectives on how the past was perceived in this period. These writings are located within the wider political culture and the author explores how the long shadow of 'the Great Rebellion' of the 1640s stretched across the division between Church and Dissent.The author is not simply concerned with history as a representation of the past, but history also as part of the bitterly divided collective memory of the present. Focusing on the relationship between the history that historians wrote, and the history that men and women experienced, John Seed provides the reader with new perspectives on eighteenth-century England.

The first book to survey the works of 38 contemporary painters who are "disrupting" figurative painting with technology- and memory-inspired alterations. Disrupted Realism takes an in-depth look at the works of contemporary painters who are challenging and reshaping the tradition of Realism, helping art lovers, collectors, and artists approach and understand this compelling new phenomenon.  Includes the works of 38 artists whose paintings respond to the subjectivity and disruptions of modern experience.Six sections lay out and analyze common themes: "Toward Abstraction," "Disrupted Bodies," "Emotions and Identities," "Myths and Visions," "Patterns, Planes, and Formations," and "Between Painting and Photography."Interviews with each artist offer additional insight into some of the most incisive and relevant paintings being created today.Widely published author and blogger John Seed, who believes that we are “the most distracted society in the history of the world,” has selected artists he sees as visionaries in the developing Realism movement. The artists’ impulses toward disruption are as individual as the artists themselves, but all share the need to include perception and emotion in their artistic process.

The work of 43 realist artists, along with Q&A insights, connect us with contemporary painting that's “disrupted” stylistically, thematically, or both.  Foreword by artist Nicholas Wilton, founder of Art2Life. Profoundly shaped by the events, forces, and overflow of today's disjointed, social-media-heavy life, the 43 diverse and global realist artists in this book feature paintings that are “disrupted” stylistically, thematically, or sometimes both. Accompanying the over 300 images in this book are artists' insights, to appreciate how responding to life’s disruptions engages the artistic imagination. You'll be instantly absorbed by their comments presented in an engaging question-and-answer style. Artists include Casey Baugh, Jenny Saville, Joseph Lee, Ruprecht von Kaufmann, Justin Mortimer, and dozens more.  The book opens with a special essay on artist Jenny Saville, who has inspired many contemporary representational artists to disrupt their art. Art writer and curator John Seed, the foremost authority on disrupted realism, is the perfect author and subsequent guide to help us appreciate how art relates to the "super-fast, simultaneous, almost dizzyingly paced scrolling" of our lives. PRAISE FOR MORE DISRUPTION... "Elegant and visually splendid . . . a tour de force." —Michael Shnayerson, author of Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art

It is widely acknowledged that Karl Marx was one of the most original and influential thinkers of modern times. His writings have inspired some of the most important political movements of the past century and still has the power to arouse controversy today. Marx: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Marx's thought, his major works and theories, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex ideas of this major figure in the history of political thought. The book introduces key Marxist concepts and themes and examines the ways in which they have influenced philosophical and political thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Marx's ideas, the book provides a cogent and reliable survey of some of the most important debates surrounding his often controversial theories. This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers.

This book provides a concise and coherent overview of Marx, ideal for undergraduates who require more than just a simple introduction to his work and thought. Covering the full range of Marx's works and ideas, introducing all the key concepts and themes in Marxism, this book is an invaluable aid to study.It is widely acknowledged that Karl Marx was one of the most original and influential thinker of modern times. His thought has inspired some of the most important political movements of the past century and still today has the power to arouse controversy today."Marx: A Guide for the Perplexed" is a clear and thorough account of Marx's thought, his major works and theories, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex ideas of this key thinker. The book introduces all the key Marxist concepts and themes and examines the ways in which they have influenced philosophical and political thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Marx's thought, the book provides a cogent and reliable survey of some of the most important debates surrounding his often controversial ideas.This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers."Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging - or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

Every word in this book by John Seed is drawn from Henry Mayhew's writings on London, published in the 'Morning Chronicle' from 1849 to 1850, then in 63 editions of his own weekly paper, 'London Labour and the London Poor' between December 1850 and February 1852, and then again in the four-volume work of the same title. From the thousands of pages of Mayhew's investigations, John Seed has selected a few hundred extracts from those passages where he attempted to record the voices of London's working people. He has cut and rearranged the source texts, and has re-set them as poetry, splitting the lines in such a way as to make them both more easily readable and less easily, or quickly read, in an attempt to get closer to the original voices. The author likens this process to a sound engineer editing a tape to try to get rid of interfenernce or distortion. The final shape of the poem-sequence, and the form of the poems themselves, show the influence of American models such as Charles Reznikoff and William Carlos Williams, who both attempted to record common speech.'Pictures from Mayhew' is published simultaneously with a large collection of John Seed's original poetry, most of which has been oput of print or hard to find for many years. John Seed lives in London and has published four collection of his poetry since the 1970s. His work was also featured in the seminal anthology 'A Various Art' (ed. Crozier & Longville, Carcanet 1987).

This collection of John Seed's original poetry, most of which has been out of print or hard to find for many years, is published simultaneously with the companion volume, 'Pictures from Mayhew'. Besides bringing together his four previously published collections, the book incldues a substantial amount of uncollected work from the 1990s and 2000s. John Seed lives in London and teaches History at Roehampton University. His work was featured in the seminal anthology 'A Various Art' (ed. Crozier & Longville, Carcanet 1987).

The Gordon riots of June 1780 were the most devastating outbreak of urban violence in British history. For almost a week large parts of central London were ablaze, prisons were destroyed and the Bank of England attacked. Hundreds of rioters were shot dead by troops and for many observers it seemed that England was on the verge of a revolution. The first scholarly study in a generation, this book brings together leading scholars from historical and literary studies to provide new perspectives on these momentous events. The essays include new archival work on the religious, political and international contexts of the riots and new interpretations of contemporary literary and artistic sources. For too long the significance of the Gordon riots has been overshadowed by the impact of the French revolution on British society and culture: this book restores the riots to their central position in late eighteenth-century Britain.

This slim collection gathers together John Seed's poems written since the publication of his New and Collected.

"Despite exalted notions of the author, writers work with the materials they find around them and try to hammer out some kind of new thing with bits of discursive wood lying around and rusty nails and old string and glue. What I am doing here might even be compared to a film-maker creating a documentary out of other people's bits of film and sound recordings, interspersed with some slight commentary. Editing as creative act!"- From John Seed's 'Postface' to 'Brandon Pithouse'Smoke Rising is a documentary poem. Very much in the tradition of Charles Reznikoff's Testimony, it utilises oral sources to capture the speech - and perhaps the experience-of those who suffered the London Blitz. However, its elective affinities are also to Walter Benjamin's great unfinished Arcades Project: "to carry the principle of montage into history...to assemble large-scale constructions out of the smallest and most precisely cut components...to discover in the analysis of the small individual moment the crystal of the total event."

John Seed has pioneered a form of documentary poem using found texts - developing the model of Charles Reznikoff, and likewise concentrating on historical events. Previous volumes for Shearsman Books have included two volumes based on the reportage of Mayhew, and another based on the London Blitz. Here he uses reports of tragic deaths from nineteenth-century newspapers: melancholy occurrences, indeed.