Tony Wood - Böcker

Transnational Communism across the Americas offers an innovative approach to the study of Latin American communism. It convincingly illustrates that communist parties were both deeply rooted in their own local realities and maintained significant relationships with other communists across the region and around the world. The essays in this collection use a transnational lens to examine the relationships of the region’s communist parties with each other, their international counterparts, and non-communist groups dedicated to anti-imperialism, women’s rights, and other causes. Topics include the shifting relationship between Mexican communists and the Comintern, Black migrant workers in the Caribbean, race relations in Cuba, Latin American communists in the USSR, LuÍs Carlos Prestes in Brazil, the U.S. and Puerto Rican communist and Nationalist parties, peace activist networks in Latin America, communist women in Guatemala, transnational student groups, and guerrillas in El Salvador. Contributors: Marc Becker, Jacob Blanc, Tanya Harmer, Patricia Harms, Lazar Jeifets, Victor Jeifets, Adriana Petra, Margaret M. Power, Frances Peace Sullivan, Tony Wood, Kevin A. Young, and Jacob Zumoff

Transnational Communism across the Americas offers an innovative approach to the study of Latin American communism. It convincingly illustrates that communist parties were both deeply rooted in their own local realities and maintained significant relationships with other communists across the region and around the world. The essays in this collection use a transnational lens to examine the relationships of the region’s communist parties with each other, their international counterparts, and non-communist groups dedicated to anti-imperialism, women’s rights, and other causes. Topics include the shifting relationship between Mexican communists and the Comintern, Black migrant workers in the Caribbean, race relations in Cuba, Latin American communists in the USSR, LuÍs Carlos Prestes in Brazil, the U.S. and Puerto Rican communist and Nationalist parties, peace activist networks in Latin America, communist women in Guatemala, transnational student groups, and guerrillas in El Salvador. Contributors: Marc Becker, Jacob Blanc, Tanya Harmer, Patricia Harms, Lazar Jeifets, Victor Jeifets, Adriana Petra, Margaret M. Power, Frances Peace Sullivan, Tony Wood, Kevin A. Young, and Jacob Zumoff

In the 1920s and 1930s, Latin American radicals engaged in urgent debates over how to combat racism, resist empire, and reimagine the nation-state. Drawing on a global array of sources, Radical Sovereignty reconstructs these transnational discussions that unfolded in such far-flung locations as Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Havana, Moscow, and Brussels. Energized by the Mexican and Russian Revolutions, communists, trade unionists, peasant organizers, and anti-imperial activists emerged from these debates with innovative ideas for addressing historical oppressions, including proposals for a pan-continental confederation and calls to grant Black and Indigenous peoples in the Americas the right to form their own sovereign states. While these projects did not come to fruition, they left an enduring mark on Latin America's political landscape, bequeathing approaches to race, ethnicity, and self-determination that have resurfaced in recent years.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Latin American radicals engaged in urgent debates over how to combat racism, resist empire, and reimagine the nation-state. Drawing on a global array of sources, Radical Sovereignty reconstructs these transnational discussions that unfolded in such far-flung locations as Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Havana, Moscow, and Brussels. Energized by the Mexican and Russian Revolutions, communists, trade unionists, peasant organizers, and anti-imperial activists emerged from these debates with innovative ideas for addressing historical oppressions, including proposals for a pan-continental confederation and calls to grant Black and Indigenous peoples in the Americas the right to form their own sovereign states. While these projects did not come to fruition, they left an enduring mark on Latin America's political landscape, bequeathing approaches to race, ethnicity, and self-determination that have resurfaced in recent years.

This indispensable resource, for teachers of pupils aged 7-13 years, consists of a series of graduated lesson plans aimed at improving children’s speaking and listening skills, their self-confidence and their motivation to learn, ultimately leading to better school performance. The scheme was developed and tested in schools during a four year period with over three thousand children and their teachers, and focuses on class and group activities that are enjoyable as well as instructive. All pupils are able to participate regardless of background, academic standing or facility in English, and the skills acquired are central to the National Curriculum for England and Wales Key Stages 2 and 3. Each lesson worksheet includes learning objectives, guidance on preparation and organisation, an activity guide, and follow-up suggestions, all presented in a clear and simple manner to lead the teacher step by step through the session. The materials are grouped into four levels of difficulty which combine to build a powerful range of abilities associated with persuasive and presentational speech, dialogue and debate, as well as developing the children’s command, use, and articulation of English. Each level consists of twelve starter lessons suitable for class-based group work, with sections preparing pupils for a variety of class competitions including public speaking, poetry reading and debating. The activities link naturally with other areas of the curriculum, and topics already being studied can easily be incorporated.In a parallel controlled research project highly significant gains in a nationally standardised test of non-verbal reasoning were made over a seven month period by children who followed the activities for one lesson a week compared to those who did not. These were well in excess of what would be expected for their increased age. Particularly high gains were made by children of lesser ability and those for whom English was an additional language. The improvements recorded were later confirmed by the schools’ own National Curriculum assessments of progress against targets, where on average the project children exceeded substantially the end of year forecasts made by their teachers.

This indispensable resource, for teachers of pupils aged 7-13 years, consists of a series of graduated lesson plans aimed at improving children’s speaking and listening skills, their self-confidence and their motivation to learn, ultimately leading to better school performance. The scheme was developed and tested in schools during a four year period with over three thousand children and their teachers, and focuses on class and group activities that are enjoyable as well as instructive. All pupils are able to participate regardless of background, academic standing or facility in English, and the skills acquired are central to the National Curriculum for England and Wales Key Stages 2 and 3. Each lesson worksheet includes learning objectives, guidance on preparation and organisation, an activity guide, and follow-up suggestions, all presented in a clear and simple manner to lead the teacher step by step through the session. The materials are grouped into four levels of difficulty which combine to build a powerful range of abilities associated with persuasive and presentational speech, dialogue and debate, as well as developing the children’s command, use, and articulation of English. Each level consists of twelve starter lessons suitable for class-based group work, with sections preparing pupils for a variety of class competitions including public speaking, poetry reading and debating. The activities link naturally with other areas of the curriculum, and topics already being studied can easily be incorporated.In a parallel controlled research project highly significant gains in a nationally standardised test of non-verbal reasoning were made over a seven month period by children who followed the activities for one lesson a week compared to those who did not. These were well in excess of what would be expected for their increased age. Particularly high gains were made by children of lesser ability and those for whom English was an additional language. The improvements recorded were later confirmed by the schools’ own National Curriculum assessments of progress against targets, where on average the project children exceeded substantially the end of year forecasts made by their teachers.

The Argentine-born writer Adolfo Gilly has directly observed many of Latin America's most dramatic events, from the Bolivian Revolution of the 1950s and Cuba during the Missile Crisis to the guerrilla wars of Central America and Mexico's Zapatista uprising. Paths of Revolution presents the first representative selection from across his extensive body of work, collecting close-quarters reportage, sharp political analyses and reflections on art and letters.A living link between the New Left of the 1960s and the Pink Tide of recent decades, Gilly once described the twentieth century as a series of lightning flashes which can illuminate our present-day predicament. The essay form is where he fully comes into his own, covering a truly impressive range of topics and places. This collection draws out the continuities within one of the world's more vibrant and politically successful left traditions. In the Introduction, Tony Wood (author of Russia Without Putin) offer an overall portrait of Gilly's life and work.