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lovegriefandgender's review
4.0
The suggestion that the price of free speech is individual accountability is a necessary and a fascinating one.
Unfortunately the academic style of the book lacks the clarity and direction of his lyrics — the language he has chosen excludes his audience, the audience whose opinions he is challenging, and so this eloquent and thoughtful and urgent book is like a pebble slipping softly beneath the peat.
Unfortunately the academic style of the book lacks the clarity and direction of his lyrics — the language he has chosen excludes his audience, the audience whose opinions he is challenging, and so this eloquent and thoughtful and urgent book is like a pebble slipping softly beneath the peat.
fyodoralekseyev's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.5
A short little pamphlet, just as the book says. I was surprised to see that Bragg wrote a book (in fact I thought perhaps it was some other Bragg) but it turns out he has! Its a fine little book. I like Bragg's critique of the "Intellectual Dark Web", seeing it gives perspective from not some internet fellow but a good old Briton.
gylden's review
4.0
A brief discussion of how we got where we are politically in The US and UK. While he doesn't bring up any points that are new for me, this is a concise distillation of several points.
floodfish's review
4.0
I don’t read a lot of philosophy, but this went down pretty well. The pamphlet is a good forum for the mature Billy Bragg. I’m sure it helps that I agree with almost everything in here, but I found it to be well-distilled and well-argued, bringing in enough history, current affairs, and villains (Hayek! Jordan Peterson!) to keep it from devolving into abstract theory.
bookwomble's review
5.0
A quick read, as clear as it is concise. Bragg proposes that true, inclusive and democratic freedom is founded on the three principles of liberty, equality and accountability. He builds his argument for the importance of each pillar, showing how neoliberalism has eroded them, but most particularly that of accountability. Deregulation has given free rein to corporate exploitation of people and the environment, and Bragg sketches his ideas for redressing the balance. It could have been three times as long and still too short. Wonderful!