Shorts
Our Shorts are between 30-50,000 words and are available as e-books and in print with a shorter production schedule.
We publish the following type of Shorts under both Bristol University Press and Policy Press:
Research: books providing the latest cutting-edge or topical research findings (longer than an article but shorter than a monograph) publishing in hardback for an international market with a lower priced eBook which allows for individual purchase;
Policy Press also publish the following Shorts:
Policy and practice: as part of our commitment to impact and engaging with a wider audience, we also publish ‘policy and practice’ Shorts where there is support with dissemination through Open Access, organisational links, course buy-in or other direct routes to the policy and practice audience.
Written by experts in their fields, these formats provide high quality, peer reviewed content quickly and are available for both personal purchase and for libraries and institutions through the usual channels.
If you are interested in writing a short trade book, please either contact the relevant editor for your subject area or our general non-fiction editor.
Download a Shorts proposal form, including detailed guidelines, here.
Life in the Debt Trap
Stories of Children and Families Struggling with Debt
The first hand stories in this book, collected through The Children's Society's campaign The Debt Trap, offer a unique understanding of life for families and children fighting a daily battle against poverty and debt.
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The Global Financial Crisis and Austerity
A Basic Introduction
Written by an expert in political science and straddling finance, economics and political science, this entry-level summary demystifies global finance and puts the financial crisis in its historical context. It also outlines the policy responses of Western governments to the crash and the ensuing recession and turn to austerity.
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Rebuilding Social Democracy
Core Principles for the Centre Left
Reclaiming Social Democracy is the first major reappraisal of social democracy on the centre-left since the election of Jeremy Corbyn. With a foreword by Lord Hain, it examines its foundational principles and identifies the values needed to find a route back to political credibility for Labour.
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Beyond Brexit?
How to Assess the UK’s Future
Takes a long term view on the range of institutional and operational options available to the UK, EU and other international institutions seeking to influence Brexit negotiations and outcomes.
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A Sharing Economy
How Social Wealth Funds Can Reduce Inequality and Help Balance the Books
A Sharing Economy proposes radical new ways to close the UK’s growing income gap and spread social opportunities. A new social wealth fund would boost economic and social investment and simultaneously strengthen the public finances and offer a powerful antidote to austerity.
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Regulating Police Detention
Voices from behind Closed Doors
Custody visitors are volunteers who make unannounced visits to police custody blocks to check on the welfare of detainees. However, there is a fundamental power imbalance between the police and these visitors. This timely book offers detailed proposals for radically reforming custody visiting to make it an effective regulator of police behaviour.
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- Currently not availableHTML
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Demonising the Other
The Criminalisation of Morality
Throughout history there has always been an ‘other’, often based on culture, race, gender or class, that has been demonised by the majority. Whitehead challenges the idea that this is an inevitable fact of life. This important book offers a resolution that benefits society as a whole rather than just the powerful few.
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Imprisonment Worldwide
The Current Situation and an Alternative Future
Providing a comprehensive account of prison populations worldwide, this new work links prison statistics from the last 15 years with considerations of how prisons and prison populations are managed. It is a major contribution to the knowledge of those currently debating prisons and the use of imprisonment.
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Betraying a Generation
How Education is Failing Young People
Ainley explains how English education is now driven by the economy and politics, having failed to deliver upward social mobility and a brighter future. Concludes with suggestions for positive change.
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Beyond Successful and Active Ageing
A Theory of Model Ageing
This controversial book argues that concepts such as ‘successful’ and ‘active’ ageing are potentially dangerous paradigms that reflect and exacerbate inequalities in older populations. Essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of social constructions of ageing in contemporary societies.
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What’s Wrong with Social Security Benefits?
This provocative short book is a valuable introduction to social security in Britain and the potential for its reform.
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What Death Means Now
Thinking Critically about Dying and Grieving
Bringing 25 years of research and teaching in the sociology of death and dying to this important book, Tony Walter engages critically with key questions around this universal fact.
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