Publishing with Purpose
General non-fiction
We publish serious non-fiction social commentary and debate for a wide audience. These high quality books are written by academics, professionals and other experts in an accessible way bringing key issues of social, political and cultural significance to a wide readership. These books have an impact: advancing knowledge, raising awareness and encouraging social change.
Justice in a Time of Austerity
Stories From a System in Crisis
Dan Newman and Jon Robins combine investigative journalism and academic scholarship to examine how the lives of people suffering problems with benefits, debt, family, housing and immigration are made harder by cuts to the civil justice system.
The Forgotten City
Rethinking Digital Living for Our People and the Planet
Phil Allmendinger takes a critical approach to the role of ‘smart’ in future cities and the relationship with city development. Considering how technology can support active citizenship, he challenges the commercial drivers of big tech and warns that these, not developments for ‘social good’, may dominate.
What Have Charities Ever Done for Us?
The Stories Behind the Headlines
What Have Charities Ever Done for Us? uses case studies and interviews to illustrate how charities support people and communities, foster heritage and culture and pioneer responses to crucial social, ethical and environmental questions.
Secrets and Silence
Child Sex Abuse from Cleveland to Savile and Beyond
Secrets and Silence reveals that the enquiry that followed the Cleveland child abuse scandal of 1987 was a cover-up. Doctors were discouraged and social workers disempowered - a legacy that leads all the way to the current Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
The Mutant Project
Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans
An anthropologist visits the frontiers of genetics, medicine, and technology to ask: whose values are guiding gene-editing experiments, and what are the implications for humanity?
Radical Empathy
Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides
Renowned political scientist Terri Givens calls for ‘radical empathy’ in bridging racial divides to understand the origins of our biases, including internalized oppression. Deftly weaving together her own experiences with the political, she offers practical steps to call out racism and bring about radical social change.
Slow Computing
Why We Need Balanced Digital Lives
Is it possible to experience the joy and benefits of computing in a way that asserts individual and collective autonomy?
Drawing on the ideas of the ‘slow movement’, Slow Computing sets out numerous practical and political means to take back control and counter the more pernicious effects of living digital lives.
School Scandals
Blowing the Whistle on the Corruption of Our Education System
Pat Thomson takes on England’s muddled education system and exposes fraudulent and unethical practices, including the skewing of the curriculum and manipulation of results. She argues for an urgent review of current practices, leading to a revitalised education system that has the public good at its heart.
Race, Taste, Class and Cars
Cars transmit and modify our identities behind the wheel. As a symbol of independence and freedom, the car projects status, class, taste and, significantly, embeds racialisation. Using fascinating research from drivers, Alam unpicks the ways in which our identity is enhanced and driven.
Does Age Matter
Generation Share takes readers on a journey around the globe to meet the people who are changing and saving lives by building a Sharing Economy. Through stunning photography, social commentary and interviews, Generation Share showcases extraordinary stories demonstrating the power of sharing.
Sharing the City
Generation Share takes readers on a journey around the globe to meet the people who are changing and saving lives by building a Sharing Economy. Through stunning photography, social commentary and interviews, Generation Share showcases extraordinary stories demonstrating the power of sharing.
Sharing by Gender
Generation Share takes readers on a journey around the globe to meet the people who are changing and saving lives by building a Sharing Economy. Through stunning photography, social commentary and interviews, Generation Share showcases extraordinary stories demonstrating the power of sharing.