Policy Press

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.

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Showing 61-72 of 124 items.

Changemakers

Radical Strategies for Social Movement Organising

This book takes personal stories of activity in the animal rights, environmental, trade union, community and social justice spheres and uses them to engage with ideas emerging from social movement theory.

Policy Press

Children Behind Bars

Why the Abuse of Child Imprisonment Must End

This engaging book presents the shocking truth about the lives and deaths of children in custody. Drawing on human rights legislation, it outlines the harsh realities of penal child custody. The issues are explored through the lens of protection, not punishment, and the author finds there can be only one conclusion: child prisons must close.

Policy Press

Money

Myths, Truths and Alternatives

Mary Mellor examines money’s social, political and commercial histories to debunk longstanding myths such as money being in short supply and needing to come from somewhere. She sets out a new finance system, based on green and feminist concerns, to bring radical change for social good.

Policy Press

Rethinking Britain

Policy Ideas for the Many

Rethinking Britain presents a range of ideas from some of the country’s most influential thinkers, offering solutions which, if implemented, would lead to a fairer society. This book is an essential aid for citizens who are interested in critiquing inequalities while looking to build a better future.

Policy Press

Enemies of the People?

How Judges Shape Society

When newspapers reported a court ruling on Brexit, senior judges were condemned as 'enemies of the people'. But they still ruled that an order by the Queen on the advice of her prime minister was just ‘a blank piece of paper’. Joshua Rozenberg asks how judges can maintain public confidence while making hard choices.

Bristol Uni Press

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.

Bristol Uni Press

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?

Bristol Uni Press

Escaping Dystopia

Rebuilding a Public Domain

Overcoming crises and forging alternatives is the most pressing issue of our times. In this book, Stephen McBride explores the multiple crises defining neoliberalism, identifying the linkages between them, and argues for radical solutions to revive our increasingly dystopian political and economic world.

Bristol Uni Press

When This Is Over

Reflections on an Unequal Pandemic

Academics, activists and artists remember and reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic in an inclusive commemorative overview which honours the experience of a global disaster lived up close and suggests the steps needed to ensure we do better next time.

Policy Press

Raising the Nation

How to Build a Better Future for Our Children (and Everyone Else)

Setting out big public policy ideas, enhanced by contributions from academic and campaigning experts, as well as those with lived experience, Raising the Nation shows why we must prioritise child-centred policies to ensure the future strength of our communities, environment and economy.

Policy Press

Unchecked Power?

How Recent Constitutional Reforms Are Threatening UK Democracy

Alison Young provides the first consolidated account of constitutional changes taking place which strengthen governmental powers and weaken political and legal checks, arguing that the democracy is being endangered.

Bristol Uni Press

Ricardo’s Dream

How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray

Ricardo’s Dream tells the fascinating story of David Ricardo, Adam Smith’s only real rival as the ‘founder of economics’: who introduced the study of abstract models to economics. He also developed the theory of trade that underpinned globalization and hides a history of power, empire and slavery.

Bristol Uni Press