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 1-12 of 124 items.

50 Dark Destinations

Crime and Contemporary Tourism

From the Alcatraz East Crime Museum to Jack the Ripper guided tours, ‘dark tourism’ is now a multi-million-pound global industry. Highlighting 50 travel destinations across six continents, expert criminologists, psychologists and historians expose a worrying trend in contemporary consumer culture in which many of us partake.

Policy Press

Abortion Wars

The Fight for Reproductive Rights

In this hard-hitting timely book Judith Orr, leading pro-choice campaigner, shows that despite the 1967 Abortion Act full reproductive rights in Britain are yet to be won. The book also highlights current debates over decriminalisation and argues for abortion provision fit for the 21st century.

Policy Press

The Approaching Great Transformation

Toward a Liveable Post Carbon Economy

The Approaching Great Transformation is about the coming shift in how we act and think economically as the era of cheap oil comes to an end. It provides inspiration for those engaged in the ongoing global effort to move away from our dependency on fossil fuels and ceaseless growth, and towards a more sustainable, stable, and just system.

Policy Press

Austerity Bites

A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK

This timely book by award-winning journalist Mary O’Hara chronicles the true impact of austerity on people at the sharp end of the cuts, based on her 12-month journey around the country in 2012 and 2013 and fully updated for the paperback edition

Policy Press

Austerity Bites 10 Years On

A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK

With new commentary, Austerity Bites 10 Years On assesses on the true scale of the damage austerity policies have inflicted on the country’s most vulnerable groups, public institutions and on the wider society, reflecting on where we have been, where we are now and what needs to happen next to undo the damage and avoid the same mistakes again.

Policy Press

The Authoritarian Century

China's Rise and the Demise of the Liberal International Order

Chris Ogden argues that, as the world capitulates to China’s preferred authoritarian order, other world powers are moving to this as a dominant global phenomenon, which will transform global institutions, human rights and political systems.

Bristol Uni Press

Back to the Future of Socialism

Anthony Crosland’s The Future of Socialism (1956) provided a creed for governments of the centre left. Now Peter Hain revisits this classic text and presents a stimulating political prospectus for today. It should be read by everyone interested in the future of the left.

Policy Press

Back to the Future of Socialism

Anthony Crosland’s The Future of Socialism (1956) provided a creed for governments of the centre left. Now Peter Hain revisits this classic text and presents a stimulating political prospectus for today. It should be read by everyone interested in the future of the left.

Policy Press

Broken Benefits

What's Gone Wrong with Welfare Reform

In Broken Benefits, Sam Royston argues that social security isn’t working, and without a change in direction, it will be even less fair in the future.

He provides an introductory guide to social security, correcting misunderstandings and presents practical ideas of how benefits should be reformed.

Policy Press

Challenging choices

Ideology, consumerism and policy

This lively and topical book provides a critique of choice in contemporary society and policy. Having choices empowers us, but constant extension of choice overwhelms us. In a concise and readable style, the author considers whether choice enhances or burdens our lives, and questions the blithe assumption that more choice is always for the better.

Policy Press

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