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.
Social work
The rise and fall of a profession?
This book charts social work's development over the last 150 years, calling for a progressive, radical/critical practice based on social justice and social change.
Social Innovation
How Societies Find the Power to Change
Geoff Mulgan, a pioneer in the global field of social innovation, explains how it provides answers to today’s global social, economic and sustainability issues. He argues for matching R&D in technology and science with a socially focused R&D and harnessing creative imagination on a larger scale than ever before.
Snobbery
Snobbery matters because it is the way in which social divisions are built. In these times of growing social inequality, snobbery is becoming ever more pertinent. This book draws on literature, popular culture and autobiography as well as sociology and history to take a fresh and engaging look at this key social and cultural issue.
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.
Shoot to kill
Police accountability, firearms and fatal force
This book provides a fresh, accessible and much-needed overview of a neglected and widely misunderstood area for students, academics, police and criminal justice officials, policy makers, politicians and for members of the public concerned about police use of fatal force.
The Shame Game
Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative
Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara, asks how we can overturn the portrayal of poverty once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers – the people who live it.
Secrets and Silence
Uncovering the Legacy of the Cleveland Child Sexual Abuse Case
The Cleveland child sexual abuse scandal was not the scandal we thought. Beatrix Campbell shows how medical evidence of childhood rape identified by pioneering paediatricians was deemed credible but ‘dangerous’. This secret has framed policy making and public opinion and has had consequences for children, professionals, justice and the state.
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.
The Rules of Democracy
Democracy is the most effective way to give us control over the decisions that impact on our lives, but it must evolve. This book lays out a roadmap for a more accountable democracy, locally, nationally and internationally that will give us greater influence over the decisions that impact our communities.
The Rise of the Right
English Nationalism and the Transformation of Working-Class Politics
This book is the first to offer an uncompromising look at the English Defence League (EDL), aiming to alter thinking about working-class politics and the rise of right-wing nationalism in de-industrialised English towns and cities.
The Right Amount of Panic
How Women Trade Freedom for Safety
With real-life accounts of women’s experiences, and based on the author’s original research, this book challenges the culture of victim-blaming and shows how much energy women put into avoiding sexual violence in public spaces.
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.