Strange Rebels

With this podcast we begin a new series, Meanwhile on an Abandoned Bookshelf, in which we discuss books that mean something to us or have a particular importance for us. While we might sometimes discuss new books we will mostly concentrate on older and overlooked publications.

In this episode Owen Kelly and David Morley discuss Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century written by Christian Caryl and published in 2014.

Neither of them agree with Caryl’s political position but instead argue about the usefulness of the approach he takes to history. Rather than following an issue he traces five plot-threads across the year 1979 and argues that they intertwine in significant ways that narrative-based conventional history overlooks.

David Morley is emeritus professor at the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths in the University of London.