Out now: Definable Traces in the Atmosphere
An anthology of Mike Marqusee's selected articles discussing Bob Dylan, the game of cricket, American Civil rights, Jewish identity, William Blake’s art, nationalism, Big Pharma, Labour Party politics, the films of John Ford, Flamenco music, the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the BDS campaign, Muhammad Ali and Italian Renaissance painting amongst many other topics explored with Marqusee's acute, erude and kaleidoscopic writings.
About Mike Marqusee
Mike Marqusee (1953-2015) was a writer and political activist. Born in the US, he lived in Britain from the age of 18. He authored awide range of books, on cricket, nationalism, the Labour Party, popular culture and anti-zionism, and columns, with an anthology of articles due to be published early in 2018. He was active in the Labour Party, anti-racism, anti-war and other political campaigns.Read more
Dec 16, 2014
An “immensely readable series of essays, whose value is in direct relation to the depth of the experience from which they are drawn.”
[This review of The Price of Experience will appear in a future issue of Race and Class] HAZEL WATERS, Institute of Race Relations, reviews The Price of Experience: Writings on Living with Cancer By MIKE MARQUSEE (London, OR Books, 2014), 106 pp. £8.00. Why, I wondered, before I began reading, had Marqusee titled his collection…Read more
Aug 25, 2014
Lo personal es político en el nuevo libro de Mike Marqusee
Spanish translation by Christine Lewis Carroll of the introduction to The Price of Experience Lo personal es político en el nuevo libro de Mike Marqusee sobre vivir con el cáncer. Cuando me diagnosticaron mieloma múltiple en 2007, prometí a mis amigos que no añadiría otro confesionario a los que ya existen sobre el cáncer. Tenía…Read more
Aug 16, 2014
“An epiphany”
Mohan Rao reviews The Price of Experience for Economic and Political Weekly (India), August 16, 2014 Let me begin with disclosures: I know Mike Marqusee, and am a profound fan of his work. I loathe cricket, but read his book Anyone But England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket (1994), a veritable political economy of…Read more
Aug 1, 2014
“Let others talk of glory, let others celebrate the heroes who are to deluge the world with blood…They know not what a cottage is. They know not how the poor live…”
Mike Marqusee’s latest column for Red Pepper celebrates William Frend, a radical who deserves to be better remembered. Contending for the living Red Pepper, August 2014 The 35-year-old Cambridge lecturer William Frend was putting the finishing touches on ‘Peace and Union’, his pamphlet on political reform, in early 1793 when the hostility between Britain and…Read more
Jul 28, 2014
Post-op report
Dear friends, I’m back home after a week-long spell in the Royal London Hospital recovering from seven hours of surgery on my lower spine. The experience proved arduous, as grueling as it sounds, but the good news is that I’ve survived and should draw tangible benefit from it. What happened was that the revlimid therapy…Read more
Jun 24, 2014
“No ordinary account of living with cancer…”
Virginia Moffatt reviews The Price of Experience for Peace News, June 2014 ‘When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007, I vowed to friends I would not add to the surfeit of cancer confessionals’, Mike Marqusee writes in his introduction to this collection of essays. It was, however, a promise he ‘should have known’…Read more
Jun 4, 2014
NHS staff must ignore the guilt-tripping and fight for fair pay
Far from ‘taking it out on the patients’, exploited health workers are actually taking action for my wellbeing The Guardian As a result of a long-term illness (multiple myeloma), visits to Barts and the Royal London hospitals have been part of my regular routine for some years. I never cease to marvel at the range…Read more
England cricket captain in retro mode
“In my opinion there’s a line and that line was crossed today.” That was Alastair Cook’s aggrieved response to the Sri Lankan spin bowler Senanayake running out the England batter Buttler at the non-striker’s end in yesterday’s One Day International. The England captain’s statement was, to speak plainly, self-righteous guff, a sad throwback to the…Read more
Jun 1, 2014
A level playing field? Global sport in the neo-liberal age
Contending for the living Red Pepper, June-July 2014 One of the hallmarks of the neo-liberal age has been the exponential expansion of commercial spectator sport – in its economic value, political role and cultural presence. All of which will be thrown into high relief during the coming World Cup. In recent years, the industry has…Read more
May 21, 2014
Neoliberal games
International Socialist Review, Issue 93, Summer 2014 Mike Marqusee reviews Brazil’s Dance With the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy, by Dave Zirin (Haymarket Books). From June 12, the month-long soccer World Cup will capture global audiences of hundreds of millions, generating vast revenues for FIFA (the game’s notoriously venal…Read more
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