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Music, Politics & Activism -

Related category: Music & Performing Arts
Related booklists: Theatre, Film, Politics and Activism,

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Books are listed in order of year of publication - newest titles are at the top. There are 35 books in this booklist

  • Cover image of book The Fascist Groove Thing: A History of Thatcher
    The Fascist Groove Thing: A History of Thatcher's Britain in 21 Mixtapes - by Hugh Hodges

    £21.99   paperback   (2023) - ISBN 13: 9781629638843 | ISBN 10: 1629638846

    This is the late 1970s and ’80s as explained through the urgent and still-relevant songs of the Clash, the Specials, the Au Pairs, the Style Council, the Pet Shop Boys, and nearly four hundred other bands and solo artists.  Each chapter presen ... more

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  • Cover image of book Pride, Pop and Politics: Music, Theatre and LGBT Activism, 1970-2022 by Darryl W. Bullock
    Pride, Pop and Politics: Music, Theatre and LGBT Activism, 1970-2022 - by Darryl W. Bullock

    £20.00   hardback   (2022) - ISBN 13: 9781913172213 | ISBN 10: 191317221x

    'Bullock has written a meticulously researched history which is as enjoyable as it is informative. 5/5 stars.' Classic Pop   Pride, Pop and Politics charts the development of gay culture and the rise of LGBTQ politics in the UK, from the formation ... more

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  • Cover image of book Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli
    Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom - by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli

    £30.00   hardback   (2021) - ISBN 13: 9781797211787 | ISBN 10: 1797211781

    America's greatest folk singer and songwriter, philosopher, political analyst, and man-of-the-people, Woody Guthrie and his passionate social politics and deep humanity are as crucial in the America of today as they were in the turbulent 1930s and 19 ... more

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  • Cover image of book The Folk Singers and the Bureau by Aaron J Leonard
    The Folk Singers and the Bureau - by Aaron J Leonard

    £12.99   paperback   (2020) - ISBN 13: 9781913462000 | ISBN 10: 1913462005

    Some of the most prominent folk singers of the twentieth century, including Woody Guthrie, 'Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Burl Ives, etc., were also political activists with various associations with the American Communist Party. As a conseq ... more

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  • Cover image of book Resistance: A Songwriter
    Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change and Courage - by Tori Amos

    £16.99   hardback   (2020) - ISBN 13: 9781529325607 | ISBN 10: 1529325609

    Since the release of her first, career-defining solo album Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos has been one of the music industry’s most enduring and ingenious artists. From her unnerving depiction of sexual assault in “Me and a Gun” to her post-9/11 ... more

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  • Cover image of book Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World by Billy Bragg
    Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World - by Billy Bragg

    £9.99   paperback   (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780571327751 | ISBN 10: 0571327753

    Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is the first book to explore this phenomenon in depth – a meticulously researched and joyous account that explains how skiffle sparked a revolution that shaped pop music as we have come to ... more

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  • Cover image of book David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music by Darryl W. Bullock
    David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music - by Darryl W. Bullock

    £12.99   paperback   (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780715652992 | ISBN 10: 0715652990

    From the birth of jazz in the red-light district of New Orleans, through the rock 'n' roll years, Swinging Sixties and all-singing and all-dancing disco days of the '70s, to modern pop, electronica and reggae – the LGBT community has played a cruci ... more

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  • Cover image of book Billy Bragg: Still Suitable for Miners by Andrew Collins
    Billy Bragg: Still Suitable for Miners - by Andrew Collins

    £9.99   paperback   (2018) - ISBN 13: 9780753552711 | ISBN 10: 075355271x

    He was a punk. He was a soldier. He was a flag-waver for both the Labour Party and the miners. He is Billy Bragg, best known as a passionate, protest folk singer and a tireless promoter of political and humanitarian causes all over the world. His li ... more

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  • Cover image of book Sound System: The Political Power of Music by Dave Randall
    Sound System: The Political Power of Music - by Dave Randall

    £14.99   paperback   (2017) - ISBN 13: 9780745399300 | ISBN 10: 0745399304

    Musicians have often wanted to change the world. From underground innovators to pop icons many have believed in the political power of music. Rulers recognise it too. Music has been used to challenge the political and social order - and to prop up th ... more

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  • Cover image of book Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge by Daniel Rachel
    Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge - by Daniel Rachel

    £12.99   paperback   (2017) - ISBN 13: 9781447272694 | ISBN 10: 1447272692

    Walls Come Tumbling Down charts the pivotal period between 1976 and 1992 that saw politics and pop music come together for the first time in Britain's musical history; musicians and their fans suddenly became instigators of social change, and 'the po ... more

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  • Cover image of book Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East by Orlando Crowcroft
    Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East - by Orlando Crowcroft

    £12.99   paperback   (2017) - ISBN 13: 9781786990150 | ISBN 10: 1786990156

    From Tehran to Riyadh, Cairo to Nazareth, this is the story of how a new generation of rockers and rappers are trying to change the Middle East.   A muggy night in Abu Dhabi, 2011. Under the stadium lights a 30,000-strong sea of Libyans, Pales ... more

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  • Cover image of book The Aesthetic of Our Anger: Anarcho-Punk, Politics and Music by Mike Dines and Matthew Worley (Editors)
    The Aesthetic of Our Anger: Anarcho-Punk, Politics and Music - by Mike Dines and Matthew Worley (Editors)

    £18.00   paperback   (2016) - ISBN 13: 9781570273186 | ISBN 10: 1570273189

    Punk is one of the most fiercely debated post-war subcultures. Despite the attention surrounding the movement’s origins, analyses of punk have been drawn predominantly from a now well-trodden historical narrative. This simplification of punk’s hi ... more

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  • Cover image of book Players
    Players' Work Time: A History of the British Musicians' Union, 1893-2013 - by Martin Cloonan and John Williamson

    £14.99   paperback   (2016) - ISBN 13: 9781526113948 | ISBN 10: 1526113945

    This book examines the working lives of musicians over the past 120 years via the history of the Musicians' Union. The union has been at the centre of all major agreements covering the employment of musicians across the UK's music industries for this ... more

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  • Cover image of book Pit Props: Music, International Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners Strike by Granville Williams (Editor)
    Pit Props: Music, International Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners Strike - by Granville Williams (Editor)

    £9.99   paperback   (2016) - ISBN 13: 9781898240082 | ISBN 10: 1898240086

    Pit Props marks the end of an era in coal mining in the UK and highlights how the incredible year-long struggle by the miners in defence of jobs and communities still resonates today. One section focuses on the vital creative links between music, pol ... more

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  • Cover image of book Arguments Yard: Thirty Five Years of Ranting Verse and Thrash Mandola by Attila the Stockbroker
    Arguments Yard: Thirty Five Years of Ranting Verse and Thrash Mandola - by Attila the Stockbroker

    £14.99   paperback   (2015) - ISBN 13: 9781909454309 | ISBN 10: 1909454303

    Launched into public consciousness by John Peel in the early 1980s, poet, musician, journalist and political activist Attila the Stockbroker has since spent thirty five years touring the world as a self-sustaining, one man DIY cottage industry. Havin ... more

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  • Cover image of book Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution by Michael Denning
    Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution - by Michael Denning

    £17.99   paperback   (2015) - ISBN 13: 9781781688564 | ISBN 10: 1781688567

    A radically new reading of the origins of recorded music.  Noise Uprising brings to life the moment and sounds of a cultural revolution. Between the development of electrical recording in 1925 and the outset of the Great Depression in the ear ... more

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  • Cover image of book Total State Machine by Test Dept
    Total State Machine - by Test Dept

    £40.00   paperback   (2015) - ISBN 13: 9780993242113 | ISBN 10: 0993242111

    Total State Machine is published by PC-Press and is a unique historical document and visual representation of Test Dept, one of the UKs truly investigative agitators, authentic industrialists, utilisers and recyclers of society's debris.   Pr ... more

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  • Cover image of book Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored by John Lydon
    Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored - by John Lydon

    £9.99   paperback   (2015) - ISBN 13: 9781471137211 | ISBN 10: 147113721x

    John Lydon has secured prime position as one of the most recognizable icons in the annals of music history. As Johnny Rotten, he was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols - the world's most notorious band, who shot to fame in the mid-1970s with singles ... more

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  • Cover image of book I.W.W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent by I.W.W.
    I.W.W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent - by I.W.W.

    £4.99      (2014) - ISBN 13: 9781604869507 | ISBN 10: 160486950x

    A RADICAL LABOR CLASSIC  Undoubtedly the most popular book in American labor history, the I.W.W.s Little Red Song Book has been a staple item on picket lines and at other workers gatherings for generations, and has gone through numerous edi ... more

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  • Cover image of book Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gessen
    Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot - by Masha Gessen

    £9.99   paperback   (2014) - ISBN 13: 9781847089342 | ISBN 10: 1847089348

    On February 21st 2012, five members of an obscure feminist post-punk collective called Pussy Riot staged a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Dressed in their trademark brightly coloured dresses and balaclavas, the women perform ... more

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  • Cover image of book Pete Seeger in His Own Words by Pete Seeger, edited by Rob and Sam Rosenthal
    Pete Seeger in His Own Words - by Pete Seeger, edited by Rob and Sam Rosenthal

    £23.99   hardback   (2012) - ISBN 13: 9781612052182 | ISBN 10: 1612052185

    Long an icon of American musical and political life, Pete Seeger has written eloquently in books and for magazines, activist movements, and union newsletters. Although he has never written an autobiography, his life story is nowhere more personally c ... more

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  • Cover image of book My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race & Defiance by Harry Belafonte and Michael Schnayerson
    My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race & Defiance - by Harry Belafonte and Michael Schnayerson

    £14.99   paperback   (2012) - ISBN 13: 9780857865861 | ISBN 10: 0857865862

    Written with Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Schnayerson, My Song is an inspiring story of performance and protest, from a superstar singer and actor who was on the front lines of practically every progressive political battle in modern memor ... more

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  • Cover image of book 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs by Dorian Lynskey
    33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs - by Dorian Lynskey

    £12.99   paperback   (2012) - ISBN 13: 9780571241354 | ISBN 10: 0571241352

    Why 33? Partly because that's the number of rotations performed by a vinyl album in one minute, and partly because it takes a lot of songs to tell a story which spans seven decades and five continents - to capture the colour and variety of this shape ... more

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  • Cover image of book Beat Sound, Beat Vision: The Beat Spirit and Popular Song by Laurence Coupe
    Beat Sound, Beat Vision: The Beat Spirit and Popular Song - by Laurence Coupe

    £15.99   paperback   (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780719071133 | ISBN 10: 0719071135

    This book reveals the ideas behind the Beat vision which influenced the Beat sound of the songwriters who followed on from them.   Having explored the thinking of Alan Watts, who coined the term Beat Zen, and who influenced the counter ... more

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  • Cover image of book Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen by David Masciotra
    Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen - by David Masciotra

    £18.99   paperback   (2010) - ISBN 13: 9780826425058 | ISBN 10: 0826425054

    Working On a Dream is a powerful and engaging study of this songwriter and performers art. Springsteen has consistently summoned his creative power and artistic vision to indict political developments and demand the cultivation of a more compassiona ... more

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  • Cover image of book The Train of Ice and Fire: Mano Negra in Colombia by Ramon Chao, translated by Ann Wright
    The Train of Ice and Fire: Mano Negra in Colombia - by Ramon Chao, translated by Ann Wright

    £8.99   paperback   (2010) - ISBN 13: 9781901927443 | ISBN 10: 190192744x

    "'Maybe it was the best adventure I ever had."(Manu Chao)Colombia, November 1993: a reconstructed old passenger train, bespangled with yellow butterflies, is carrying one hundred musicians, acrobats and artists on a daring adventure through the heart ... more

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  • Cover image of book Forever Young by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Paul Rogers
    Forever Young - by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Paul Rogers

    £12.99   hardback   (2008) - ISBN 13: 9781847384294 | ISBN 10: 1847384293

    May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung May you stay forever young...   Since he first released his self-titled debut in 1962, Bob Dylan has been one of the most celebrated artists of our time. And perhaps nowhere is ... more

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  • Cover image of book There
    There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of 60s Counter-culture - by Peter Doggett

    £14.99   paperback   (2008) - ISBN 13: 9781847671141 | ISBN 10: 1847671144

    Between 1965 and 1972, political activists around the globe prepared to mount a revolution, from the Black Panthers to the Gay Liberation Front, from the Yippies to the IRA. Rock and soul music supplied the revolutionary tide with anthems and iconic ... more

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  • Cover image of book Class Act: The Cultural and Political Life of Ewan MacColl by Ben Harker
    Class Act: The Cultural and Political Life of Ewan MacColl - by Ben Harker

    £18.99   paperback   (2007) - ISBN 13: 9780745321653 | ISBN 10: 0745321658

    Ewan MacColl is one of the outstanding British singers and songwriters of the mid to late twentieth-century, and his work has been covered by artists including Roberta Flack, Johnny Cash and the Pogues. He was also a committed political activist. For ... more

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  • Cover image of book Here We Stand: Politics, Performers and Performance - Paul Robeson, Charlie Chaplin, Isadora Duncan by Colin Chambers
    Here We Stand: Politics, Performers and Performance - Paul Robeson, Charlie Chaplin, Isadora Duncan - by Colin Chambers

    £20.00   hardback   (2006) - ISBN 13: 9781854599209 | ISBN 10: 1854599208

    Paul Robeson's international achievements as a singer and an actor made him the most celebrated black American of his day (he would have said 'Negro'). But his outspoken criticism of racism in the USA, his unflinching support of African independence, ... more

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  • Cover image of book Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music and Politics in South Africa by Gwen Ansell
    Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music and Politics in South Africa - by Gwen Ansell

    £30.00   hardback   (2004) - ISBN 13: 9780826416629 | ISBN 10: 0826416624

    Soweto Blues springs from the voices of dozens of South African jazzmen and women who lived through the apartheid years. From well-known international figures like Hugh Masekela to the neighbourhood heroes of small communities, the book uses the test ... more

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  • Cover image of book Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics by Tejumola Olaniyan
    Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics - by Tejumola Olaniyan

    £14.99   paperback   (2004) - ISBN 13: 9780253217189 | ISBN 10: 0253217180

    A lively study of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of Africa's most popular and controversial musicians. The flamboyant originator of the 'Afrobeat' sound and self-proclaimed voice of the voiceless, Fela used music, sharp-tongued lyrics and derisive humour ... more

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  • Cover image of book Rebel Music; Human Rights, Resistant Sounds and the Politics of Music Making by Daniel Fischlin, Ajay Heble (eds)
    Rebel Music; Human Rights, Resistant Sounds and the Politics of Music Making - by Daniel Fischlin, Ajay Heble (eds)

    £16.99   paperback   (2003) - ISBN 13: 9781551642307 | ISBN 10: 1551642301

    A fascinationg journey into the world of rebel musicians, where music and politics unite. From Thomas Mapjumo to Bob Marley, William Parker to Frank Zappa, Edgard Varese to Ice-T; from American blues to West African drumming, hip hop to son, gospel s ... more

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  • Cover image of book Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil by Caetano Veloso
    Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil - by Caetano Veloso

    £10.99   paperback   (2003) - ISBN 13: 9780747568018 | ISBN 10: 0747568014

    Often described - inadequately - as the John Lennon or Bob Dylan of Brazil, Caetano Veloso is unquestionably one of the most influential and beloved of Brazilian artists and has developed a worldwide following. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, he te ... more

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  • Cover image of book The Case of Joe Hill by Philip S. Foner
    The Case of Joe Hill - by Philip S. Foner

    £9.99   paperback   (2000) - ISBN 13: 9780717800223 | ISBN 10: 0717800229

    The famous Wobbly poet, songwriter and organizer was executed in Salt Lake City on November 19, 1915. Many felt he was not guilty of the murder he was charged with, that he did not have a fair trial, and that he was the victim of class persecution. ... more

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