Merlin Press Ltd. BIOGRAPHY

LANCELOT HOGBEN
Scientific Humanist

Edited by Adrian and Anne Hogben

Launcelot Hogben is best known as the author of Mathematics for the Million and as an accomplished academic. This autobiography has much of interest: anecdotes, experiences of life in South Africa at the dawn of apartheid, escape from Nazi occupied Norway through the USSR to the USA. His life was one of extraordinary achievement and he has written about it with customary zest and wit.

'Hogben had insatiable curiosity and could communicate what he found out in simple vivid language...he never abandoned his optimism.' The Times Literary Supplement
214x134mm illus 330pp
0850364701
1998 Hardback
Price: £19.95

RALPH MILIBAND AND THE POLITICS OF THE NEW LEFT

by Michael Newman

Based on exclusive access to Miliband's extensive personal papers, and supplemented by interviews, this book analyses the ideas and contribution of a key figure in the British and international Left from the second world war until the collapse of communism. Miliband's life and work form the central focus, but the book also provides an interpretative history of the evolution, debates and dilemmas of socialists throughout the period, and of the problems they faced both at work defending academic freedom and in society at large.

'Comprehensive, scholarly, sensitive and readable ... one of the kindest men and the best minds in our generation.' From the foreword by Tony Benn.
'Admirably clear in its construction and scrupulously researched ...Miliband's own interventions in his time live on ... in his books and essays ... but his personal writings, amply extracted here, give a vivid sense of the man behind them - making this a good book to have.' New Left Review.
'Not just a biography of one of the great socialist minds of the 20th century, it is the history of an entire period of leftist activity, buffeted as it was by WWII, Vietnam and the decline of the Communist bloc .... as full and incisive a biography as he could have wished.' Red Pepper
'An impeccably researched biography.' Socialist History.

ISBN. 0850365139
2nd impression with corrections.
Paperback
Rights: USA - Monthly Review Press
Canada - Fernwood Puiblishing
Price: £18.95

UNITED IRISHMAN
The Autobiography of James Hope

Edited with an introduction by John Newsinger

In this autobiography, James Hope, a leader in the United Irishmen, tells of his rôle in the Irish rebellion of 1798, which drew inspiration from the revolution in France, and worked against the domination of Ireland by the Anglophile minority of absentee landlords. James Hope's life is laced with the Christian metaphors of his times. He argues that those who make no use of land or resources have no right to it. The story of the rebellion tells of his travels all over Ireland and of support he garnered from both Catholics and Protestants. Hope was born in the parish of Temple Patrick, County Antrim in 1764, in to a family of Scottish Covenanters. He died in poverty almost fifty years after the rebellion. John Newsinger has annotated this text, and has written a detailed introduction which explains the development of the United Irishmen and Hope's involvement with them, and the movement's bloody defeat.

'A little gem of a book.' Socialist Review.
ISBN. 0850364965
2001 Paperback

Price: £12.95

ZILLIACUS
A Life For Peace and Socialism

by Archie Potts

A biography of Konni Zilliacus, based on original research, drawing on interviews and private sources. It reveals his links with Arthur Henderson, Hugh Dalton and Philip Noel-Baker; relates his life in the Far East and Vladivostock in the era of the Russian Revolution; his work for the League of Nations against fascism in the 1930s; and as a prolific pamphleteer under the pseudonym 'Vigilantes'.
He was elected as a Labour MP for Gateshead in 1945, but expelled by Labour for opposing Ernest Bevin's Cold War politics. Readmitted, he was elected as a Manchester Labour MP in 1955. He met Stalin, Tito, Krushchev and Castro.

'I strongly recommend this book as a contribution to the understanding of international affairs and to an important aspect of Labour history.' Stan Newans, The Morning Star.
Archie Potts has done the Left a great service with his very well researched biography of this outstanding but hitherto neglected socialist and internationalist. Zilly's life is an inspiration to all on the Left in these difficult times. What Next.
'It is a book that can be heartily recommended'. North East History.
Illustrated.
ISBN. 0850365090
Paperback

See contents here ...

Price: £14.95

MEMOIRS FROM THE LEFT

by John Saville

John Saville, Professor Emeritus, has been one of the most influential writers of the second half of the twentieth century in the field of British Labour History. These are his political Memoirs.
John Saville was Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Hull.
He has written or edited over twenty books including 1848,
The Consolidation of the Capitalist State, and the Dictionary of Labour Biography.

'A stirringly humane and for the most part honest account of a life on the left in the 20th century from an independent socialist who remains true to his early Marxist beliefs.' Mike Davis, Chartist.
'A fascinating look at British political developments over the past 70 years.' Mike Ambrose, Morning Star.
'A joy to read ... by contrast with Eric Hobsbawm's recently published memoirs, Saville's account shows someone who has not only remained on and contributed to the left, but has done so actively. He concludes the book by noting his opposition to war with Iraq and to US and British imperialism in general. It will repay reading by historians and activists alike.' Keith Flett, Socialist Review.
'Much of the contemporary British left can trace its origins to that moment [in 1957]. We live in an intellectual space that others freed for us. [This] is a brilliant introduction to that history.' Red Pepper.
ISBN. 0850365201
Paperback

See Contents here ...

Price: £14.95

WILLIAM MORRIS
Romantic to Revolutionary

by E.P. Thompson

Morris's ideas were disagreeable to both the reformist tendencies of the labour movement and to more 'orthodox' Marxists. This biography follows how Morris's ideas developed from 1834 to 1896

"Two impressive figures, William Morris as subject and E. P. Thompson as author, are conjoined in this immense historical study, and both of them have gained in interest since the first edition of the book was published." New York Times Book Review

214x 135mm xiv+825pp
0850362059
1976 Revised Edition. Paperback
Rights: USA and Canada - Stanford University Press
Price: £14.95