Caliban And The Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and mind are essential conditions for the development of labour power and self-ownership, two central principles of modern social organization (Autonomedia).

The historical understanding of the repression of witches in the 16-18th centuries has gone through several phases in the last century. Initially, feminist historians critiqued the received view that the repression was some kind of collective religious madness and rooted the debate in questions of the control of reproduction, medicine and the imposition of patriarchal power into the Middle Age village. The importance of this book is that it develops the study further recognising that there were more than just 'patriarchal' forces at bay. Federici explains how the repression was intimately linked to attempts to social engineer peasant population increases, to impose work discipline on the 'rebel body' and break up the village structures that might oppose enclosure in transition to early capitalist forms of production. This insight into the process in Europe, allows Federici to link the repression of witches to similar tactics used in the New World by the new colonial powers. This is a ground-breaking book and Federici has shown in other work the relevance of the repression of witches in this period of primitive accumulation to similar processes occurring in the globalising world of the late 20thC (BRHG).

One of our visiting academics said this book was 'hard but good', so I took up the challenge and read it. The reason it is 'hard', is mainly because of the first few chapters, which launch into the sometimes vicious debate between historical revisionists (who basically think history is made by powerful individuals/institutions, we are of course unimportant), the post-modernists (who think it is so complex and non-linear it is hard to say anything so they get obsessed with making minor details the centre of their theories), and the Marxists/social historians (who come from varying shades of 'the history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles'). Holstun fights his 'class struggle' position well and backs it all up with searing (and sometimes funny) critiques of his academic opponents. The second part of the book looks at some key radical groups (the agitators in the New Model Army and the Diggers) and figures (Anna Trapnel, Edward Sexby and John Felton) in the English Revolution. There is some seriously interesting stuff here, though Holstun's background as an expert in English literature can make the text a cross between flowery and difficult. There are two absolute gems I must mention. The first chapter which tells of Cornet Joyce, the representative of the New Model Army who seized Charles I for the revolutionaries and effectively led him to his execution and Holstun's veiled call for the assassination of Henry Kissinger, which is not something you might expect to see in an academic text! (BRHG)

This book is an interesting and necessary cross discipline (historical, economic and meteorological) explanation of the horrific famines in China, India and Brazil at the end of the 19th century. Starting from the premise that revisionist and even Marxist historians (Hobsbawm gives them one line in his famous trilogy) have ignored these massive events or failed to link them across these disciplines, he goes on to explain how the dogmatic free market approach of the British ruling class married with the effects of the cyclical El Niño climate changes caused the deaths of tens of millions in their colonies. Much has been made recently by historians of the famines in the Soviet Union and Maoist China in their transition from feudal to state capitalist regimes. Davis challenges those same historians to face up to the horrors of free market capitalism unleashed on feudal economic systems and asks them why they have been so silent. This is highly relevant in the current age of neo-liberal economic ideology. Perhaps most shocking is the indifference of the British officials to the holocaust they were unleashing. They watched centuries old societies collapse into chaos and cannibalism as they cruelly continued to impose their economic systems and exported desperately needed food to other markets (BRHG).

This classic text is the most comprehensive and extensively researched history of black people in Britain. The sections on the black radicals of the 18th and 19th century are a must as is Fryer's demolition of British establishment attempts to rewrite them themselves as the moral and legal vanguard in the abolition of slavery. Fryer's social history not only enlightens us about individual black political figures in this process but also covers such disparate groups as boxers, musicians and soldiers amongst others. If you read one chapter, then read 'The rise of English racism'. This is probably the best analysis of institutional racism and its economic/political drivers I have ever read. A brilliant source text and vital resource for discovering the real black history of Britain (BRHG).

This bestseller (selling over 400,000 copies worldwide) almost never came to print as numerous publishers rejected it on the grounds that people weren't interested in the history of Africa! King Leopold refers to the Belgian monarch of the late 19th century who worried about his nation falling behind in the 'scramble for Africa' cunningly organised the invasion of the Congo. Using fake philanthropic organisations (the International African Association) and armed 'scientific expeditions' (e.g. Henry Morton Stanley) the subjugation of the lands that became the 'Belgian' Congo was carried out under the greedy gaze of other European imperialist powers. As a study in deceit, manipulation of the media and the use of stealth to invade a region, this book has serious contemporary relevance. The subsequent exploitation of the natural resources of the Congo (mainly rubber) and the consequent deaths of half the population (sources suggest 10 million dead) go down as one of the most horrific colonial crimes of the 19th/20th century. It is no surprise that Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' with its infamous central character Kurtz, was based on the author's experiences in the Congo. Hochschild is clear about the genocide, not being drawn into a debate about racism, but clearly situating the colonial crimes as the direct consequence of the economic exploitation. (BRHG)

This paper is famous, so I thought I better read it and I was not disappointed. Thompson is at his cheeky best, starting the article by taking the piss out of anthropologists and their complex analyses of 'exotic' cultures whilst the English working class is reduced to disorganised, amoral, sub-humans by historians. Thompson analyses the corn and bread 'riots' of the 18th century and not only shows their popular character but also the organised and often successful attempts by the so called 'mob' to control prices, quality and distribution of agricultural products. He taunts the naive establishment historians with their crude analyses of the peasantry/working class by outlining how the rioters developed their strategies of resistance to the free market and 'hoarding' in the actual Market places of many towns by an understanding of the 'value chain' (Market-Mill-Farm), which they physically followed to enforce their demands. Cracking read. (BRHG)

Another famous, readable and ground-breaking paper by Thompson, this time looking at the imposition of work discipline in the transition to industrial capitalism. He charts the change from the task orientated work of the craftsman/labourer to the division of labour in the '(manu)factory' and the consequent resistance. The use of supervision, fines, wage incentive, preaching, schooling, the suppression of fairs and sports and of course, bells and clocks to form and discipline the new working class are all examined. So if you want to find out, despite their attempts to turn us into 'Pavlov's Dogs', why 'everyone is a communist when the alarm clock rings', then this is a good place to start. (BRHG)

Brilliant work charting the misunderstood and misrepresented history of the Atlantic proletariat during the rise of mercantile capitalism. Breaks out of the limits of the nation state set by previous social history and examines the struggles of slaves, sailors and commoners across the Atlantic from the old world to the new. (BRHG)

Rediker redefines the sailor as a worker afloat and shows how these working men resisted authority and work discipline, created their own maritime culture, language and religion and often turned to mutiny and piracy in a bid for freedom. (BRHG)

Villains of All Nations explores the "Golden Age" of Atlantic piracy and the infamous generation whose images underlie our modern, romanticized view of pirates. Rediker focuses on the high seas drama of the years 1716-1726, which featured the dreaded black flag, the Jolly Roger; swashbuckling figures such as Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard; and the unnamed pegleg who was likely Robert Louis Stevenson's model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

This novel interpretation shows how sailors emerged from deadly working conditions on merchant and naval ships, turned pirate, and created a starkly different reality aboard their own vessels. At their best, pirates constructed their own distinctive egalitarian society, as they elected their officers, divided their booty equitably, and maintained a multinational social order. (Publisher)

Classic set of essays shattering the illusion of a tranquil 18th Century full of happy peasants and deferential workers promoted by establishment historians. From poaching wars to smugglers, wreckers and rioters these essays provide the hard evidence for the raging class war of the period. E.P.Thompson's study on the 'incendiary letter' is absolute quality and will still send shivers up the spine of the wealthy…(BRHG)

Christopher Hill was getting on a bit when he wrote this but he clearly still had lots of stuff to get out there. What a source book he has produced. Hill shows that barely a fifth of the population were content with a legal system which was enclosing the commons, crushing customary rights and creating a class of landless labourers. Highwaymen, pirates, gypsies, vagabonds, levellers and religious radicals (amongst others) fight these changes creating their own culture of resistance in the process, echoes of which still remain today. Great. (BRHG)

The history of the successful slave revolt on Haiti at the end of the 18th century. Find out how the rebellious slaves won their revolution against the French and then fought off the Spanish and the British who tried to grab the island. Brilliant section on the real reasons the British decided to abolish slavery. (BRHG)

Find out about why it was the English Revolution and not just the English Civil War. Discover the 'third force' of the period, Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, Religious Radicals and the rebellious New Model Army that frightened the Royalists and Parlimentarians alike with their 'communist' ideas. Absolute classic, to be read aloud to your mates on stormy nights (with a few beers). (BRHG)

This book takes you right into the everyday life of the 18th century British working class and how their existing customary rights came directly into conflict with the new needs of emerging capitalism. Sounds boring, but Linebaugh is excellent at blending both the experiences of the individual labourer with the overall thrust of the history. This book is extremely important if you want to understand the transition from feudal to capitalist work relations. Also excellent chapters on public execution, the Gordon riots and Jack Sheppard. (BRHG)

Full story of the 1831 uprising…

Story of James Nayler…

Classic work charting the formation of the English working class in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Thompson not only does the business in terms of the economic history but also famously charts the lives, politics and actions of the class itself in resisting the attempts to mould them into a passive, subservient and impoverished work force. (BRHG)

Lost history viewed through cracks in the cartographies of control, including "tri-racial isolate" communities, buccaneers, "white Indians", black Islamic movements, the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp, the Métis nation, scandalous eugenics theories, rural "hippie" communes, and many other aspects of North American autonomous cultures. (Autonomedia)

By rebelling against hierarchical society and living under the Jolly Roger, pirates created an upside-down world of anarchist organisation and festival, with violence and death ever-present. This creation was not a purely whimsical process. In The Devil's Anarchy, Stephen Snelders examines rare 17th-century Dutch pirate histories to show the continuity of a shared pirate culture, embodied in its modes of organisation, methods of distributing booty and resolving disputes, and tendencies for high living. Focusing on the careers of Claes Compaen, a cunning, charismatic renegado who claimed to have stolen more than 350 vessels, and Jan Erasmus Reyning, who hit the seas at age 12 and became a buccaneer in the pirate jungles of Santo Domingo, Snelders paints a salty picture of the excesses, contradictions, and liberatory joys of pirate life. (Autonomedia)

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Moslem corsairs from the Barbary Coast ravaged European shipping and enslaved thousands of unlucky captives. During this same period, thousands more Europeans converted to Islam and joined the pirate holy war. Were these men (and women) the scum of the seas, apostates, traitors - "Renegadoes"? Or did they abandon and betray Christendom as a praxis of social resistance? (Autonomedia)

During the early days of the American Revolution, James Aitken, alias John the Painter, set fire to the Royal Navy dockyards of Portsmouth and Bristol, briefly striking terror into the hearts of the English. Completely forgotten today, Aitken strove to gain notoriety through various criminal acts, culminating in the arson he committed in support of the American rebels. Warner traces Aitken's life from his restless childhood in the poverty and grime of Old Town, Edinburgh, to his exploits as an indentured servant in the colonies, from his time as a British soldier-and repeated deserter-to his plots against the Crown. Aitken believed that if he could destroy British ports and thus hobble the great Royal Navy, then America would win the war. Warner points out that Aitken even tried to enlist prominent Americans, such as Benjamin Franklin, to support his plots (Publishers Weekly).

Classic novel of the search for vengeance by the maimed captain of a whaling vessel sailing from Nantucket on the east coast of the USA in the 1840's. It interest for us is the view that Melville gives us below decks amongst the harpooners and sailors. This 'motley crew' consists of native Americans, Polynesians and West Africans, amongst others, all jammed together in the whaling ship 'Pequod' for a dangerous three year (!) voyage. Melville who worked on similar ships has an empathy with these 'mariners, renegades and castaways' and describes their relationships with cracking dialogue (BRHG).

Thrilling account of the first grass-roots human rights campaign, which freed hundreds of thousands of slaves around the world. In 1787, twelve men gathered in a London printing shop to pursue a seemingly impossible goal: ending slavery in the largest empire on earth. Along the way, they would pioneer most of the tools citizen activists still rely on today, from wall posters and mass mailings to boycotts and lapel pins. This talented group combined a hatred of injustice with uncanny skill in promoting their cause. Within five years, more than 300,000 Britons were refusing to eat the chief slave-grown product, sugar; London's smart set was sporting antislavery badges created by Josiah Wedgwood; and the House of Commons had passed the first law banning the slave trade. However, the House of Lords, where slavery backers were more powerful, voted down the bill. But the crusade refused to die, fuelled by remarkable figures like Olaudah Equiano, a brilliant ex-slave who enthralled audiences throughout the British Isles; John Newton, the former slave ship captain who wrote "Amazing Grace"; Granville Sharp, an eccentric musician and self-taught lawyer; and Thomas Clarkson, a fiery organizer who repeatedly crisscrossed Britain on horseback, devoting his life to the cause. He and his fellow activists brought slavery in the British Empire to an end in the 1830s, long before it died in the United States. The only survivor of the printing shop meeting half a century earlier, Clarkson lived to see the day when a slave whip and chains were formally buried in a Jamaican churchyard. Like Hochschild's classic King Leopold's Ghost, Bury the Chains abounds in atmosphere, high drama, and nuanced portraits of unsung heroes and colourful villains. Again Hochschild gives a little-celebrated historical watershed its due at last (Houghton Mifflin, Publisher).

Hear an NPR review of Adam Hochschild's book Bury The Chains here (streaming audio, 5 minutes)