Essential Reads from Combined Academic Publishers Spring/Summer 2024 - Trade Highlights Mutiny on the Rising Sun
My Brother, My Land
A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate Jared Ross Hardesty A little-known story of mutiny and murder illustrating the centrality of smuggling and slavery in early American society On the night of June 1, 1743, terror struck the schooner Rising Sun. After completing a routine smuggling voyage where the crew sold enslaved Africans in exchange for chocolate, sugar, and coffee in the Dutch colony of Suriname, the ship traveled eastward along the South American coast. Believing there was an opportunity to steal the lucrative cargo and make a new life for themselves, three sailors snuck below deck, murdered four people, and seized control of the vessel. Mutiny on the Rising Sun recounts the origins, events, and eventual fate of the Rising Sun’s final smuggling voyage in vivid detail. Starting from that horrible night in June 1743, it narrates a deeply human history of smuggling, providing an incredible story of those caught in the webs spun by illicit commerce. The case generated a rich documentary record that illuminates an international chocolate smuggling ring, the lives of the crew and mutineers, and the harrowing experience of the enslaved people trafficked by the Rising Sun. Smuggling stood at the center of the lives of everyone involved with the business of the schooner. Larger forces, such as imperial trade restrictions, created the conditions for smuggling, but individual actors, often driven by raw ambition and with little regard for the consequences of their actions, designed, refined, and perpetuated this illicit commerce. At once startling and captivating, Mutiny on the Rising Sun shows how illegal trade created demand for exotic products like chocolate, and how slavery and smuggling were integral to the development of American capitalism. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS 1st April 2024 33 b&w images 280pp 9781479830985 £16.99 PB
The Rage of Replacement
Far Right Politics and Demographic Fear Michael Feola Tracing how the “Great Replacement” narrative has shaped far-right extremism and propelled its dangerous political projects and acts of violence The “Great Replacement” narrative, which imagines that historic white majorities are being intentionally replaced through immigration policies crafted by global elites, has effectively mobilized racist, nationalist, and nativist movements in the United States and Europe. The Rage of Replacement tracks how this narrative has shaped the politics and worldview of the far right, binding its various camps into a community of rage obsessed with nostalgia for a white-supremacist past. Showing how the replacement narrative has found significant purchase in recent mainstream discourse through the rise of Trumpism, right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson, and events such as 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Michael Feola diagnoses the dangers this racist theory poses as it shapes the far-right imagination, expands through civil society, and deforms political culture. In particular, he tracks how the replacement narrative has given rise to malignant political strategies designed to “take back” the nation from its perceived enemies—by force if deemed necessary. Identifying the Great Replacement narrative as a central force behind the rise and expansion of far-right extremism, Feola shows how it has motivated a variety of dangerous political projects in pursuit of illiberal, antidemocratic futures. From calls for the creation of segregated white ethnostates to extremist violence such as the mass shootings in Christchurch, El Paso, and Buffalo, The Rage of Replacement makes clear that replacement theory poses a dire threat to democracy and safety. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS
A Story from Palestine Sami Hermez With Sireen Sawalha
"A breathtaking display of literary prowess that tells the story of an entire homeland through the frame of one woman's life. Sami Hermez expertly weaves together different perspectives and narratives, all the while handling the delicate gift of the Sawalha family story with precision and care."—Hala Alyan, author of Salt Houses "A powerful, gripping, disturbing account of the struggle for dignity and freedom. Through a single family in a West Bank village, the entire tragic dispossession of Palestine unfolds: Israel's brutal military occupation; militant Islamic resistance; a litany of funerals where few are spared; a family scattered, with the sumud, or steadfastness, to maintain their dream of liberation."—Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree In 1967, Sireen Sawalha's mother, with her young children, walked back to Palestine against the traffic of exile. My Brother, My Land is the story of Sireen's family in the decades that followed and their lives in the Palestinian village of Kufr Ra'i. From Sireen's early life growing up in the shadow of the '67 War and her family's work as farmers caring for their land, to the involvement of her brother Iyad in armed resistance in the First and Second Intifada, Sami Hermez, with Sireen Sawalha, crafts a rich story of intertwining voices, mixing genres of oral history, memoir, and creative nonfiction. Through the lives of the Sawalha family, and the story of Iyad's involvement in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hermez confronts readers with the politics and complexities of armed resistance and the ethical tensions and contradictions that arise, as well as with the dispossession and suffocation of people living under occupation and their ordinary lives in such times. STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 13th February 2024 328pp 9781503628397 £23.99 HB
Sugar
An Ethnographic Novel Edward Narain & Tarryn Phillips In Suva, the bustling capital of Fiji, a tropical cyclone is looming. In this city of dazzling contradictions, three strangers are living worlds apart. Hannah is a young Australian expat who volunteers at a local health organization while leading a heady life of house parties and weekend getaways. Isikeli is a teenager from the informal settlement who has given up on his childhood dream of playing rugby and cares for his diabetic grandmother. Rishika is an IndoFijian historian who put her career on hold when she got married, only to find that her once compassionate husband has become increasingly estranged. When a brutal murder causes their worlds to collide, this unlikely trio must search for answers. Along the way, they are each forced to confront uncomfortable truths about development, its darker side, and their place within it. Based on a combination of long-term research and lived experience, this compelling ethnographic novel reveals the hidden ways global inequality and violence play out in the developing world. Keenly observed and full of heart, Sugar is an intimate portrayal of grief, friendship, and culture clash that will prompt new ways of thinking about the world. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Series: Teaching Culture: UTP Ethnographies for the Classroom 30th March 2024 304pp 9781487554989 £18.99 PB
30th July 2024 11 b&w illus. 232pp 9781517916800 £16.99 PB
Tel: +44 (0)1243 843291 | trade@wiley.com | combinedacademic.co.uk