This Land

The Struggle for the Left

We live in an age of upheaval. The global crisis of Covid-19 has laid bare the deep social and economic inequalities which were the toxic legacy of austerity. These revolutionary times are an opportunity for a radical rethink of Britain as we know it, as the politically impossible suddenly becomes imaginable.

And yet, the Left's last attempt to upend the established order and transform millions of lives came to a crashing halt on 12th December 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour party to its worst electoral defeat since 1935. In This Land, Owen Jones provides an insider's honest and unflinching appraisal of a movement: how it promised to change everything, why it went so badly wrong, where this failure leaves its values and ideas, and where the Left goes next in the new world we find ourselves in.

He takes us on a compelling, page-turning journey through a tumultuous decade in British politics, gaining unprecedented access to key figures across the political spectrum. It is a tale of high hopes and hubris, dysfunction and disillusionment. There is, Jones urges, no future for any progressive project that does not face up to and learn from its errors. We have the opportunity to build a fairer country and a more equal world, but if our time is to come, then we must learn from our past.

Owen Jones has managed to produce a whodunnit political page-turner and a surprisingly fair account (given that Jones was a player in the Corbyn project) of both an inspiring and tortuous period of Labour history.

Melissa Benn, New Statesman

About Owen Jones

Born in Sheffield and raised in Stockport, Owen Jones is one of the UK’s most prominent political thinkers and writers. He is the author of the critically acclaimed No. 1 bestsellers The Establishment: How They Get Away With It and Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class; his books have been translated into ten languages. He writes regularly for the Guardian, and has two weekly web series, The Owen Jones Show and The Owen Jones Podcast.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780141994406
  • Length: 368 pages
  • Price: £5.99
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