Awards
- Winner of The Orwell Prize 2018 (UK)
Overview
Winner of the Orwell Prize 2018. People from deprived communities all around Britain feel misunderstood and unheard. Darren McGarvey aka Loki gives voice to their feelings and concerns, and the anger that is spilling over. Anger he says we will have to get used to, unless things change. He invites you to come on a safari of sorts. A Poverty Safari. But not the sort where the indigenous population is surveyed from a safe distance for a time, before the window on the community closes and everyone gradually forgets about it. I know the hustle and bustle of high-rise life, the dark and dirty stairwells, the temperamental elevators that smell like urine and wet dog fur, the grumpy concierge, the apprehension you feel as you enter or leave the building, especially at night. I know that sense of being cut off from the world, despite having such a wonderful view of it through a window in the sky; that feeling of isolation, despite being surrounded by hundreds of other people above, below and either side of you. But most of all, I understand the sense that you are invisible, despite the fact that your community can be seen for miles around and is one of the most prominent features of the city skyline.
Full Product Details
Author: Darren McGarvey
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Imprint: Luath Press Ltd
Dimensions:
Width: 12.90cm
, Height: 1.50cm
, Length: 19.80cm
Weight: 0.200kg
ISBN: 9781912147038
ISBN 10: 1912147033
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 02 November 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Replaced By: 9781529006346
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Nothing less than an intellectual and spiritual rehab manual for the progressive left. Irvine Welsh Part memoir, part polemic, this is a savage, wise and witty tour-de-force. An unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty, Poverty Safari lays down challenges to both the left and right. It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful or necessary book. J.K. RowlingA blistering analysis of the issues facing the voiceless and the social mechanisms that hobble progress, all wrapped up in an unput-downable memoir. - Denise Mina Raw, powerful and challenging. - Kezia Dugdale A scan of the injuries poverty leaves in Britain, which manages to be humane, angry and wise all at the same time. - Nick Cohen The ignorance class division fosters and 'our assumptions about the people on the other side of the divide' are Darren McGarvey's themes. His Poverty Safari is one of the best accounts of working-class life I have read. McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say. - Nick Cohen in The Guardian, 23rd September 2017 If The Road To Wigan Pier had been written by a Wigan miner and not an Etonian rebel, this is what might have been achieved. McGarvey's book takes you to the heart of what is wrong with the society free market capitalism has created. - Paul Mason
Nothing less than an intellectual and spiritual rehab manual for the progressive left. Irvine Welsh Part memoir, part polemic, this is a savage, wise and witty tour-de-force. An unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty, Poverty Safari lays down challenges to both the left and right. It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful or necessary book. J.K. Rowling A blistering analysis of the issues facing the voiceless and the social mechanisms that hobble progress, all wrapped up in an unput-downable memoir. - Denise Mina Raw, powerful and challenging. - Kezia Dugdale A scan of the injuries poverty leaves in Britain, which manages to be humane, angry and wise all at the same time. - Nick Cohen The ignorance class division fosters and 'our assumptions about the people on the other side of the divide' are Darren McGarvey's themes. His Poverty Safari is one of the best accounts of working-class life I have read. McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say. - Nick Cohen in The Guardian, 23rd September 2017 If The Road To Wigan Pier had been written by a Wigan miner and not an Etonian rebel, this is what might have been achieved. McGarvey's book takes you to the heart of what is wrong with the society free market capitalism has created. - Paul Mason
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Author Information
DARREN MCGARVEY aka LOKI grew up in Pollok. He is a writer, performer, columnist and former rapper-in-residence at Police Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit. He has presented eight programmes for BBC Scotland exploring the root causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation.
