Cinders v Charming documents Cristina Wed's experience of living in an abusive relationship; how it impacted on her self-esteem and sense of identity, making it difficult to leave. Following her escape from the violent relationship with her four children, she has described their resulting homelessness and the obstacles they had to surmount to regain the family home. The court battles began a month after escaping from the relationship and continued for the next seven and a half years, so that they were never free from the abusive relationship they had tried to leave behind. The book is based on Cristina's years of experience of the family court system, in a case that involved around 70 court hearings, more than 20 judges, and hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of private capital and public money. It is an argument for greater openness and accountability in the family courts, which have traditionally been closed to the public. Cristina's argument is that the current approach to domestic abuse by many professionals and the judiciary is as abusive as the perpetrator it purports to deal with, and that the family courts fail to protect women and children, consistently denying children in families which have suffered domestic violence a voice and favouring fathers' rights to contact over children's safety. Reviewing the 70 hearings, the book demonstrates the virtual impossibility of holding any professional in the system to account, even when they fail to live up to their own published guidelines and standards of practice. Cristina concludes the account of their ordeals in the legal arena with suggestions for how the family courts could be improved to give greater protection and security to women and children.

The roots of the present ecological crisis, John Bellamy Foster argues in The Ecological Revolution, lie in capital’s rapacious expansion, which has now achieved unprecedented heights of irrationality across the globe. Foster compellingly demonstrates that the only possible answer for humanity is an ecological revolution: a struggle to make peace with the planet. Foster details the beginnings of such a revolution in human relations with the environment which can now be found throughout the globe, especially in the periphery of the world system, where the most ambitious experiments are taking place.

Our world is in the grips of the most calamitous economic crisis since the Great Depression - and its epicentre is the imperial United States. In this groundbreaking analysis of the meltdown, renowned radical political economists Albo, Gindin and Panitch lay bare the roots of the crisis, which they locate in the dynamic expansion of capital on a global scale over the 25 years - and in the inner logic of capitalism itself. This groundbreaking work stands to be the enduring critique of the crisis and an indispensable springboard for a renewed Left.

In this collection of trenchant essays and interviews, István Mészáros, winner of the Libertador Award for Critical Thought (the Bolivar Prize) for 2008, lays bare the exploitative structure of modern capitalism. He argues with great power that the world’s economies are on a social and ecological precipice, and that unless we take decisive action to radically transform our societies we will find ourselves thrust headfirst into barbarism and environmental catastrophe.

The relationship between social structure and forms of consciousness discussed in this new work by one of the world’s leading Marxian philosophers is multifaceted and profoundly dialectical. It requires the presentation of a great wealth of historical material and the assessment of the relevant philosophical literature, from Descartes through Hegel and the Liberal tradition to the present, together with their connections with political economy and political theory. Mészáros moves beyond both abstract solutions to the surveyed methodological questions and one-sided structuralist evaluation of the important substantive issues, bringing the process of our understanding of social structure and consciousness to a level not previously attained.

The economic crisis has created a host of problems for working people: collapsing wages, lost jobs, ruined pensions, and the anxiety that comes with not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Compounding all this is a lack of reliable information that speaks to the realities of workers. Commentators and pundits seem more confused than anyone, and economists — the so-called “experts” — still cling to bankrupt ideologies that failed to predict the crisis and offer nothing to explain it.

Those of us who are dissatisfied with the analyses of the financial-economic meltdown of 2008 that attribute it to easily remediable amistakesa on the part of financial institutions, regulators, or policy-makers can learn a lot from John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoffas The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences. Foster and Magdoff follow up the theses of Paul Sweezy, Paul Baran, and Harry Magdoff that diagnose the structural problems of U.S. capitalism in its chronic tendency toward stagnation rooted in inadequate business investment and leading to slow growth, unemployment of labor, and low utilization of capital. This book makes the case that the excesses of financialization and the widening inequality of income distribution are themselves indirect effects of stagnation in the real economy, and explains with sobering clarity why the roots of this crisis may turn out to be deep and difficult to address with conventional policy measures.

In Britain and the United States a very strange sect has seized power. They believe that we can all reach financial paradise, if only certain sacrifices are made. There must be deregulation, there must be privatization, and markets must be left unmolested, the better to perform their magic. Democratic governments, unions and professionals will all have to accept that there is no alternative. Meanwhile job security, affordable houses and decent public services must wither away in the white heat of financial engineering. A new class has been presiding over this wonderland – the New Olympians. Since the late forties they have been planning their next move in mountaintop meetings that would make Ian Fleming blanch. Now private jets take them where they want to go as they tell the world the good news. But, in the wake of the Northern Rock collapse and the credit crunch, good news is in short supply. In this hilarious and shocking expose Elliott and Atkinson reveal the dogma that has brought us to the brink of disaster, and show us how to escape from the coils of faith-based thinking. The New Olympians have already done huge damage on both sides of the Atlantic. Miners, farmers and industrial workers have so far suffered most. But as market forces bear down on health, education and the professions, the middle classes are starting to feel the squeeze. Markets are not magic. Debt is not freedom. The Gods have failed. It is time to live without them.

We-think is about what the rise of these phenomena (not all to do with the internet) means for the way we organise ourselves – not just in digital businesses but in schools and hospitals, cities and mainstream corporations. For the point of the industrial era economy was mass production for mass consumption, the formula created by Henry Ford; but these new forms of mass, creative collaboration announce the arrival of a new kind of society, in which people want to be players, not spectators. This is a huge cultural shift, for in this new economy people want not services and goods, delivered to them, but tools so they can take part. In We-think Charles Leadbeater analyses not only these changes, but how they will affect us and how we can make the most of them. Just as, in the 1980s, his In Search of Work predicted the rise of more flexible employment, here he outlines a crucial shift that is already affecting all of us.

We might think that the world’s oil empires are invincible megaliths, dominated by American interests, but Duncan Clarke reveals the ways in which these empires will face huge challenges in the twenty-first century. Based on razor-sharp analysis of contemporary geopolitics and a deep knowledge of global history, he shows exactly why these empires are declining. He explains where the new empires of oil will be around the world; which of the hidden threats and unknown enemies are and will be the most serious; and where companies have gone wrong and can improve their global strategies. Empires of Oil reveals how the world will change because of global battles over the commodity that underpins our lives.

'There are good reasons to believe that we are living through a major period of historical transition. The changes affecting us aren't confined to any one area of the globe but stretch almost everywhere.' From the Introduction This book, completely updated with a new chapter for this new edition, is about global change and its impact on every aspect of our lives - and people's lives in very different parts of the world. The changes are broadly positive, liberating women, spreading democracy and creating new wealth.

Family firms are to be found in every sector of commercial activity, and their special strengths mean that they flourish best where their advantages can be fully exploited. Family Businesses: The Essentials is a comprehensive guide to every aspect of managing a family-owned firm, from day-to-day issues to long-term planning for future generations. This new and completely revised version of the author’s previous Guide to the Family Business (Kogan Page; last edition 1999) provides an accessible introduction to newcomers, and also offers knowledgeable business people fresh insight and solutions to the special problems they face. All family businesses are different, but it is critical for each to define its shared family values, vision and purpose. Family Businesses: The Essentials shows how to achieve this, and how to allow each generation to reinterpret and revitalise that vision.

From bestselling author Robert Greene comes a brilliant distillation of the strategies of war that can help us gain mastery in the modern world. Spanning world civilisations, and synthesising dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts, "The 33 Strategies of War" is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life. Based on profound, timeless lessons, it is abundantly illustrated with examples of the genius and folly of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher and Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as diplomats, captains of industry and Samurai swordsmen.