Protest and Power

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Protest and Power by David Kogan, read by Rupert Farley.

'A meticulously researched and balanced history' The Times

'Highly-readable and well-researched' The Sunday Times

'Faultless account of the twists and turns undertaken by the hard left of the Labour Party to retain relevance and the hope of power' James O'Brien, TLS

'A very good book, probably the most even-handed of all the accounts of Corbyn’s rise to power' Guardian

'Timely new book about Labour' Independent

The battle for the Labour party is dramatic and intense. This is its definitive history.

Labour has shifted from the New Left, to New Labour, to Corbynista Labour. Now, it may see power again with a most unlikely group of activists from the 1970s becoming the fourth generation to win power since 1945.

Only Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair have won power from a sitting Conservative government. Of the ten general elections since 1979, Labour has won three, all under Blair. This record of failure, if applied to any other walk of life, would raise the fundamental question of why continue to fight a losing battle? For Labour, it asks whether it is a party of protest – designed only to be a voice from opposition, commenting on the flaws and falsities of Conservative police – or a party of power?

Including exclusive interviews with key party members from the 1970s to today including Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair, Ed Miliband and Jon Lansman; and the party's recent struggles with antisemitism and Brexit, this book chronicles the conflicts within the Labour party, the schisms between ideologues and pragmatists, and how these fissures seem destined to keep Labour in opposition.

Critics Review

‘If you want to understand Corbyn’s long march to take control of Labour this is the only book to read. Kogan turns on its head our understanding of Labour’s history over the past 50 years. A tour de force’
Robert Peston
If you want to understand how Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour left turned decades of protest into the once unthinkable - the prospect of power - this is the definitive account
Nick Robinson
Brilliant and highly entertaining
BBC Radio 5 Live
A meticulously researched and balanced history by a writer with sources at the highest level across different wings of the party
The Times
Highly-readable and well-researched
The Sunday Times
Faultless account of the twists and turns undertaken by the hard left of the Labour Party to retain relevance and the hope of power while the spotlight and momentum were so often elsewhere
The TLS
David Kogan's absorbing history, the only one to cover the period from Old Labour via New Labour to this hard-Left ascendancy ... invaluable to future historians
The Tablet
[Protest and Power] is an excellent overview and dispassionate analysis of the past 40 years of Labour party history…David Kogan's book should be mandatory reading for all those concerned about antisemitism in the Labour party
Jewish Chronicle
Under the eyes of Kogan's cool, fair-minded intelligence, the struggles of the Labour party go from a pub brawl to an Icelandic saga. New insights, vivid interviews, granular, often objectively funny details, combine to build a portrait of the British left that is both honest and dignifying
Guardian
Protest and Power brilliantly brings to life the political drama of the popular uprising that is Corbyn’s Labour party, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands by what became Momentum
Founder of Momentum
This is a no-nonsense, straightforward account of what has happened within the party over the last four decades – and it’s truly thorough. You’ll get to the bottom of each page and think, ‘I need to remember every word of this’. Or at least I did
Labour List
A tremendously good read and very enlightening, 5 stars
Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge and former BBC Head of News
Protest and Power is a very good book, probably the most even-handed of all the accounts of Corbyn’s rise to power ... and definitely the book that best explains Corbyn in the context of the 40-year battle by the left in Labour to seize control of the party
Guardian Politics Live
David Kogan combines piercing political insights gained over four decades, strong personal contacts and experience, and rigorous integrity to produce this vital, honest and accessible analysis of the origins and nature of Labour now
Neil Kinnock
An empirical, balanced and exhaustive account of political conflicts
The Times
Timely new book about Labour
The Independent

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