Gabriel Kuhn

In the 1970s and 80s, Torkil Lauesen was a member of a clandestine communist cell which carried out a series of robberies in Denmark, netting very large sums which were then sent on to various national liberation movements in the Third World. Following their capture in 1989, Torkil would spend six years in prison. (For more on this history, see the book Turning money int Rebellion, co-published by Kersplebedeb and PM Press) In 2016, Lauesen's book Det Globale Perspektiv was released in Denmark. In it, the explains how he sees the world political situation today, and his thoughts about the future. In 2018, Kersplebedeb Publishing is pleased to release the English language edition of this book, translated by Gabriel Kuhn, an with a preface by Dr. Zak Cope.… (mais)

An interesting take on pirate history, attempting to pick apart the ways in which Golden Age pirates are and aren't a useful reference point for radical activists. A lot of the usual criticisms of radicalism apply - very little attention is paid to the role of women, although at least he does repeat often that a slave-trading society should not be an uncritically accepted model for a radical utopia - but still, some good points. Kuhn isn't doing original historical research, which is a good thing, because he doesn't seem to have a good grasp on the history. (At one point he misinterprets "pirates were denied benefit of clergy at trial" to mean that pirates weren't given access to clergy before being executed, which is...not at all what that means.) If nothing else, the bibliography is phenomenal.… (mais)

I would recommend this book for someone already familiar with soccer/football. I don't know much about it and had no idea what most of the acronyms and organization names were all about. Honestly, this book wasn't very well put-together, it could have used a bit more organization, a bit less redundancy, and better formatting. Also, the pictures could have vastly benefited from captions. I hate seeing pictures in books that don't have captions!!

Otherwise I did learn a little bit about soccer. I find it amazing, as a citizen of the pro-sports dominated US, that there can be such underground sports movements. Even in the US, pro sports even own the minor leagues, so it's hard to break out of the pro sport mold here. I'm glad other countries aren't so caught in that grip, although it looks to be headed that way for a lot of the bigger soccer teams.… (mais)