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Penguin Modern Poets 7
Penguin Modern Poets 7
Oct 24, 2024 4:25 AM

Author:Toby Martinez de las Rivas,Geoffrey Hill,Rowan Evans

Penguin Modern Poets 7

Grappling with nature, religion, violence and politics, poems of lucid intensity and astonishing power from three remarkable British poets

Geoffrey Hill (1932-2016) was often considered the greatest English-language poet of his generation. Penguin Modern Poets 7: God Is Distant gathers a selection spanning Hill's full body of poetry, from the astonishing power and compression of the first five decades to the greater experimentalism and fluency of the creative outpouring that began in 1997, and places it alongside work by two younger British poets: Rowan Evans, whose 'tirelessly inventive' and 'vivid lyrical work' (Denise Riley, Eric Gregory Award citation) plays with the legacy of late modernism to create poetry of great beauty, energy and precision; and Toby Martinez de las Rivas, whose first two collections have seen his 'visionary disposition' (Guardian) build to rhetorical heights of Blakean dimensions.

Taken together, these are poems of lucid intensity, high seriousness and knowing sidelong glances, as alert to the natural world of the British countryside as they are to the body that suffers and to questions of the soul. They take a long view of humanity's riches and crises, and consider such issues as morality, faith, innocence, redemption, the public spaces of democracy and the acts of violence that rupture them.

Reviews

Perhaps the best book ever written by a non-Muslim about Islam in Britain.

—— 5 Pillars

This is an impressively sustained attempt to listen to what British Muslims are actually saying, honest, fair-minded and not uncritical. For once we are allowed to see Islamic life in Britain in its human diversity, its three-dimensional reality. A seriously necessary book.

—— Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

A fascinating journey across the diversity of Al-Britannia. Fergusson's fresh approach yields powerful and honest insights. A must read.

—— Miqdaad Versi, Muslim Council of Britain

A compelling and compassionate survey of British Islam.

—— The Guardian

A highly readable and common sense dismantling of the conventional view of British Islam. His gentle, unassuming tone makes his analysis all the more powerful. His message is urgent… a hugely important book.

—— Peter Oborne

A timely book that deals with some complex and sensitive issues. Fergusson allows individuals on all sides of the argument to put their case.

—— Baroness Warsi

Fergusson is a delicate, warm, lucid writer with true curiosity and humility. With his porous sensibility [in Al-Britannia] he journeys through the UK to demystify and detoxify British Islam and Muslims. The book is a vital rejoinder to the growing pile of panic books about the "Muslim threat"... and is most moving when Fergusson writes as he fasts for the month of Ramadan. An absorbing book.

—— Yasmin Alibhai-Brown , The i

Fergusson sees through the curse of terrorism to reveal Muslims who – much like the rest of us – are kind, funny, confused, fearful, angry and proud to be British. His conclusion is heartening: that living better together is not only desirable, but well within our grasp.

—— David Anderson QC

Compelling and relevant... vivid, nuanced reporting.

—— Jenny McCartney , Mail on Sunday

Judicious and insightful...timely in a great many ways. Strong and brave. A fascinating book... it allows [Britain’s Muslims] to speak for themselves.

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Well researched and fluently written.

—— Daily Express

A triumph of detail... Al-Britannia doesn't fail in its mission to ask hard questions of all concerned parties.

—— Irish News

A triumph of detail and gracefully written.

—— The Herald

Fergusson is a delicate, warm, lucid writer with true curiosity and humility. A vital rejoinder to the growing pile of panic books about the 'Muslim threat'. Moving, humane... an absorbing book.

—— Yasmin Alibhai-Brown , i

[Fergusson] has marshalled his surveillance tools of wit, tenacity and decades of experience of the Muslim world to produce a fine, detailed portrait of Al-Britannia.

—— Barnaby Rogerson , Country Life

Don’t read Al-Britannia, My Country unless you’re prepared to let go of prejudices against Muslims, and seek a deeper understanding beyond headlines which have fanned the flames of fear and hatred. Fascinating, rich and complex.

—— Kevin Watson , Reform Magazine

An important book... ground-breaking.

—— Rev Geoff Reid , Methodist Recorder

A recommended read for anyone interested in the present condition and further development of Muslims in Britain.

—— Hasan Beg , Dawn

[A] highly sympathetic new survey of British Muslims. The end of multiculturalism and its replacement with heightened surveillance and the emphasis on national cultural values are dealt with in detail. Fergusson’s belief that British Muslims should be valued because of their faith, not in spite of it, is a major improvement on the self-interested toleration that has often passed for an enlightened position on the Muslim question.

—— The New York Review of Books

The human cost of the deadly Japanese tsunami is examined in this powerful and absorbing work that exposes the emotional trauma the mountain of water left in its wake… Parry, who has worked in Japan for years, documents with great closeness and insight the impact of such staggering loss on people living in a society not noted for its emotionality.

—— David Wilcock , Belfast Telegraph Morning

His central narrative swirls around the black hole formed in those 45 critical minutes between quake and tsunami. He knows that its awful gravity may pull some readers in, and push others away.

—— Stephen Phelan , Herald Scotland

Natural disaster is given a jarringly human constitution in Ghosts Of The Tsunami… This is "literary non-fiction", full of gilded language and sensations as Parry recounts the scene he was met with when he travelled up the coast of Japan to where the giant waves had hit. A transcendental reading experience.

—— Hilary A White , Irish Independent

Ghosts of the Tsunami deals mainly with the aftermath of the tragedy – days, weeks and months in which parents continued doggedly looking in the mud for their children, knowing full well that there was no chance of finding them alive. Their testimonies are unbearably moving.

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

This is a haunting account of Okawa’s loss and it is almost unbearably sad. Parry rarely speaks of his own reactions but he is the most compassionate of writers, allowing the voices of those he encounters to be heard… Exceptional.

—— Lady

Powerful and absorbing.

—— i

A sobering and compelling narrative of calamity.

—— Kirkus

This is a piercing look at the communities ravaged by the tsunami

—— Eri Hotta , Guardian

Recounts, one guest per chapter, a number of her interviews with the boldest of boldface figures . . . Entertaining

—— Strong Words

A quick, absorbing read . . . my overriding impression is of rather breathless thoughtfulness . . . her formidable intelligence and self-deprecating awareness shine brightly

—— Times Higher Education

We love the Maitlis

—— Stylist

We're obsessed with Emily Maitlis in this house

—— Nick Grimshaw

Emily Maitlis is a particular hero of mine . . . I know I'm in for a treat with Airhead

—— Gaby Huddart, Editor-in-chief, Good Housekeeping

Emily Maitlis is one of my favourite interviewers and I want to read her tales of interviewing people such as Donald Trump, Theresa May and Simon Cowell

—— Catriona Shearer, Sunday Mail

A fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into modern television news

—— Time & Leisure Magazine

It's a brilliant, often funny, behind-the-scenes account of her working life, written by one of Britain's best television broadcasters. It proves she's far from an airhead!

—— John Craven

She gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most engaging interviews she's conducted in recent years - with all the wrangling, arguing, pleading and last-minute script writing they involved. Insightful, funny and engrossing, we love it.

—— SheerLuxe
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