Listed here are the media productions and publications I would recommend as part of any basic library or (political) education. The list reflects my nationality and results from thirty-odd years’ searching for knowledge; these are what I consider some of the most important or useful works to have emerged from this part of the world, along with material from beyond.

Works of history are presented first and may be regarded as a guide, in effect, to the works listed below. Works are grouped by period, either originating in that time or depicting it. I aim to keep the list fairly short, and will try to prepare brief reviews for each work in due course.

HISTORY AS GUIDE

Chris Harman, A People’s History of the World (London, 2008)

PRESENT DAY

Verso, The WikiLeaks Files : the World According to US Empire (2016) | Mick Jackson, Threads (1984)

CAPITALISM 

Ken Loach, Land and Freedom (1995) | Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937) | Ken Loach, Days of Hope (1975) | Tony Richardson, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) | Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son (1819)

THE WORLD SYSTEM

Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, Winstanley (1975)

ANCIENT WORLD : THE NEW BASIC ARCHITECTURE : CLASS, EMPIRE, SEXISM ETC

Stanley Kubrick, Spartacus (1960)

PREHISTORY : PRIMITIVE COMMUNISM

Lascaux paintings (Prehistory)