'Genuine radicalism depends on the provision of hope. It provokes through a scandalous insistence that life can be otherwise, that we aren't doomed to economic and environmental decline, and that the future can exceed than the past.'
'Jeff Sparrow is one of Australia's leading public intellectuals. From great controversies to the heroes and villains of our time, Provocations raises arguments that matter.
'History gets made by actions, not by words alone. Yet these pages are filled with the kind of words that inspire action. By showing us that Australia has a history of slavery it needs to reckon with. That amidst the turmoil of catastrophic weather events, Christmas beetles are disappearing as we look the other way. That while war was once an anomaly in a world increasingly devoted to peace, no one believes that anymore.
'In Provocations, Jeff Sparrow brings together some of his most challenging and continuously relevant work alongside daring new writing.' (Publication summary)
'In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a number of cycling groups in Europe were founded on socialist principles. I had some notion, before reading Jeff Sparrow’s Provocations, of the link between cycling and that era’s feminist politics – the independent, bloomer-clad woman on her bicycle, which Sparrow also sketches – but not of Italy’s Ciclisti Rossi (Red Cyclists) or England’s Clarion Cycling Club.' (Introduction)
'Many years ago, before algorithms channelled our interactions with the written word, it was possible to stumble upon the quirkiest pieces of writing. I once turned a page in The New Yorker to a very long story about American baseball. I knew little about the subject and cared less, but was intrigued by the stature of the writer in broader fields and read the first couple of paragraphs to see what he had made of it. Pages later, I came to the end and out of a trance: it was fascinating. That takes an especially skilled writer who not only researches deeply, links up the elements carefully and writes with elegance, but who knows how to spotlight moments that trigger intrigue in the reader’s brain.' (Introduction)
'Many years ago, before algorithms channelled our interactions with the written word, it was possible to stumble upon the quirkiest pieces of writing. I once turned a page in The New Yorker to a very long story about American baseball. I knew little about the subject and cared less, but was intrigued by the stature of the writer in broader fields and read the first couple of paragraphs to see what he had made of it. Pages later, I came to the end and out of a trance: it was fascinating. That takes an especially skilled writer who not only researches deeply, links up the elements carefully and writes with elegance, but who knows how to spotlight moments that trigger intrigue in the reader’s brain.' (Introduction)
'In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a number of cycling groups in Europe were founded on socialist principles. I had some notion, before reading Jeff Sparrow’s Provocations, of the link between cycling and that era’s feminist politics – the independent, bloomer-clad woman on her bicycle, which Sparrow also sketches – but not of Italy’s Ciclisti Rossi (Red Cyclists) or England’s Clarion Cycling Club.' (Introduction)
