Renegade: The Life and Times of Darcus Howe

Description

Renegade examines the struggle for racial justice in the UK, through the lens of one of Britain's most influential, and controversial, journalists and campaigners. Born in Trinidad during the dying days of colonialism, Howe became an uncompromising champion of racial justice. The book examines how Darcus Howe's unique political outlook was inspired by the example of his friend and mentor C.L.R. James, and forged in the heat of the American civil rights movement, as well as Trinidad's Black Power Revolution. Howe took a leading role in the defining struggles in Britain against institutional racism in the police, the courts and the media. Renegade focuses on his part as a defendant in the trial of the Mangrove Nine, the high point of Black Power in Britain; his role in conceiving and organizing the Black People's Day of Action, the largest ever demonstration by the black community in Britain; and his later work as a prominent journalist and political commentator.

Robin Bunce is a historian based at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. He specialises in the history of ideas, particularly the recent history of black radicalism in Britain. He has written for The Guardian, The Independent and the New Statesman. Together with Samara Linton he published Diane Abbott: the Authorised Biography in 2020. Paul Field worked as a journalist for many years specialising in issues of policing, asylum and institutional racism, before becoming a lawyer specialising in the fields of discrimination and employment.

The first detailed history of black power in Britain . . . Bunce and Paul Field have published a political biography of Darcus Howe - one of the most significant black activists in Britain - using him as a framework for a history of the black power movement in Britain. -- Mark Brown, The Guardian One of the most exciting books on the shelves at the moment -- Left Futures Darcus Howe has been a towering figure,a powerful voice and an indominatable spirit for nearly half a century. His life embraces the history and critical importance of the struggle for justice and equality before the law. The lessons so graphically described in this book should not be forgotten by anyone lest we be condemned to relive them. -- Michael Mansfield, Professor of Law at City University and Visiting Professor of Law at Birkbeck London, UK This book is a an invaluable contribution to a vital task: uncovering the history of black activism in Britain and its relationship to global trends. The authors place the meaning and impact of Black Power, so often caricatured, in a richly chronicled context. In the spirit of CLR James, a figure who rightly presides over the book, as he did over the life of its subject, they focus on grass-roots creativity, on the interventions of people on the margins. In so doing, they bring to life a series of dramatic struggles, including the Black Power revolt in Trinidad, the persecution of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill and the ground-breaking resistance to it, the New Cross fire and the Brixton riots of 1981. The book is a powerful reminder of much of our recent history, a history in danger of being forgotten or filed away under glib rubrics -- Mike Marqusee, author of Redemption Song: Muhammed Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties (2005). This biography of Darcus Howe is undoubtedly a labour of love. Robin Bunce and Paul Field have made a creditable attempt to chart postwar black activism though one man's life. And there can be no other person more appropriate to build the story around - because Darcus Howe is one of the standout activists and public intellectuals of his generation ... for many of us, he will always be that man in the dock at the Mangrove trail, standing up to an institutioanlly racist state - and standing up for us all. This meticulous biography sets out the facts about a life and an era that should be far more widely known. -- Diane Abbott MP, The New Statesman