Description

The Underground Sea is a succinct, urgent collection of writing from John Berger’s archive. It brings together for the first time his work on mineworkers and the miners’ strikes and has been edited as a set of actions for today: a time when people are rediscovering the necessity, power and possibilities of collective action.

Including essays, transcripts, interviews and images, it places itself in the heart of a Derbyshire mining village, with reflections on the everyday life of a typical pit community.

Publisher Review

Berger’s commitment to the mining communities was more than emotional, it was visceral * * New Statesman * * A timely collection with still-striking thoughts * * Irish Times * * A profound tribute to working-class struggles . . . The words are invariably sage, the language noble yet pointedly accessible, descriptions of intense poverty and extraordinarily dangerous work are powerful * * Buzz Magazine * * Praise for John Berger: ‘John Berger seems to me peerless — SUSAN SONTAG John Berger has made the world a better place to live in. I do not say this lightly — ARUNDHATI ROY A few minutes with Berger and a better world, a better outcome, wasn’t fantasy or imaginary, it was impetus – possible, feasible, urgent and clear . . . Berger’s genius is its own fertile continuum – radical, brilliant, gentle, uncompromising — ALI SMITH Few people have possessed such clarity, nor yoked it to such persistently generous political ends — OLIVIA LAING The writer I admired above all others . . . Whatever their form or subject [Berger’s] books are jam-packed with observations so precise and delicate that they double as ideas – and vice versa — GEOFF DYER There are a few authors that can change the way you look at the world through their writing and John Berger is one of them — JARVIS COCKER An ongoing inspiration as to how books should be written (and photography used) — ALAIN de BOTTON