Current Affairs and Journalism
Toby Green has written reviews and features for a wide range of media, ranging from book reviews of fiction by Isabel Allende to comment pieces for the Guardian, Prospect, and Times Higher Education, feature essays for Aeon and History Today, and numerous travel features for the Financial Times. He has also contributed comment pieces to a number of online publications, including African Arguments and leftlockdownsceptics.com.
His latest work on current affairs centres on the Covid-19 pandemic and responses to it. Green is a lockdown sceptic with an internationalist perspective. He has contributed to leftlockdownsceptics.com, and his book on the pandemic, The Covid Consensus: The New Politics of Global Inequality is published by C. Hurst & Co. on April 22nd.
The Covid Consensus
The Covid Consensus takes an internationalist perspective and argues that the response to Covid-19 reveals irreconcilable contradictions in Western thought, with devastating consequences for the Global Poor and the poor and disadvantaged in Western societies. Green's research reveals new evidence as to the impetus behind the WHO's advice on lockdowns, and argues that the policies represented radical continuities of existing trends of inequality, mediatisation and surveillance that threaten the future of liberal democracies.
Early reviews:
‘A thoughtful analysis of the forces and attitudes that unleashed lockdowns upon the global poor, with harrowing descriptions of the consequences.’ — Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, University of Oxford, and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration
‘An excellent book at a critical time. Pandemics breed hysteria, to which the only cure is reason. This book is a masterly dose of reason, challenging, questioning and sceptical in the best sense of the word.’ — Simon Jenkins, author and columnist
‘Even in the face of viruses and death, some humans are still “more equal” than others. This book demonstrates it abundantly while challenging conventional wisdom on the pandemic and how to confront it.’ — Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations, SOAS University of London
‘In a grave pandemic, what is the acceptable level of mortality risk relative to the damage to society, economy and poor countries from lockdowns? Toby Green’s searching scrutiny and anguished analysis of this dilemma is a much-needed corrective to simplistic slogans.’ — Ramesh Thakur, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations
‘An intellectual treat for critical thinkers who are watching the sunset of reason and feel that all that is essential is invisible to the eyes of many. This book sheds light on reason and makes the invisible visible.’ — Yossi Nehushtan, Professor of Law and Philosophy, Keele University
‘An admirably measured description of 2020’s immeasurable destruction, charting the shocking fallout from governments’ virus-suppression policies in the Global North and South. The Covid Consensus should be read by everyone who still believes that lockdowns save lives.’ — Sinead Murphy, Lecturer in Philosophy, Newcastle University
Opinion Pieces
Toby Green has written a number of comment pieces and features regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and responses to it in print and online media, including African Arguments, History Today, leftlockdownsceptics.com and Times Higher Education:
Aeon article on economic crisis, poverty and the lessons of African history for the present:
Aeon article on slavery and economic crises
Co-authored article with Carlos Cardoso in African Arguments:
History Today article on Africa, debt and historical parallels to the pandemic:
leftlockdownsceptics article on Covid-19 and Internationalism:
Co-authored article with Ambreena Mani, Carli Coetzee and Ola Uduku in Times Higher Education:
Criticism
Toby Green wrote dozens of reviews for the Independent, and has also written criticism for the London Review of Books, Times Higher Education, and the TLS. He has reviewed books by, among others, David Abulafia, Tariq Ali, Isabel Allende, William Dalrymple, Jared Diamond, the late Eduardo Galeano, Francisco Goldman, John Gray, and Charles C. Mann. He has also interviewed writers including Ma Jian, and the late WG Sebald (republished alongside an interview by the late Susan Sontag in the Journal of European Studies).
Interview with WG Sebald:
Review of Chocolate Islands by Catherine Higgs in the London Review of Books:
Book review of A Primer for Teaching African Historyby Trevor Getz:
Review of 1493 by Charles C. Mann:
Review of Pirates of the Caribbean by Tariq Ali:
Review of The Art of Political Murder by Francisco Goldman:
Features
Toby Green has written features for a wide range of print and online media. He has contributed numerous features for Aeon, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Guardian, History Today, the Observer, and Prospect.
Comment piece on the Inquisition from the Guardian's editorial page:
History Today article on Africa's global histories:
Co-authored article in Prospect on Guinea-Bissau:
Article on Cape Verde in the Financial Times:
Article in Aeon about Precolonial African history:
To return to the home page, click here:
|