Welcome to Litsy!

"On the evening of 13 May 1839, in an outbuilding of Glynsaithmaen Farm, in the Welsh hills of Preseli, a crowd of local men gathered, dressed in bonnets and petticoats - some perhaps with masks or blackened faces - to set out under cover of darkness to destroy a nearby tollgate."

- "Introduction: The Moral Economy of the Proto-Hero", Ra Page

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"Cass described him as 'an unapologetic, old-fashioned, elitist, one nation Conservative', whatever the hell that means. Maybe it just means he was a twat." ?? ... ??

"At best, the American superhero is a 'morally neutral' enforcer of the status quo, that is to say, a souped-up policeman fighting scaled-up petty crime; at worst, he is a self-appointed vigilante delivering vengeance without the cumbersome red tape of a judicial system. Being 'morally neutral' means being complicit, and fetishising vigilantism borders on libertarianism (in the American sense), especially when the vigilante in question is a ⬇️

I picked this up because of the cover, then bought it on the premise: short stories reframing the figure of the super-hero in the British context of popular protest & resistance to the establishment & vested interest. These heroes steal from the rich to stock food banks and protect parks and common land from capitalist developers. Social Justice Super Warriors! ✊🦸🏽‍♀️✊
Each story has an afterword by an academic to place it in historical context.