Heroes and Heroines - Issue 3 : Heroes and Heroines

The purpose of this journal is to give a new direction and depth to a political, cultural and economic debate in Britain.

It aims to explore the possibilities of a non-conservative order, and of the re-invention of the socialist tradition.

Apart from the special launch edition, each issue deals in depth with a particular theme.

This issue explores our relationship to heroes and heroines, asking: do we need them; who can be one; is there a role for heroes and heroines in political or other imagined communities?

This issue takes as its theme the complexities of heroes and heroines.

It looks at days of Empire, psychoanalysis, and modern and postmodern cinema, and asks: why do we need heroes and heroines; do we need them; and who gets to be a hero or heroine?

Part One includes: Cynthia Cockburn's photo essay of Bosnia; Peter Tatchell on a queer way o defining masculinity; Gilane Tauradros on culture going global; Iain Chambers' California sketches; Robin Murray on transport; David Donnison on changing times for the Left; and Angela McRobbie on postmodern psychoanalysis. Part Two includes some expected and unexpected heroes and heroines: Susannah Radstone examines postmodern film and TV characters, such as Tommy cooper and Hannibal Lector;i Becky Hall looks from Jane Austen to Toni Morrison; Simon Edge talks to Peter Wildeblood; Barbara Taylor discusses mary Wollstonecraft; Kirsten Notten reviews the technology of heroes and heroines, with a look at "Star Trek" and "Star Wars".