John Berger Books

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John Berger was a British art critic and writer who died in 2017 at 90. A prodigious writer from the 20th Century who made a name for himself by attacking traditional critics who repeatedly chose to separate the art they scrutinized from its political and social context, Berger wasn’t afraid to oppose mainstream opinions.

Order of Into Their Labours Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Pig Earth 1979 Description / Buy
2 Once In Europa 1987 Description / Buy
3 Lilac And Flag 1990 Description / Buy

Order of John Berger Non-Fiction Books

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Success and Failure of Picasso 1965 Description / Buy
2 A Fortunate Man 1967 Description / Buy
3 The Moment of Cubism 1969 Description / Buy
4 Ways of Seeing 1972 Description / Buy
5 A Seventh Man 1975 Description / Buy
6 About Looking 1980 Description / Buy
7 Permanent Red 1981 Description / Buy
8 Another Way of Telling 1982 Description / Buy
9 About Time 1985 Description / Buy
10 Titian (Short Story) 1996 Description / Buy
11 I Send You This Cadmium Red 2000 Description / Buy
12 The Shape of a Pocket 2001 Description / Buy
13 Selected Essays 2001 Description / Buy
14 Arturo Di Stefano (Short Story) 2002 Description / Buy
15 Reflections on The White Bird 2005 Description / Buy
16 Berger on Drawing 2007 Description / Buy
17 The Red Tenda of Bologna 2007 Description / Buy
18 Hold Everything Dear Dispatches on Survival and Resistance (Short Story) 2008 Description / Buy
19 Why Look at Animals? 2009 Description / Buy
20 Bento's Sketchbook 2011 Description / Buy
21 Cataract (Short Story) 2011 Description / Buy
22 Understanding a Photograph 2013 Description / Buy
23 Portraits 2015 Description / Buy
24 Confabulations 2016 Description / Buy
25 Landscapes 2016 Description / Buy
26 Garden on My Cheek (Short Story) 2016 Description / Buy
27 Railtracks ( With: Anne Michaels) 2018 Description / Buy
28 Smoke (Short Story) 2018 Description / Buy
29 What Time Is It? (Short Story) 2019 Description / Buy

Order of John Berger Plays & Poems

# Read Title Published Details
1 Jonah Who Will Be Twenty-Five in the Year 2000 1978 Description / Buy
2 And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (Short Story) 1984 Description / Buy
3 The Sense of Sight 1985 Description / Buy
4 A Question of Geography (Short Story) 1987 Description / Buy
5 Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol (Short Story) 1995 Description / Buy
6 Photocopies 1996 Description / Buy
7 Collected Poems (Short Story) 2014 Description / Buy
8 Long White Thread of Words 2016 Description / Buy

Order of John Berger Standalone Novels

# Read Title Published Details
1 Marcel Frishman (Short Story) 1958 Description / Buy
2 A Painter of Our Time 1958 Description / Buy
3 The Foot Of Clive 1962 Description / Buy
4 Corker's Freedom 1964 Description / Buy
5 G. 1972 Description / Buy
6 The Look of Things 1972 Description / Buy
7 Keeping a Rendezvous 1991 Description / Buy
8 To the Wedding 1995 Description / Buy
9 Isabelle (Short Story) 1998 Description / Buy
10 King 1999 Description / Buy
11 Here Is Where We Meet 2005 Description / Buy
12 From A To X 2011 Description / Buy
13 Lapwing and Fox 2016 Description / Buy

Order of Newmarket Shooting Script Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Swept from the Sea ( By: Tim Willocks) 1999 Description / Buy
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John Berger Anthologies

# Read Title Published Details
1 Granta 9: John Berger: Boris 1983 Description / Buy
2 Diaspora City: The London New Writing Anthology 2003 Description / Buy
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Print: Print PDF

He argued that the perceptions and attitudes of society were most accurately presented in the art that each era of human history produced. He used women as a stark example, highlighting the way they were always painted as sexual objects in artistic creations.

He wasn’t afraid to attack the people behind the Booker Prize in 1972 even after winning the accolade, making mention of the fact that the Prize’s origins were strongly associated with Caribbean slave labor. This drove him to donate half of the prize money he had won to the Black Panthers. According to John Berger, the views of the group were closely aligned with his own.

In the final years of his life, he garnered some attention for speaking against Israel in their conflict with Palestine, going so far as to call for a military embargo on the country. And yet it is for his artistic endeavors that Berger will be remembered.

John Berger was born in 1926 to Miriam and Stanley. His father was raised as a Jew, though he wasn’t dedicated to his religion. In fact. he eventually became a catholic. Stanley wanted to become a priest. But he was eventually drawn into the chaos of WWI.

It was during that period that he lost his faith. He earned the Military Cross for his service. His son, John, had a prosperous middle-class upbringing. His mother came from a working-class life but John Berger’s childhood was more privileged.

At 16, Berger set his sights on the central school of art after completing his studies at St. Edward’s School in Oxford. Berger was interested in painting. Quite a number of people had the opportunity to see his work in London’s galleries in the 1940s.

But he never got the chance to complete his studies at the central school of art. Instead, the author was pulled into the army in 1944. He was sent to Northern Ireland from where he was afforded the opportunity to interact with working-class people.

They fascinated him and he did not hesitate to write for them the letters they needed to send to their friends, family, and lovers. There lives and attitudes changed his political leanings, instilling in the Marxist considerable disdain for capitalism.

Life after the army took him to the Chelsea School of Art from where he mastered his craft before finally embarking on his journey as a painter. Even though he taught at St. Mary’s teacher training college and his works were exhibited in galleries, John Berger wasn’t necessarily successful. Some people knew of him. But most of the public had no idea who he was.

All that changed when a journal called the New Statesman hired him and he became their most controversial critic, often singing the praises of obscure artists whilst also attacking the giants of the industry.

He was married three times. His relationships produced three children.

John Berger Awards

Berger’s collection of accolades includes the Booker Prize, Petrarca-Preis, James Tait Black Memorial Award, and the Golden PEN Award.

John Berger Books into Movies

The author published a book called ‘Ways of Seeing’ as a companion to a BBC series (also called Ways of Seeing).

Best John Berger Books

Berger is considered to be one of the greatest thinkers of the 21st Century, with some of the best titles in his bibliography including:

Ways of Seeing: This is Berger’s most popular book. It attacks the traditional view of western cultural aesthetics. Berger uses his extensive experience to reveal the meanings and agendas hidden within images. The ideas in his books have been adopted by feminist literature that attempts to interpret the representation of women in popular culture.

About Looking: This book from John Berger attempts to dissect and understand the role people play as observers. It explores the relationship between mankind and animals as it was in the past, what it became in the 21st Century, and what it says about the human condition.

When Does The Next John Berger book come out?

John Berger doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is What Time Is It? and was released on September, 24th 2019. It is the newest book in the John Berger Non-Fiction Books.

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