Historical Materialism

Historical Materialism

episodes

Interviews with scholars of historical materialism about their new books.

Dinesh Wadiwel, "Animals and Capital" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

March 19, 2024

Animals and Capital

Dinesh Wadiwel
Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

In the 20th century, capitalist animal agriculture emerged with a twofold mission: to ruthlessly exploit animals for their labour time and enlarge hum…

Anna Kornbluh, "Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism" (Verso, 2024)

March 17, 2024

Immediacy

Anna Kornbluh
Hosted by David Maruzzella

What is the status of art and culture in a world dominated by apps, algorithms, and influencers? Anna Kornbluh’s newest book Immediacy, Or the Style o…

Leigh Claire La Berge, "Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary" (Duke UP, 2023)

January 5, 2024

Marx for Cats

Leigh Claire La Berge
Hosted by Arya Rani

At the outset of Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary (Duke UP, 2023), Leigh Claire La Berge declares that “all history is the history of cat struggle.” …

Jason Read, "The Politics of Transindividuality" (Brill/Haymarket Books, 2017)

December 31, 2023

The Politics of Transindividuality

Jason Read
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

Many major political questions today revolve around questions of human nature; what sort of people we are and what sort of people we're capable of bei…

Paul Le Blanc, "Lenin: Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution" (Pluto Press, 2023)

November 23, 2023

Lenin

Paul Le Blanc
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

Returning to the New Books Network today is Paul Le Blanc, here to discuss his new book Lenin: Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution (Pluto…

Harry Harootunian, "Archaism and Actuality: Japan and the Global Fascist Imaginary" (Duke UP, 2023)

November 19, 2023

Archaism and Actuality

Harry Harootunian
Hosted by Jingyi Li

In Archaism and Actuality: Japan and the Global Fascist Imaginary (Duke UP, 2023) eminent Marxist historian Harry Harootunian explores the formation o…

Chris Cutrone, "The Death of the Millennial Left: Interventions: 2006-2022" (Sublation Media, 2023)

November 19, 2023

The Death of the Millennial Left

Chris Cutrone
Hosted by David Kunsman

In The Death of the Millennial Left: Interventions: 2006-2022 (Sublation Media, 2023), Chris Cutrone investigates how and why the Millennial Left did …

Martin Jay, "Immanent Critiques: The Frankfurt School under Pressure" (Verso, 2023)

November 15, 2023

Immanent Critiques

Martin Jay
Hosted by Ryan Tripp

The Frankfurt School’s own legacy is best preserved by exercising an immanent critique of its premises and the conclusions to which they often led. By…

Lenora Hanson, "The Romantic Rhetoric of Accumulation" (Stanford UP, 2022)

September 18, 2023

The Romantic Rhetoric of Accumulation

Lenora Hanson
Listen:

Lenora Hanson's The Romantic Rhetoric of Accumulation (Stanford UP, 2022) provides an account of the long arc of dispossession from the British Romant…

Frank Jacob, "Wallerstein 2.0: Thinking and Applying World-Systems Theory in the 21st Century" (Transcript Publishing, 2022)

August 8, 2023

Wallerstein 2.0

Frank Jacob
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:

Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory can help to better understand and describe developments of the 21st century. The contributors of Wallerste…

James Crossley and Robert J. Myles, "Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict" (Zero Books, 2023)

August 2, 2023

Jesus

James Crossley and Robert J. Myles
Hosted by Rob Heaton
Listen:

Alongside their collective acumen in traditional historical-critical and social-scientific approaches to the New Testament, James Crossley and Robert …

Doug Enaa Greene, "Stalinism and the Dialectics of Saturn: Anticommunism, Marxism, and the Fate of the Soviet Union" (Lexington, 2023)

June 9, 2023

Stalinism and the Dialectics of Saturn

Doug Enaa Greene
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Listen:

As capitalism’s popularity wanes and socialism’s popularity increases, there remains a massive shadow cast by the history of actually existing soc…

Sarrah Kassem, "Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization" (Bristol UP, 2023)

May 6, 2023

Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy

Sarrah Kassem
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How have platforms transforming the world of work? In Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organisation (Bristol UP, 2…

Colleen Lye and Christopher Nealon, "After Marx: Literature, Theory, and Value in the Twenty-First Century" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

March 31, 2023

After Marx

Colleen Lye and Christopher Nealon

Colleen Lye and Christopher Nealon's edited volume After Marx: Literature, Theory, and Value in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge UP, 2022) demonstr…

Ravi Malhotra and Benjamin Isitt, eds., "Class Warrior: The Selected Works of E. T. Kingsley" (Athabasca UP, 2022)

March 28, 2023

Class Warrior

Ravi Malhotra and Benjamin Isitt, editors
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

The socialist activist E. T. Kingsley occupies an odd place in the history of labor and the left. Often mentioned due to his prolific life of spea…

Nicholas Brown, "Autonomy: The Social Ontology of Art under Capitalism" (Duke UP, 2019)

March 19, 2023

Autonomy

Nicholas Brown
Hosted by Kaveh Rafie

In Autonomy: The Social Ontology of Art under Capitalism (Duke University Press, 2019), Nicholas Brown offers a fresh perspective on aesthetic autonom…

Michael Joseph Roberto, "The Coming of the American Behemoth: The Origins of Fascism in the United States, 1920-1940" (Monthly Review Press, 2018)

January 17, 2023

The Coming of the American Behemoth

Michael Joseph Roberto
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 shocked and appalled a number of people, forcing a critical reevaluation of what was possible, and what we ou…

Philippe-Richard Marius, "The Unexceptional Case of Haiti: Race and Class Privilege in Postcolonial Bourgeois Society" (UP of Mississippi, 2022)

January 8, 2023

The Unexceptional Case of Haiti

Philippe-Richard Marius
Hosted by Aleem Mahabir

In The Unexceptional Case of Haiti: Race and Class Privilege in Postcolonial Bourgeois Society (University Press of Mississippi, 2022), Philippe-Richa…

Gareth Dale, et al., "Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age" (Haymarket Books, 2021)

January 2, 2023

Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age

Colin Barker, Gareth Dale and Neil Davidson
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

The last several decades have seen a mass consolidation of wealth among a few, the rest of the world left to various degrees of dispossession. On …

Eren Duzgun, "Capitalism, Jacobinism and International Relations: Revisiting Turkish Modernity" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

December 28, 2022

Capitalism, Jacobinism and International Relations

Eren Duzgun
Hosted by Geoffrey Gordon

Western interpretations of the Ottoman age of reform and the Turkish Republic often evaluate these histories against an idealized, essentialized narra…