Historical Materialism

Historical Materialism

episodes

Interviews with scholars of historical materialism about their new books.

Wendy Matsumura, "Waiting for the Cool Moon: Anti-Imperialist Struggles in the Heart of Japan's Empire" (Duke UP, 2024)

July 11, 2024

Waiting for the Cool Moon

Wendy Matsumura
Hosted by Jingyi Li

In Waiting for the Cool Moon: Anti-Imperialist Struggles in the Heart of Japan's Empire (Duke UP, 2024) Wendy Matsumura interrogates the erasure of c…

Adrian Johnston, "Infinite Greed: The Inhuman Selfishness of Capital" (Columbia UP, 2024)

June 22, 2024

Infinite Greed

Adrian Johnston
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

Marxism and psychoanalysis have a rich and complicated relationship to one another, with countless figures and books written on the possible inter…

Johanna Oksala, "Feminism, Capitalism, and Ecology" (Northwestern UP, 2023)

June 20, 2024

Feminism, Capitalism, and Ecology

Johanna Oksala
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

Can capitalism be made ecologically sustainable? Can it be good for women? What theoretical approaches help us to grapple with these questions in ways…

Jason Read, "The Double Shift: Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work" (Verso, 2024)

June 8, 2024

The Double Shift

Jason Read
Hosted by Geoffrey Gordon

Even as the rewards of work decline and its demands on us increase, many people double-down on their commitment to wage slavery – working harder, doin…

Todd Mcgowan, "Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try to Find Ourselves" (Repeater, 2024)

May 18, 2024

Embracing Alienation

Todd Mcgowan
Hosted by Cody Skahan

The left views alienation as something to be resisted or overcome, but could it actually form the basis of our emancipation? We often think of our exi…

Isaac Deutscher, "Lenin's Childhood" (Verso, 2024)

March 20, 2024

Lenin's Childhood

Isaac Deutscher
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

On January 21, 1924 and at the age of 53, Vladimir Lenin passed away. We’ve now had a century of a world without him, but also a century of a worl…

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…

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 …

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…

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…