Angels and Demons: A Radical Anthology of Political Lives

Angels and Demons: A Radical Anthology of Political Lives
Author: Tony McKenna
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1789040213

A Marxist analysis of key political and historical figures including Hugo Chavez and Jeremy Corbyn, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Angels and Demons offers a series of profiles of historical figures both old and new. Using a Marxist analysis, the author adduces the particularities of each individual personality from the crest of living history which brings it to the fore, showing with each of the figures examined how the art, politics and creativity of their lives is infused by the rhythm and contradictions of the broader historical backdrop. The angels in the collection are Hugo Chavez, Andrea Dworkin, Rembrandt, Victor Hugo, Jeremy Corbyn and William Blake. The demons are Donald Trump, Christopher Hitchens, Arthur Schopenhauer and Hillary Clinton.

Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons
Author: Tony McKenna
Publisher: Zero Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Marxist criticism
ISBN: 9781789040203

A Marxist analysis of key political and historical figures including Hugo Chavez and Jeremy Corbyn, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Angels and Demons offers a series of profiles of historical figures both old and new. Using a Marxist analysis, the author adduces the particularities of each individual personality from the crest of living history which brings it to the fore, showing with each of the figures examined how the art, politics and creativity of their lives is infused by the rhythm and contradictions of the broader historical backdrop. The angels in the collection are Hugo Chavez, Andrea Dworkin, Rembrandt, Victor Hugo, Jeremy Corbyn and William Blake. The demons are Donald Trump, Christopher Hitchens, Arthur Schopenhauer and Hillary Clinton.

Has Political Correctness Gone Mad?

Has Political Correctness Gone Mad?
Author: Tony McKenna
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2024-03-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350429589

Woke social justice warriors lurk around every corner, ready to cancel free speakers and police common sense. Muslims love nothing better than abolishing Christmas. FemiNazi's throw false accusations at the pillars of our society. Decried by right-wing pundits and politicians alike, the idea of 'political correctness' is often painted as a form of left-wing totalitarianism but in this pithy, clear-headed account, Tony McKenna explains how the concept itself is in fact one of the great conspiracy theories of our times. From the fear of 'cancel culture' to the demonization of grassroots social movements, this is a searing dissection of how the exclusionary agendas for so long played out in our media and party politics have been successfully dressed up as campaigns for freedom and common sense. Tackling some of the favourite bogeymen of tabloids and scaremongers, McKenna dissects the language, rhetoric and ideology that turns refugees into insects, social justice into 'wokery', and makes predators out of anyone from dark skinned men to trans women. He provides a full analysis of historically important social liberation movements like BLM and #MeToo, giving the historical and cultural contexts for their emergence. As the tried-and-tested politics of stigmatization and exclusion shift from old targets to new, this an explanation of one of society's most insidious narratives, and how it allows dominant orthodox culture to cast the subjects of its oppressive tactics as the dreaded 'global liberal elite'.

The War Against Marxism

The War Against Marxism
Author: Tony McKenna
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2021-05-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 135020143X

Marxism has provided the ideological impetus to liberation movements, radical struggles and revolutions across the world. But in the 20th century, the emancipatory and democratic power of its thought has often been distorted and overridden by various Stalinist dictatorships which claimed to be acting in its name. A similar undermining of freedom of thought has been accomplished at an intellectual level; various schools have transformed Marxist thought in line with some of the most fashionable but gentrified forms of contemporary philosophy, shifting the focus from the democratic power of the masses and their ability to challenge the capitalist order to concentrate on superstar thinkers and elite theories. The War Against Marxism traces the war against Marxism which, paradoxically, has been conducted in the name of Marxism itself. As such it provides a fiery philosophical and polemical indictment of so-called 'Marxists' such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Althusser, Jameson, Eagleton, Mouffe, Laclau and Zizek and asks what can be done to stem this counterrevolution.

Toward Forever

Toward Forever
Author: Tony McKenna
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2020-03-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1789043581

Toward Forever: Radical Reflections on History and Art is a diverse, colourful and eclectic set of essays of historical and cultural analyses. From the genesis of Islam as a social movement, to an account of Goya's art in the context of feudal absolutism and the Napoleonic wars, to The Da Vinci Code, and much more besides. McKenna is a classical Marxist not shy of addressing popular culture, past and present, works often ignored by other Marxist critics increasingly confined to Academia and its high-brow concerns.

CLR James

CLR James
Author: John L. Williams
Publisher: Constable
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-03-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781472130129

, Historian, revolutionary and cricket writer, CLR James was one of the truly radical voices of the twentieth century. Born in Trinidad in the final days of the Victorian era, he debated with Trotsky, played cricket with Constantine, was published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, inspired Kwame Nkrumah, and was a profound influence on the British Black Power movement. And yet by the late 1970s, CLR James was all but forgotten. The books he had written over the past half century were nearly all out of print. There were a few circles in which his name rang a bell: serious students of Black history; obsessive cricket fans. But that was it. When he died in Brixton in 1989, CLR James was internationally famous - lauded as the greatest of Black British intellectuals: the 'Black Plato', according to The Times. The ideas he put forward in his own time - of the importance of identity alongside class, of rebellion coming from below, of the leading roles of Black people, women and youth in political struggle - have gradually made their way to the forefront of our political thinking. His two great books, The Black Jacobins and Beyond a Boundary, still have the power to change readers' understanding of the world today. But while CLR James's work has been much examined, his long and remarkable life story has often been overlooked. For the first time, in a biography full of original research, human drama and keen insight, John L. Williams unveils the rich and compelling story of an intellectual giant. In doing so, he firmly establishes the importance of CLR James for the twenty-first century - if Black Britain has had a presiding genius, it remains CLR James.,

The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought - Volume 2: The Twentieth Century and Beyond

The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought - Volume 2: The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Author: Andrew Bailey
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 589
Release: 2008-09-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1551118998

The second volume of this comprehensive anthology covers the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The anthology is broad ranging both in its selection of material by figures traditionally acknowledged as being of central importance, and in the material it presents by a range of other figures. The material in this volume is presented in three sections. The first, “Power and the State,” includes selections by such figures as Goldman, Lenin, Weber, Schmitt, and Hayek. Among those included in the “Race, Gender, and Colonialism” section are de Beauvoir, Gandhi, Fanon, and Young. The third and by far the longest section, “Rights-Based Liberalism and its Critics,” focuses on the many interrelated directions that social and political philosophy has taken since the publication of John Rawls’s ground-breaking A Theory of Justice in 1971. In order to better meet the needs of today’s students, the editors have made every effort to include accurate and accessible translations of the readings. Additionally, every selection has been painstakingly annotated, and each figure is given a substantial introduction highlighting her or his major contributions within the tradition. For figures of central importance, the editors have included extended introductions that place the figure in the context of intellectual history as well as of political thought. In order to ensure the highest standards of accuracy and accessibility, the editors have consulted dozens of leading academics during the course of the volume’s development (many of whom have contributed introductory material as well as advice). The result is an anthology with unparalleled pedagogical benefits; The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought sets the new standard for social and political philosophy instruction.

Marxist Literary Criticism Today

Marxist Literary Criticism Today
Author: Barbara C. Foley
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Literature
ISBN: 9780745338842

In the first introduction to Marxist literary criticism in decades, Barbara Foley argues that Marxism continues to offer the best framework for exploring the relationship between literature and society. She lays out in clear terms the principal aspects of Marxist methodology--historical materialism, political economy, and ideology critique--as well as key debates about the nature of literature and the goals of literary criticism and pedagogy. Examining a wide range of texts through the empowering lens of Marxism--from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey, from Frederick Douglass's 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?' to Annie Proulx's 'Brokeback Mountain'--Foley provides a clear and compelling textbook of Marxist literary criticism.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics

The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2008-06-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0307388441

This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs.In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence — and derail — the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as “Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey” and “What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?, ” The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States.