Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America
by Elie Mystal
The New Press, 2025
[Publication date: March 25, 2025]
by Elie Mystal
The New Press, 2025
[Publication date: March 25, 2025]
The New York Times bestselling author brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to offer a brilliant takedown of ten shocking pieces of legislation that continue to perpetuate hate, racial bias, injustice, and inequality today—an urgent yet hopeful read for our current political climate
“Mystal is a grassroots legal superhero, and his superpower is the ability to explain to the masses in clear language the all-too-human forces at play behind the making of our laws.” —Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop
In Bad Law, the New York Times bestselling author of Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution reimagines what our legal system, and society at large, could look like if we could move past legislation plagued by racism, misogyny, and corruption. Through accessible yet detailed prose and trenchant wit, Mystal argues that these egregiously awful laws—his “Bill of Wrongs”—continue to cause systematic and individual harm and should be repealed completely.
By exposing the flawed foundations of the rules we live by, and through biting humor and insight, Bad Law offers a crisp, pertinent take on:
abortion and the Hyde Amendment, and the role federal funding, or lack thereof, has played in depriving women of necessary health and reproductive care
immigration and illegal reentry, and the illusions that have been sold to us regarding immigration policy, reform, and whiteness at large
voter registration laws, and how the right to vote has become a moral issue, and ironically, antidemocratic
gun control and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, and the extreme yet obvious dangers of granting immunity to gun manufacturers
But, as the man Samantha Bee calls “irrepressible and righteously indignant” and Matt Levine of Bloomberg Opinion calls “the funniest lawyer in America,” points out, these laws do not come to us from on high; we write them, and we can and should unwrite them. In a fierce, funny, and wholly original takedown spanning all the hot-button topics in the country today, one of our most brilliant legal thinkers points the way to a saner tomorrow.
REVIEWS:
Praise for Bad Law:
“A smart, big-picture takedown of the legal bulwarks of white supremacism and its privileges.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"Elie Mystal offers a searing, deeply analytical but accessible critique of the prevailing legal regimes in the U.S., which are vestiges of the racism and misogyny that define much of our country’s history. Using the wit and insight he has become known for in his writing and commentary, Mystal makes the compelling case that there is a profound disconnect between the laws that we have and the laws that we need and want. Anyone who supports achieving a truly pluralistic, multiracial democracy in this nation should take this analysis seriously."
—Russ Feingold, former U.S. senator and president of the American Constitution Society
"Elie Mystal is a grassroots legal superhero, and his superpower is the ability to explain to the masses in clear language the all-too-human forces at play behind the making of our laws. In Bad Law, Mystal also speaks as an irreverent Moses throwing down on the Ten Commandments of Lousy Laws, replacing ‘Thou Shalt Not’ with ‘Should Not Be,’ since this legislation should no longer be on the books or on our backs. Thank God this brilliant and angry prophet doesn’t stutter as he tosses these laws into a burning bush of common sense that fuels the common good."
—Michael Eric Dyson, university distinguished professor, Vanderbilt University, and New York Times bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop
"Nobody can break down the legal systems shaping America today better than Elie Mystal. With the wit of Chris Rock and clarity of Jay-Z, Mystal explains how these laws contribute to systemic inequality, political corruption, societal stagnation and most importantly what must be done to challenge and reform them."
—Charlamagne tha God, radio host of The Breakfast Club and New York Times bestselling author
"Sure, a theocratic Supreme Court and Trump concierge legislatures are turning hate and bias into ‘laws,’ but at least Elie Mystal is here in Bad Law to warn and explain with clarity and humor—while humor is still legal."
—Keith Olbermann, sports and political commentator and writer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elie Mystal is the New York Times bestselling author of Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution (The New Press) as well as The Nation’s legal analyst and justice correspondent, and the legal editor of the More Perfect podcast on the Supreme Court for Radiolab. He is an Alfred Knobler Fellow at Type Media Center, and a frequent guest on MSNBC and Sirius XM. He lives in New York.
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
by Peter Beinert
Knopf, 2025
[Publication date: January 28, 2025]
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time
“At this painful moment, Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events centuries ago—his scholarship is deep, and his heart is big. This book is not just about being Jewish in the shadow of today’s war, but about being a person who cares for justice.” —Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost
In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?
Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life.
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative argument that will expand and inform one of the defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could write: a passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience, his commanding grasp of history, his keen understanding of political and moral dilemmas, and a clear vision for the future.
“At this painful moment, Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events centuries ago—his scholarship is deep, and his heart is big. This book is not just about being Jewish in the shadow of today’s war, but about being a person who cares for justice.” —Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost
In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?
Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life.
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative argument that will expand and inform one of the defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could write: a passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience, his commanding grasp of history, his keen understanding of political and moral dilemmas, and a clear vision for the future.
REVIEWS:
“This timely book constitutes a reckoning with the vast gulf between the Jewish tradition that Beinart cherishes and what has replaced it in the practice of the state of Israel, and of those who have come to worship that state. It is urgently needed.”
—Rashid Khalidi, New York Times bestselling author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine
“At this painful moment, Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events centuries ago—his scholarship is deep, and his heart is big. This book is not just about being Jewish in the shadow of today’s war, but about being a person who cares for justice.”
—Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost
“Guided by a deep familiarity with Jewish history and sources, and a piercing awareness of Palestinian realities, Peter Beinart unflinchingly peels away the layers of propagandist misdirection deployed to defend Israel's actions. This essential book leads us to a universal and Jewish reawakening that is both humane and hopeful.”
—Daniel Levy, President of the US-Middle East Project and former Israeli peace negotiator
“An urgent, carefully argued and compelling read.”
—Rachel Shabi, author of Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism
“[Beinart] has built a reputation for being an incisive writer and public intellectual, with a knack for admitting when he’s wrong. . . . In Beinart’s latest book,he appeals to his fellow Jews to grapple with the morality of their defense of Israel. . . . He argues for a Jewish tradition that has no use for Jewish supremacy and treats human equality as a core value.”
—The Guardian
“Uses the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as Beinart’s deep Jewish faith to chart a path forward for peace and safety for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
—MSNBC
“Over his lifetime, Peter Beinart went from being a fierce defender of Israel to one of its fiercest critics. In his latest book, the professor of journalism and political science makes an appeal to other American Jews in the wake of the war in Gaza.”
—NPR’s Morning Edition
“Invaluable. . . . Beinart’s cogent and caring analysis guides readers toward moral clarity and a sharper understanding of the crisis and its profoundly devastating consequences.”—Booklist
“Beinart issues an impassioned critique of the American Jewish community’s reaction to the war in Gaza. . . . Urgent and thought-provoking, this is sure to spark debate.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A learned, powerful book that asks tough—if contentious—questions.”
—Kirkus Reviews
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
PETER BEINART is professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He is also editor at large of Jewish Currents, a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, an MSNBC political commentator, and a nonresident fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He writes the Beinart Notebook newsletter on Substack.com. He lives in New York with his family.
Marcuse
by Jacob McNulty
Routledge, 2025
[Publication date: November 14, 2024]
Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) is known to many as a leading figure of 1960s counterculture, and a "Guru of the New Left."However, the deeper philosophical background to Marcuse's thought is often forgotten, especially his significant engagement with German idealism, ancient philosophy, and a broad spectrum of problems and issues from the philosophical tradition.
This much-needed book introduces and assesses Marcuse's philosophy and is ideal for those coming to his work for the first time. Jacob McNulty covers the following topics:
This much-needed book introduces and assesses Marcuse's philosophy and is ideal for those coming to his work for the first time. Jacob McNulty covers the following topics:
- Marcuse's life and the background to his thought, including his formative period as a student of Husserl and Heidegger and as a philosopher in Horkheimer's Institute
- Marcuse's recasting of metaphysics in light of Marxian and Freudian thought
- Marcuse and German idealism, especially the role of Kant and Hegel
- Marcuse's philosophy of human nature, his use of the late Freud's ideas of Eros and Thanatos
- Marcuse as a critic of state and monopoly capitalism
- Meaning, propaganda, and ideology: the political implications of language and also the centrality of free speech
- Marcuse's aesthetics
- Marcuse's legacy and his relationship to contemporary analytical philosophy (especially "analytic critical theory").
REVIEWS:
"McNulty reestablishes Marcuse’s credentials as a first-rate philosopher, while at the same time affirming Marcuse’s political commitments to critical Marxism and democratic socialism. With writing that is philosophically sophisticated, accessible and engaging, McNulty elaborates Marcuse’s theoretical positions on questions of epistemology, metaphysics, the philosophy of science, aesthetics and philosophical anthropology. Ranging confidently over the entire body of Marcuse’s work, McNulty has given us an excellent introduction to Marcuse’s critical philosophy." - John Abromeit, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
"In this lucid and imaginative study, McNulty painstakingly reconstructs the key elements of Marcuse’s philosophy and demonstrates its enduring relevance. As the need for exploring new directions in thought and action becomes more pressing than ever, being guided so brilliantly into the heart of Marcuse’s engaged thinking could hardly be more valuable." - Espen Hammer, Temple University, USA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jacob McNulty is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, USA. He is the author of Hegel's Logic and Metaphysics (2023). His work on Rousseau, Fichte, and others has appeared in the European Journal of Philosophy, Journal of the History of Philosophy, and British Journal for the History of Philosophy.
Malcolm Before X
by Patrick Parr
University of Massachusetts Press, 2025
[Publication date: December 1, 2024]
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2024
A Spectator Best Book of the Year
Finalist for the 2025 ASALH Book Prize
Drawing upon interviews, correspondence, and nearly 2000 pages of never-before-used prison records, Malcolm Before X is the definitive examination of the prison years of civil rights icon Malcolm X.
In February 1946, when 20-year-old Malcolm Little was sentenced to eight to ten years in a maximum-security prison, he was a petty criminal and street hustler in Boston. By the time he was paroled in August 1952, he had transformed into a voracious reader, joined the Black Muslims, and was poised to become Malcolm X, one of the most prominent and important intellectuals of the civil rights era. While scholars and commentators have exhaustively detailed, analyzed, and debated Malcolm X’s post-prison life, they have not explored these six and a half transformative years in any depth.
Paying particular attention to his time in prison, Patrick Parr’s Malcolm Before X provides a comprehensive and groundbreaking examination of the first twenty-seven years of Malcolm X’s life (1925–1965). Parr traces Malcolm’s African lineage, explores his complicated childhood in the Midwest, and follows him as he moves east to live with his sister Ella in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, where he is convicted of burglary and sentenced.
Parr utilizes a trove of previously overlooked documents that include prison files and prison newspapers to immerse the reader into the unique cultures—at times brutal and at times instructional—of Charlestown State Prison, the Concord Reformatory, and the Norfolk Prison Colony. It was at these institutions that Malcolm devoured books, composed poetry, boxed, debated, and joined the Nation of Islam, changing the course of his life and setting the stage for a decade of antiracist activism that would fundamentally reshape American culture.
In this meticulously researched and beautifully written biography, the inspiring story of how Malcolm Little became Malcolm X is finally told.
REVIEWS:
A Spectator Best Book of the Year
Finalist for the 2025 ASALH Book Prize
Drawing upon interviews, correspondence, and nearly 2000 pages of never-before-used prison records, Malcolm Before X is the definitive examination of the prison years of civil rights icon Malcolm X.
In February 1946, when 20-year-old Malcolm Little was sentenced to eight to ten years in a maximum-security prison, he was a petty criminal and street hustler in Boston. By the time he was paroled in August 1952, he had transformed into a voracious reader, joined the Black Muslims, and was poised to become Malcolm X, one of the most prominent and important intellectuals of the civil rights era. While scholars and commentators have exhaustively detailed, analyzed, and debated Malcolm X’s post-prison life, they have not explored these six and a half transformative years in any depth.
Paying particular attention to his time in prison, Patrick Parr’s Malcolm Before X provides a comprehensive and groundbreaking examination of the first twenty-seven years of Malcolm X’s life (1925–1965). Parr traces Malcolm’s African lineage, explores his complicated childhood in the Midwest, and follows him as he moves east to live with his sister Ella in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, where he is convicted of burglary and sentenced.
Parr utilizes a trove of previously overlooked documents that include prison files and prison newspapers to immerse the reader into the unique cultures—at times brutal and at times instructional—of Charlestown State Prison, the Concord Reformatory, and the Norfolk Prison Colony. It was at these institutions that Malcolm devoured books, composed poetry, boxed, debated, and joined the Nation of Islam, changing the course of his life and setting the stage for a decade of antiracist activism that would fundamentally reshape American culture.
In this meticulously researched and beautifully written biography, the inspiring story of how Malcolm Little became Malcolm X is finally told.
REVIEWS:
"Parr has written the definitive story of the youth and early adulthood of one of the most dazzling and controversial civil rights leaders in American history."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"This first-rate biography looks at. . . one of the great conversion stories of modern history: a young man mired in crime raises himself up and, through self-discipline, becomes an explosive spokesperson for Black Americans."—Library Journal, starred review
"Ambitious, eye opening...Parr's book is a portrait of growth." - Martin Pengelly, The Guardian
"Parr's Malcolm Before X is an important addition to the literature on both black nationalism and the US criminal justice system...Thoroughly researched and crisply written, Parr's work provides the most complete examination yet of Malcolm's prison years." - Theodore Hamm, Jacobin
"Excerpts [from Malcolm X's autobiography] are supplemented with accounts from his family and friends, providing external perspectives that at times conflict with his own. The multiple accounts are managed well, adding layers and widening the scope of the narrative."—Foreword Reviews
"Patrick Parr's Malcolm Before X is a breathtaking act of intellectual reconstruction and a sublime literary achievement. Parr's book excavates the life changing, yet woefully underappreciated, six and a half years that Malcolm spent in prison, and masterfully probes the roots of his traumatic childhood and troubled young adulthood. Malcolm Before X for the first time puts us fully in touch with the contradictory yet constitutive forces that shaped one of the monumental lives of the twentieth century."—Michael Eric Dyson, author of Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X
"Malcolm Before X is strikingly original. Parr's prodigious research gives us the most richly documented book about Malcolm's early life that we will ever have. His account of how a good prison library can spark a personal transformation should resonate widely. A superb achievement."—David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross and Rising Star
"I have known Patrick Parr since 2019. The original research he shared with me was extremely helpful in writing one of my own books, The Awakening of Malcolm X. I believe Patrick's new book is an important addition to the story of my father's life."—Ilyasah Shabazz, author of Growing Up X: A Memoir by the Daughter of Malcolm X
"Patrick Parr has managed an extraordinary feat. In telling the story of Malcolm Little the child, the student, the burglar, the prisoner, he has helped us to more fully understand Malcolm X the orator, the leader, the radical thinker. Parr has unearthed remarkable documentary sources to tell the gripping and important story of the shaping of a great mind."—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life
"Patrick Parr's meticulously researched book gives us the most detailed account yet of this historic transformation—and offers lessons for today about the life-changing potential of prison libraries and educational programs."—Mark Whitaker, author of Saying It Loud: 1966-The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
"More than any other previous biography of Malcolm X that I have read, in Malcolm Before X, Patrick Parr delivers an air-tight, well documented chronology of the well-known episodes in Malcolm's early life combined with a compelling, revelatory portrait of the six and a half transformative years he spent in prison."—Abdur-Rahman Muhammad is a scholar, historian, journalist, writer, activist, and authority on the life and legacy of Malcolm X
"Patrick Parr has produced an extraordinary act of historical research and recovery. By taking Malcolm X's prison years seriously, Parr helps to restore the human being behind the legend. —Peniel Joseph, author of The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Patrick Parr is professor of English at Lakeland University Japan. He is author of The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, Politico, USA Today, and The American Prospect. To learn more about the author, visit patrickparr.com.
Toussaint Louverture: The French Revolution and the Colonial Problem
by Aimé Césaire
Polity, 2025
[Publication date: February 11, 2025]
This book is the long-overdue publication in English of Aimé Césaire’s account of Toussaint Louverture, the legendary leader of the revolution in Saint-Domingue – a slave revolt against French colonial rule that led to the founding of the independent republic of Haiti. Saint-Domingue was the first country in modern times to confront the colonial question in practice and in all its complexity. When Toussaint Louverture burst onto the historical stage, various political movements already existed for political autonomy, free trade and social equality. But the French Revolution established a compelling understanding of universal liberty: the Declaration of Human Rights opened up the possibility of claims to liberty and equality by wealthy free Black men in the colony, claims which, when they could not be realized, led to the armed uprising of enslaved Blacks. A battle for the liberation of one class in colonial society resulted in a revolution to achieve equal rights for all men. And for universal emancipation to be possible, Saint-Domingue itself had to become independent.
Toussaint Louverture put the Declaration into practice unreservedly, demonstrating that there could be no pariah race. He inherited bands of fighters and united them as an army, turning a peasant revolt into a full-scale revolution, a population into a people and a colony into an independent nation-state.
Aimé Césaire’s historical and analytical gifts are magnificently displayed in this highly original analysis of the context and actions of the famous revolutionary leader. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical and cultural theory and of Latin American history as well as anyone concerned with the nature and impact of colonialism and race.
REVIEW:
"At work here is the pedagogy of Black revolutionary confraternity in an imperial frame. Césaire, poet and politician, gives us Louverture, precursor to anti-colonial history. Toussaint, unflinching champion of universal freedom, gives us Césaire, author of the origin story of anti-colonial struggle."
–Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, and was an anticolonial theorist, activist, writer and poet.
......And the Dogs Were Silent/......Et les chiens se taisaient
by Aimé Césaire
Duke University Press, 2025
(English and French bilingual edition)
Translation by Alex Gil
Toussaint Louverture put the Declaration into practice unreservedly, demonstrating that there could be no pariah race. He inherited bands of fighters and united them as an army, turning a peasant revolt into a full-scale revolution, a population into a people and a colony into an independent nation-state.
Aimé Césaire’s historical and analytical gifts are magnificently displayed in this highly original analysis of the context and actions of the famous revolutionary leader. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical and cultural theory and of Latin American history as well as anyone concerned with the nature and impact of colonialism and race.
REVIEW:
"At work here is the pedagogy of Black revolutionary confraternity in an imperial frame. Césaire, poet and politician, gives us Louverture, precursor to anti-colonial history. Toussaint, unflinching champion of universal freedom, gives us Césaire, author of the origin story of anti-colonial struggle."
–Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, and was an anticolonial theorist, activist, writer and poet.
......And the Dogs Were Silent/......Et les chiens se taisaient
by Aimé Césaire
Duke University Press, 2025
(English and French bilingual edition)
Translation by Alex Gil
[Publication date: August 27, 2024]
Available to readers for the first time, Aimé Césaire’s three-act drama . . . . . . And the Dogs Were Silent—written during the Vichy regime in Martinique in 1943 and lost until 2008—dramatizes the Haitian Revolution and the rise and fall of Toussaint Louverture as its heroic leader. This bilingual English and French edition stands apart from Césaire’s more widely known 1946 closet drama. Following the slave revolts that sparked the revolution, Louverture arrives as both prophet and poet, general and visionary. With striking dramatic technique, Césaire retells the revolution in poignant encounters between rebels and colonial forces, guided by a prophetic chorus and Louverture’s steady ethical and political vision. In the last act, we reach the hero’s betrayal, his imprisonment, and his last stand against the lures of compromise. Césaire’s masterwork is a strikingly beautiful and brutal indictment of colonial cruelty and an unabashed celebration of Black rebellion and victory.
REVIEWS:
REVIEWS:
“A distinguished poet and playwright, essayist, and historian, Aimé Césaire is a legend in anticolonial literary and intellectual history. The story Alex Gil weaves in his elegant introduction to .....And the Dogs Were Silent—of how a dispute between surrealists André Breton and Yvan Goll almost resulted in Césaire’s earliest known theatrical representation of the Haitian Revolution never seeing the light of day—is as fascinating as it is invaluable. This bilingual edition is a precious gift to readers, offering new biographical information about one of the Caribbean’s most beloved authors alongside Gil’s brilliant translation of what turns out to be one of Césaire’s most remarkable literary feats.”―Marlene L. Daut, author of, Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution
“This vital and beautifully translated text gives us new insight into Aimé Césaire and his intellectual journey. An exciting and useful work for teaching the Haitian Revolution, it enables us to think about the power and symbolism of literary representations of Haiti in new ways.”―Laurent Dubois, coeditor of, The Haiti Reader: History, Culture, Politics
"When combined with Césaire’s leftist politics, ...... And the Dogs Were Silent is by definition a revolutionary and subversive work. . . . Simultaneously beautiful, brutal, inspirational and frightening, ......And the Dogs Were Silent is a drama to be reckoned with."―Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch
"Gil’s superb translation adds a formidable new work to Césaire’s corpus."―Musab Younis, London Review of Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR:
Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) was a Martinican poet, critic, essayist, playwright, and statesman; a founder of the Negritude movement; and one of the most influential Francophone Caribbean intellectuals of the twentieth century. He is the author of Journal of a Homecoming / Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, also published by Duke University Press.
Alex Gil is Senior Lecturer II and Associate Research Faculty of Digital Humanities in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.
Trump's Return
by Noura Erakat, Robin D.G. Kelley, David Austin Walsh, Marshall Steinbaum, and Jeanne Morefield
Boston Review, 2025
[Publication Review: March 18, 2025]
Walsh takes us inside Trump’s motley coalition of tech billionaires and “America First” nativists, examining its crackups and assessing its strength. With the right’s strategy of anti-“wokeness” now effectively spent, will these alliances hold? Steinbaum reads Bidenomics in light of the long arc of Democrats’ economic policy since the Great Recession, finding that it neglected the biggest problem: inequality. And Morefield exposes the lie at the heart of MAGA’s “invasion” narrative about the fentanyl crisis, showing how decades of bipartisan fixation on enemies abroad―and denial of the exceptional savagery of capitalism at home―have led to this moment.
Looking forward, Erakat follows the imperial boomerang from Palestine as it deepens political repression in the United States; Kelley plots a revival of class solidarity as the only path to durable and meaningful resistance; plus more on the colossal scale of money in politics, the labor vote, and the promises and perils of progressive federalism.
The issue also includes Gianpaolo Baiocchi on lessons from Lula’s extraordinary success in building a workers’ party in Brazil, Joelle M. Abi-Rached on the trauma of political violence and Syria’s future after the fall of Assad, Aaron Bady on the right’s resurgent natalism and liberal panic about falling birthrates, and Samuel Hayim Brody on the reality of settler colonialism and the mystifications of Adam Kirsch.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Robin D. G. Kelley is Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. He is the author of Hammer and Hoe, Race Rebels, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, and Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, among other titles. His writing has been featured in the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, Black Music Research Journal, African Studies Review, New York Times, The Crisis, The Nation, and Voice Literary Supplement.
Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and assistant professor at George Mason University. She has served as legal counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and as a legal advocate for Palestinian refugee rights at the United Nations. Noura's research interests include human rights and humanitarian, refugee, and national security law. She is a frequent commentator, with recent appearances on CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NPR, among others, and her writings have been widely published in the national media and academic journals.
David Austin Walsh is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism and a College Fellow at the University of Virginia. He splits his time between New Haven, CT, and Charlottesville, VA.
Marshall Steinbaum is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah and Senior Fellow in Higher Education Finance at the Jain Family Institute.
Jeanne Morefield is Associate Professor of Political Theory at Oxford and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Her latest book is Unsettling the World: Edward Said and Political Theory.
