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c_daddy_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Starts off strong, with an interesting recounting of the French 1968 and the GPCR in China.
I read this book as Slavoj Zizek has cited Badiou's Communist Hypothesis around the 4 elements of the communist Idea (terror, redistribution, trust in the people, etc.)
As the book went on Badiou got further and further into philosophy navel gazing about the Idea and Subject and Logic sequences. As someone who doesn't already have an education in logic, it wasn't impossible to follow but got annoying and felt almost pointless.
I read this book as Slavoj Zizek has cited Badiou's Communist Hypothesis around the 4 elements of the communist Idea (terror, redistribution, trust in the people, etc.)
As the book went on Badiou got further and further into philosophy navel gazing about the Idea and Subject and Logic sequences. As someone who doesn't already have an education in logic, it wasn't impossible to follow but got annoying and felt almost pointless.
xrevacholiere's review
3.0
The highly personal 3/5 rating is attributed to the fact that it's not particularly friendly to the so-called common reader (commentary on the Cultural Revolution/ China I found to be the most impenetrable).
In other words, a reasonably basic (interpret that as you will) historic knowledge is preferred if you don't wish to flounder through paragraph after paragraph on events such as the Wahun incident et al.
I haven't done even the most cursory readings on the Maoist years, so I was pretty much in the dark the entire time.
I would've also loved to have read beforehand Donny Gluckstein's book on the Paris Commune as well, although Badiou's analysis on the Commune was not as abstruse; and the same goes for May '68.
Reverting to what I said earlier: I'm fairly convinced you'll get much more enjoyment, or at least, a more intellectually rewarding experience after preliminary readings of May '68, China's Cultural Revolution, and The Paris Commune + assuming you've also, at the very least, an idea about communism: otherwise, what are you doing reading Badiou's political texts?
In other words, a reasonably basic (interpret that as you will) historic knowledge is preferred if you don't wish to flounder through paragraph after paragraph on events such as the Wahun incident et al.
I haven't done even the most cursory readings on the Maoist years, so I was pretty much in the dark the entire time.
I would've also loved to have read beforehand Donny Gluckstein's book on the Paris Commune as well, although Badiou's analysis on the Commune was not as abstruse; and the same goes for May '68.
Reverting to what I said earlier: I'm fairly convinced you'll get much more enjoyment, or at least, a more intellectually rewarding experience after preliminary readings of May '68, China's Cultural Revolution, and The Paris Commune + assuming you've also, at the very least, an idea about communism: otherwise, what are you doing reading Badiou's political texts?
joshcurtis's review
3.0
The best thing about this is that it gave birth to the Idea of Communism conferences hosted by Žižek.
andreaschari's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
beepbeepbooks's review
3.0
The history of 3 revolutions from the lens of Badiou. He takes each chapter to extrapolate what we can still learn from May '68, the Cultural Revolution, and the French Revolution. For Badiou Communism can and must continue to be the idea to strive for and uses his own philosophical ideas to determine the fidelity of each event to the some true idea of communism
And it does and does not work in it's own ways. Reading this against Crowds and Party, Badiou's arguments against "reformism" or even participating in party politics seem to waver as Ocasio-Cortez and others continue to change the landscape of the Democratic party, and if Jodi Dean is correct, the party can become much more than some top down organization. History shows this too.
And it does and does not work in it's own ways. Reading this against Crowds and Party, Badiou's arguments against "reformism" or even participating in party politics seem to waver as Ocasio-Cortez and others continue to change the landscape of the Democratic party, and if Jodi Dean is correct, the party can become much more than some top down organization. History shows this too.
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