Take a photo of a barcode or cover
tdwightdavis 's review for:
Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072
by Eman Abdelhadi, M.E. O'Brien
One of the worst books I’ve read in awhile. Clearly a fiction book written by academics (derogatory).
Look. I spent a lot of time in the academy. The academy does not do a good job of instilling a sense of realism is those within it. There’s a trend of utopian idealism that infects everyone, and that can be invigorating and inspiring and it can also mean that you’re wildly out of touch with what life actually looks like for working class people in the real world.
Ostensibly an oral history of the collapse of capitalism and America (and every government in the world simultaneously I guess) and the emergence of hyper local communes that serve as the new communist government in the world. I say ostensibly because every interview in this book sounds the exact same. No characters feel real, they all feel like mouthpieces for the two writers to espouse their idea of what a utopian communist world looks like. And what the world looks like is the most Online Leftist (derogatory) world imaginable. Everyone is queer, monogamy is frowned upon, drugs are great, everyone goes to raves, children choose their own parents, teens leave home whenever they want to, families are abolished, etc etc. It’s one of the most cringe, out of touch takes on the future possible. And it’s utterly monolithic. The One Perfect Idea of Communism has won in the entire world and the only squabbles are about minor issues. It’s truly an exhausting read. A read that reinforces the worst stereotypes of people on the left.
Of course the authors did a self-insert fanfic in the intro. One was in a concentration camp for being trans and liberated the camp and then also Mississippi and one liberated Palestine and then the college they *currently teach at* which is buck wild.
Of course the authors included their twitter usernames in their bios.
I really, really hate this book. I hate when fundamentalism creeps its way into leftism. I hate the way the academy creates people so drastically out of touch with reality (the fact that utopia includes academic conferences made me laugh out loud). I hate the way it talks down about anyone who doesn’t fit this monolithic political ideology that parades as inclusive (so long as you fit their narrow definition of orthodoxy).
Part of my problem with leftism, especially online leftism, is the inability to do any coalition building even within the political left. Ideological purity is going to be the death of us all. This book’s inability to posit a world that has multiple political ideologies having to find a way to work together makes it completely useless to me. There is no monolithic future. In fact, we shouldn’t even desire a monolithic future.
Could have been so good. Such a cool idea. Needed better authors.
Look. I spent a lot of time in the academy. The academy does not do a good job of instilling a sense of realism is those within it. There’s a trend of utopian idealism that infects everyone, and that can be invigorating and inspiring and it can also mean that you’re wildly out of touch with what life actually looks like for working class people in the real world.
Ostensibly an oral history of the collapse of capitalism and America (and every government in the world simultaneously I guess) and the emergence of hyper local communes that serve as the new communist government in the world. I say ostensibly because every interview in this book sounds the exact same. No characters feel real, they all feel like mouthpieces for the two writers to espouse their idea of what a utopian communist world looks like. And what the world looks like is the most Online Leftist (derogatory) world imaginable. Everyone is queer, monogamy is frowned upon, drugs are great, everyone goes to raves, children choose their own parents, teens leave home whenever they want to, families are abolished, etc etc. It’s one of the most cringe, out of touch takes on the future possible. And it’s utterly monolithic. The One Perfect Idea of Communism has won in the entire world and the only squabbles are about minor issues. It’s truly an exhausting read. A read that reinforces the worst stereotypes of people on the left.
Of course the authors did a self-insert fanfic in the intro. One was in a concentration camp for being trans and liberated the camp and then also Mississippi and one liberated Palestine and then the college they *currently teach at* which is buck wild.
Of course the authors included their twitter usernames in their bios.
I really, really hate this book. I hate when fundamentalism creeps its way into leftism. I hate the way the academy creates people so drastically out of touch with reality (the fact that utopia includes academic conferences made me laugh out loud). I hate the way it talks down about anyone who doesn’t fit this monolithic political ideology that parades as inclusive (so long as you fit their narrow definition of orthodoxy).
Part of my problem with leftism, especially online leftism, is the inability to do any coalition building even within the political left. Ideological purity is going to be the death of us all. This book’s inability to posit a world that has multiple political ideologies having to find a way to work together makes it completely useless to me. There is no monolithic future. In fact, we shouldn’t even desire a monolithic future.
Could have been so good. Such a cool idea. Needed better authors.