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A review by ajmcwhinney
Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
4.0
An excellent set of 4 allegorical short stories tackling the political/cultural zeitgeist of our time, whether it be struggles against police brutality, big tech and capitalism, doomsdayism, or online radicalization.
Some have complained that the characters in these books are not fleshed out enough to tackle the issues that Doctorow does, but I strongly disagree. In fact, I think the allegorical nature of the stories helps us stand back a little bit from getting TOO bogged down in analysis that may end up paralyzing us into inaction. This is a great set of stories that serve as entry points into these issues and, to their credit, are very in-tune with a lot of the contemporary discourse surrounding these issues (internet culture and the twittersphere, and so on).
Will these stories teach you about the systemic workings of late capitalism, white supremacy, and surveillance ideology? Not really. But they will get you looking perhaps more deeply into your own awareness of these systems and how they relate to our moment.
Is there's anything this book is right about, it's the tagline "dystopia is now."
Some have complained that the characters in these books are not fleshed out enough to tackle the issues that Doctorow does, but I strongly disagree. In fact, I think the allegorical nature of the stories helps us stand back a little bit from getting TOO bogged down in analysis that may end up paralyzing us into inaction. This is a great set of stories that serve as entry points into these issues and, to their credit, are very in-tune with a lot of the contemporary discourse surrounding these issues (internet culture and the twittersphere, and so on).
Will these stories teach you about the systemic workings of late capitalism, white supremacy, and surveillance ideology? Not really. But they will get you looking perhaps more deeply into your own awareness of these systems and how they relate to our moment.
Is there's anything this book is right about, it's the tagline "dystopia is now."