So this actually happened on Thursday last, but because the review was behind a paywall, I was only now able to figure out how to download it using Factiva. I am so grateful to Lynne Segal for her thoughtful and generous review. I am thrilled that people understand the value of revisiting the state socialist past.
The Book of the Day in the UK's Observer!
Interview with Dahlia Balcazar
Thanks to Dahlia Balcazar of Bitch Media for such a fun conversation!
A two-page spread in the UK's Independent!
The gods of publicity have smiled upon me. But I am most grateful to Alison Davies, publicist extraordinaire at Vintage. Link to the electronic version: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/women-sex-gender-pay-gap-capitalism-sexism/
My new column in today's Washington Post
Read the new column here: “What the socialist Kama Sutra tells us about sex behind the Iron Curtain”
Amazing night at the Half King reading series
Thanks so much to Glenn Raucher for making it happen, and for his astute questions.
What the Pool is reading this week!
Literary Dinner Party
Back on April 16, 2015, the New York Times Book review did a “By the Book” segment with Freeman Dyson. In the interview, he was asked what his ideal literary dinner party would be, and he included NYU’s Joan Connelly and me in his guest list (which also included Mary Russell). Well, this weekend in Princeton, Joan and I managed to have two thirds of this party together with Professor Dyson and his wonderful wife Imme and two other renowned historians from the Institute for Advanced Study. It was a truly amazing evening.
Thank you, iBooks, for making my book one of the best of November!
The literary gods at Apple have been generous! apple.co/bestbooksofnov
Autumn Reading
So now that summer has come and gone, I still have a pile of books that I meant to read but didn’t get around to. I fear I will not get to this pile until next summer, and by then it will have grown even bigger. But yesterday I decided to dive into this little book (very short) by Louis Menand from 2010. It’s a must read for anyone considering a Ph.D. in the humanities or social sciences, and I think it helps outsiders understand the weird culture of academia.
A wonderful experience at the Brooklyn Book Festival
This was my first real public, non-academic event. I was very nervous, but it was a great experience to share the stage with such a group of amazing and inspiring writers and to be generously introduced by Brad Lander.
Thanks to Jean Bookishthoughts!
So delighted to be included in her September 2018 book haul.
UK Galley has arrived...
...and it looks great!
A lovely blurb from Yanis Varoufakis
I am thrilled that Yanis Varoufakis agreed to read and blurb my forthcoming book. I am a huge fan of his work and his activism in Diem25; it is a real honor to have him endorse Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.
New Book Cover
Just received the design for my next academic book, Second World, Second Sex: Socialist Women's Activism and Global Solidarity during the Cold War, coming out with Duke University Press in February 2019. I specifically asked that it not be red, and I love what they did with the cover.
Summer Reading: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy.
Because I was traveling, I actually read this book on my e-reader. This is a great introductory primer for young people that Varoufakis originally wrote in Greek to his own child, Xenia. He has a lively voice and it is a very fast read, with lots of pop culture references. I think the most useful discussion is his exploration of the difference between exchange value and experiential value, and his call for radical democratization of the economy.
Advanced galleys are here!
These arrived in the post yesterday. These are the bound galleys that will go out for long-lead media and potential blurbers. After months of slaving away on this, it's so satisfying to see my words manifest in print.
Summer Reading: The Cold War: A World History
A sweeping history of the Cold War, but Westad doesn't have much to say about women. So far, I've found only one relevant paragraph which segues immediately into a discussion of militarism.
Reading Peter Singer on A Darwinian Left
I'm rereading Peter Singer's A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation. It's an old book (2000), but I find it a provocative little essay to help rethink the Marxist view of human nature. Can we evolve to be more cooperative? Are Darwinism and Marxism compatible? This is a wonderful little book for discussion groups.
Mother's Day reading
Just in time for Mother's Day, a first edition of George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Women's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism from 1928. Written for his sister-in-law, and including some marginalia from the original owner of the book. This one gets a prominent place on my bookshelf.