Spring Reading: Our Country Friends
It’s just not the same without Daisy and this is the first novel I have read in 2022. Not my favorite, but a good snapshot of the early pandemic.
And another blurb for Red Valkyries from Vijay Prashad! →
“A beautiful book about the intimate lives and bold ideas of a range of Communist women, people who built their revolutionary dreams into reality. Ghodsee lifts up the immense contradiction between the future-oriented social hopes of these revolutionaries, these exiles from the future, and the grip of the social conventions of the present.”
Wisdom
Nice to see my very first editor profiled in The New Yorker →
Ken acquired and edited The Red Riviera when I was still a junior assistant professor, and I’ve done five of my books with Duke University Press.
Khadija Mbowe reviews Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism →
My daughter just sent me a link to a very popular Youtuber, Khadija Mbowe, who posted a review of my book on her YouTube channel yesterday. I was so thrilled to see her linking the book to Cardi B lyrics. Now that’s a brilliant way to do contemporary sociology!
And one more blurb from Grace Blakeley
“Red Valkyries is a fascinating alternative history of the feminist movement, told from the perspective of the east rather than the west. The women Ghodsee profiles are committed socialists who realise that women’s liberation is incompatible with capitalism, and who also frequently struggle against the centralisation of power within their own countries. Required reading for anyone seeking out an alternative to #girlboss feminism.”
More blurbs from Slavoj Zizek and Sheila Rowbotham!
“In our historical moment, quotas of women in power positions and correct manners or expressions are obfuscating the long historical link between feminism and radical politics. Ghodsee’s Red Valkyries is exactly the book needed to correct this misperception and help feminism to rejoin its radical past. The five figures analysed were fighters who pursued the feminist cause through their full engagement in revolutionary political struggle. Can we still imagine this, in our era obsessed with victimization?”
“Written with clarity and zest, Red Valkyries is an illuminating introduction to the extraordinary lives of prominent socialist women in the Soviet Union and Bulgaria.”
The first blurb for Red Valkyries is in! →
I am so grateful to Jodi Dean for her kind and wonderful words!
“We’ve needed this book longer than we know: celebrating and learning from revolutionary socialist women, Red Valkyries gifts us with models essential to today’s struggles. Kristen Ghodsee breaks down the wall liberal feminism built in women’s history, bringing to life a vision of emancipation that continues to be worth fighting for.”
Longwood as the world burns
The anxiety provoked by the escalating war in Ukraine has got me trying to find some way to focus on the present. It was a beautiful early spring day on Wednesday, so a trip to the Longwood Gardens before I head back to Eastern Europe seemed just right. I needed to find some simplicity and peace among flowers.
My interview for Lithuanian Radio and Television →
This interview was conducted well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is why I do not speak about it at all. Oh, how the world has changed in the last few weeks!
International Women's Day
But not a very happy one.
What has socialism ever done for women is now in Spanish! →
So thrilled to see a Spanish translation of this 2018 article that I wrote with my former student, Julia Mead.
How we can help Ukraine
Humanitarian Relief Organizations
International Rescue Committee: Providing support to displaced Ukrainian families in Poland
https://help.rescue.org/donate/ukraine-acq?ms=gs_p...
CARE: Providing food, water, and other necessities to Ukrainians fleeing violence
https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=31067&mfc...
Red Cross: Providing urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine
https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine-b
Doctors Without Borders: Providing urgent medical and humanitarian needs in Ukraine
https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/do...
World Central Kitchen: Feeding displaced Ukrainian families at the Polish border
https://donate.wck.org/give/236738/#!/donation/che...
Voices of Children: Aiding children and families in Ukraine, including providing assistance with evacuations
This is just a sample of the many organizations involved in the response. Another fairly extensive list can be found here: https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-emerg...
An Albanian translation!
So excited to learn that Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism will now have an Albanian translation. That’s the 15th foreign edition, and the 14th translation!
How capitalism is destroying your friendships →
It was lovely to speak with the journalist Daisy Schofield for this fascinating piece.
A very happy day
Two videos from recent events
Here are two videos from a talk I gave with Mitchell Orenstein for the Universität zu Köln back in December and last week’s bookstore event with Lea Ypi.
New review of Taking Stock of Shock in Czech →
This Sunday at 15:00 EST - Lea Ypi
P&P Live! Lea Ypi — Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History - in conversation with Kristen Ghodsee
Upcoming Event - Sunday, January 23, 2022 - 3:00pm
CLICK HERE to register for this Virtual event!
A reflection on "freedom" in a dramatic, beautifully written memoir of the end of Communism in the Balkans.
Lea Ypi is professor of political theory at London School of Economics, and adjunct associate professor of philosophy at the Australian National University, with expertise in Marxism and critical theory. She lives and works in London.
Ypi will be joined in conversation with Kristen R. Ghodsee, an award-winning author and professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism and the host of A.K. 47, an episodic podcast on the life and works of the Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai.