Such a beautifully-written and thoughtful book.
2023 Reading Challenge: Left is Not Woke
This is an advanced galley of a book that is coming out in March. It’s a slim little volume, but it packs a powerful punch. Here’s the full blurb I wrote for it:
“Susan Neiman’s provocative book is an impassioned and accessible defense against the corrosive particularisms that have eroded solidarity and cooperation on the left. To face the many challenges of the 21st century, she argues that we must reclaim those strategic universalisms that historically helped to forge diverse coalitions of activists in shared struggles for social progress. To build a more just, equitable, and sustainable world, we need to acknowledge the victories of our past, recognize the contingent malleability of our present, and embrace a radical politics of hope for our future.”
2023 Reading Challenge: Red Star
I wasn’t sure if I was going to include books that I am reading for my class this semester or books that I am rereading, but I so much enjoyed revisiting Bogdanov’s Red Star that I am going to count it toward my reading goals anyway. This amazing novella was written in 1908 and offers a fascinating perspective on what socialism might have looked like in the 20th century had Bolsheviks like Bogdanov prevailed. I particularly love the discussion of Martian love and marriage included in this text since Bogdanov and Alexandra Kollontai were comrades and friends.
The full jacket proof
Still a few corrections to be made, but this is what it will look like. I’m so excited for this design and for the sun on the spine.
Edward Hopper's New York at the Whitney →
A wonderful exhibition at the Whitney in Manhattan.
preorder sale at Barnes & Noble – January 25-27, 2023 →
Three days only in the USA! Pre-order Everyday Utopia at Barnes & Noble and save 25%: use code PREORDER25
Some ink in 34th Street
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I shared a lovely conversation with Norah Rami for this piece.
Should societies pay stay at home parents (or abolish them altogether)? →
A provocative article from Juliana Kaplan at Business Insider
Matisse in the 1930s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
A wonderful exhibition that I’ve been meaning to see since it opened. I’m glad I finally managed to experience it today.
Draft image of the UK cover
It’s always so fun to see what the designers come up with for my new books. This is a mock up of the cover for the UK version of Everyday Utopia, which is being published this spring by Bodley Head.
Red Valkyries hardback for ten bucks! →
Verso is having a 60% off sale until the end of January, and you can score a copy of Red Valkyries for $9.98. That’s actually cheaper than my author discount!
Halfway through!
2023 Reading Challenge: Four Thousand Weeks: Times Management for Mortals
Absolutely loved this book, and basically read it cover to cover in less than a day. Lots of food for thought and great advice on the value of not being productive and the “right to be lazy.” I have a complex relationship to time and am what the author calls a “productivity geek,” but since becoming the chair of my department, I have come to realize that there will always be more tasks than I can ever actually accomplish. What’s worse, the more efficient I get at doing tasks, the more people give me new tasks to complete. Burkeman advises “strategic underachievement.” I have lots of great quotes underlined, but I am not going to type them up because Burkeman has convinced me to take the rest of the evening off.
Fake wine for dry January
This is my fifth or sixth dry January, but it is the first time that I decided to try non-alcoholic wine because I really felt like having a glass of pink stuff this evening. Needless to say, it was crap. Basically, it tasted like overpriced grape juice. Not a fan.
Blurbs for Everyday Utopia: Thomas Piketty, Rebecca Traister, Ada Calhoun, Robert Waldinger, and Yanis Varoufakis
“My god, this book is what I need right now! Exhilarating, good humored, and forward looking, it’s blown open my brain. What a powerful reminder that dreaming of better worlds is not just some fantastical project, but also a very serious political one.”
—REBECCA TRAISTER, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad
“More could be possible than we imagine—that’s the liberating and inspirational message of Kristen Ghodsee’s sweeping feminist history of society at its most creative. What a gift she’s given us with this mind-broadening investigation into how for millennia our fellow human beings have reckoned with the toughest questions of fidelity, family, and love.”
—ADA CALHOUN, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Can't Sleep
“Kristen Ghodsee has boldly gone where few would dare to tread. In this warm, intelligent, and lucid book, she takes us on a deep dive into how people have created better systems for living—systems that actually work. With clear-eyed views of how utopian communities can promote human thriving, she offers hope in a time when we desperately need new ways of imagining the future.”
—ROBERT WALDINGER, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and author of The Good Life
“Utopia is back! And it ought to be taken seriously, as history is made by the dreamers. If you want to open up new futures for our private lives, please have a look at this refreshing book. A must-read.”
—THOMAS PIKETTY, New York Times bestselling author of A Brief History of Equality
“Invigorating writing for a cheerless era. Having explained to us Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, Kristen Ghodsee is back with another splendid insight: utopia can, and ought to, be an everyday thing, in every home.”
—YANIS VAROUFAKIS, former Greek Minister of Finance and author of Talking to My Daughter About the Economy
Everyday Utopia!
In loving memory of Horace Henriques
I received the very sad news yesterday that one of my dear professors and mentors, Dr. Horace Henriques, passed away. I have so many fond memories of him from the many meetings of the Caribbean Studies Association that I attended throughout the late 1990s and the aughts. Originally from Guyana, he taught for many years at the University of Toronto and was one of the most thoughtful people I know. Horace threw me a softball question when I gave my very first academic paper presentation in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1997. He will be dearly missed.
2023 reading challenge
I’m not usually a big fan of new year’s resolutions, but this year I have one that I am really going to stick to. I’ve decided that I need my brain to focus on one thing for long periods of time, and so I am committing to reading 25 fiction and 25 non-fiction books in 2023. That’s about a book a week and I am very excited to delve into the ever growing pile on my nightstand. This week I finished Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts, a dystopian vision of a possible near-future USA. This book was chosen for one of the two book clubs I’ve joined to help keep me on track with my reading.
The Adirondacks
A winter wonderland in upstate New York. A perfect day for a hike near Upper Saranac Lake.
