Orpheus Builds A Girl

Denouncing racism and celebrating diversity have become central mainstays of progressive politics: for many on the left, social justice consists of equitable distribution of wealth, power, and esteem among racial groups. But as Adolph Reed, Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels argue in this groundbreaking collection of essays, the emphasis seems to be tragically misplaced. Not only does a fixation with racial disparities distract from the pervasive influence of class—it actually legitimises economic inequality. “Adolph Reed, Jr. is the towering radical theorist of American democracy of his generation.” —Cornel West “Walter Benn Michaels is cunning, brilliant, acutely suggestive, exhilarating to read.” —Eric Lott “Wokelords and anti-racist liberals will be frustrated, enraged, and defeated. This book pushes us closer towards the uncompromising, bare-knuckled anti-capitalist movement we so desperately need.” —Cedric Johnson “An exhilarating journey that swaps the orthodoxies of contemporary progressive culture for a class politics rooted in universalism.” —James Bloodworth “Adolph Reed, Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels have been among the clearest voices critiquing the dominant race reductionism in American intellectual life and proposing a real egalitarian alternative.” —Bhaskar Sunkara “Anyone interested in the politics of race and class must push aside the dogma of identity and grapple with what Reed, Jr. and Michaels have been arguing for decades.–Jodi Dean “These essays tell the story of the last seven decades, charting the decline of the left and American politics. The result is as rich as it is rare: a long view that is pressing and immediate.” —Corey Robin “Reed, Jr. and Michaels take a hammer to common ways of thinking about race, class, inequality and identity, revealing ugly truths, and challenging us out of our comfort zones.” —Kenan Malik