{"title":"Books by Domenico Losurdo","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781685900632","title":"Western Marxism","description":"\u003cp\u003eA stinging critique of Western Marxism, counterposing its complicity with imperialist logic against a resurgent anti-imperialism  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWestern Marxism: How It Was Born, How It Died, How It Can Be Reborn\u003c\/i\u003e is a paradigm-shifting book that provides a trenchant critique of the Western left intelligentsia. It reveals how its dominant ideological orientation—characterized by defeatism, utopianism, and anti-communism—is rooted in the political economy of imperialism. Internationally acclaimed theorist Domenico Losurdo thus provides a fresh and challenging perspective on purportedly radical thinkers who have been widely promoted in the imperial core, including those affiliated with the Frankfurt School, French Theory, and \u003ci\u003eoperaismo\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as Hannah Arendt, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, and Slavoj Žižek, among others. His critique also has wide-reaching implications for trend-setting discourses inspired by this coterie of intellectuals, from postcolonial and decolonial theory to subaltern studies and beyond. Far from being a negative undertaking, however, this book is grounded in the positive project of reigniting anti-imperialist Marxism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a complement to the Italian edition of \u003ci\u003eWestern Marxism\u003c\/i\u003e, this first-ever English translation also features the unprecedented publication of a major lecture that demystifies “Western Marxism” and its role in imperialists’ efforts to denigrate the achievements of actually existing socialism. Raising the stakes of what it means to produce critical theory, \u003ci\u003eWestern Marxism \u003c\/i\u003ewill surely provoke wide debate and a reevaluation of hallowed canons.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685914681717,"sku":"9781685900625","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56302597177717,"sku":"9781685900632","price":75.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781685900625_193c3f7b-a98e-4dcd-b6bf-81c6c001af15.jpg?v=1792599152"},{"product_id":"9781781681664","title":"Liberalism","description":"\u003cb\u003eOne of Europe’s leading intellectual historians deconstructs the dark side of liberalism, sifting through 3 centuries of liberal writings by John Locke, Alexis de Tocqueville, and others. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In this definitive historical investigation, Italian author and philosopher Domenico Losurdo argues that from the outset liberalism, as a philosophical position and ideology, has been bound up with the most illiberal of policies: slavery, colonialism, genocide, racism and snobbery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Narrating an intellectual history running from the 18th through to the 20th centuries, Losurdo examines the thought of preeminent liberal writers such as Locke, Burke, Tocqueville, Constant, Bentham, and Sieyès, revealing the inner contradictions of an intellectual position that has exercised a formative influence on today’s politics. Among the dominant strains of liberalism, he discerns the counter-currents of more radical positions, lost in the constitution of the modern world order.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303364473205,"sku":"9781781681664","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781781681664_8a116ae0-45da-4888-89f6-4dd4035a0f6b.jpg?v=1786025605"},{"product_id":"9781784787318","title":"Democracy or Bonapartism","description":"\u003cb\u003eHOW AN IRON FIST DONNED DEMOCRACY’S VELVET GLOVE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe history of universal suffrage is best understood as a conflict between liberal elites and democractic workers’ movements, according to Domenico Losurdo. John Stuart Mill, for example, argued that electoral influence should be more pronounced among the educated – and wealthy – than among those working with their hands. Every vote ought not to be counted the same. Countries with deep liberal roots have historically been quick to restrain the spread of the franchise, persisting in discrimination based on property, race, and gender. In this context, the rise of popular presidents and premiers, vested with extraordinary powers, has served to stimy attempts to associate politically and mobilize for meaningful change.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is modern Bonapartism, a soft authoritarianism in which popularity, stirred up by a news media dominated by the interests of the rich, replaces true democratic expression. As alternatives to this system drift toward the horizon, Bonapartism is set to become the dominant political regime of our era. Understanding the history of its development and the contradictory forces behind it may permit us to move towards true democracy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eLIBERALISM: A COUNTER-HISTORY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Losurdo is almost unbelievably well-read’\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eJACOBIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A brilliant exercise in unmasking liberal pretensions, surveying over three centuries with magisterial command of the sources’\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eFINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Stimulatingly uncovers the contradictions of an ideology that is much too self-righteously invoked’\u003cbr\u003e- PANKAJ MISHRA, \u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A book of wide reference and real erudition’\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘The book is a historically grounded, very accessible critique of liberalism, complementing a growing literature critical of liberalism’\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eWAR AND REVOLUTION: RETHINKING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eWar and Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e is a relentless document. It is dense and disconcerting. This is precisely why it should be considered one of the most important history books written since 9\/11’\u003cbr\u003e- RON JACOBS, \u003ci\u003eCOUNTERPUNCH\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305273438581,"sku":"9781784787318","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784787318_6d3726fa-d5c9-45ad-a4a4-e48e5d5c427d.jpg?v=1786026073"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-domenico-losurdo.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}