Bhaskar first called me to pitch the idea for The Blueprint: ow Socialism Can Work in the Real World in February 2020. Shortly after, we got the people’s econ prof Mike Beggs to sign on as the third co-author. We spent the early months of the pandemic basically doing a Zoom reading group on existing books on feasible socialism, and we signed a contract with Verso to write ours on May Day 2020. There was a very long, very slow road from there to having a complete draft, and I know some of you have heard me talking about this book for six years—on podcasts, in Jacobin articles (“I’m co-writing a book about how all this could work…”), and etc. So, it’s hard to overstate how exciting it is that the thing is going to be out in the world two weeks from today.
You can pre-order it from all the usual pre-order places (Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, etc. etc.) or here’s a link if you want to use the worker-owned bookseller Red Emmas. And we’re having the official book launch in Los Angeles (at the “In the Meantime” event space at 512 N. Hoover St. in Silver Lake) at 7 PM on publication day (September 29th). Tickets are free but do sign up if you want to come so we can keep track of attendance. Bhaskar has a newborn at home so he’s excused from non-NYC events for the time being, but Mike will actually be flying in from Australia to join me for LA and the next several book events after that, and all three of us will in the one in NYC on October 1st.
If you’ve been nice enough to subscribe to my Substack, the last thing I want to do is to spam everyone inboxes with endless posters for events that most of you won’t live anywhere near. But I’d also hate to think someone missed one who might have come if I’d mentioned it here. So, as a compromise my plan is of now is to do a little post like this with the poster and sing-up link for each event two weeks in advance.
For the record, what’s planned so far is:
September 29th:
Los Angeles - In the Meantime - 7 PM
October 1st:
New York City - The Woodbine - 7 PM
October 2nd:
Baltimore - Red Emmas - 7 PM
October 3rd:
Washintgon, D.C. - TBD (We’ve been told to hold the date)
October 5th:
Amherst, MA - Amherst Books - 7 PM
October 9th:
Buffalo, NY - Burning Books - 7 PM
October 11th:
Atlanta, GA - A Cappella Books - 4 PM
November 5th:
London, UK - Housmans Bookshop - 7 PM
Mike will have to fly back after the Amherst event (or actually after a presentation we’re doing for the UMass-Amherst Econ department the next day), so I’ll be more or less solo for the last three listed here, although we should have local interlocutors on stage for Atlanta (Matt McManus) and London (Oliver Eagleton and Amelia Horgan). There’s also a decent chance of something at St. Johns College in Annapolis around the same time as the other Maryland events, and at least some chance of doing something with Nathan Robinson in New Orleans the weekend after the Atlanta one (last I heard, we were waiting back to hear about the availability of the venue). I think there’s something with Oakland DSA in November, although I don’t have enough details to share anything there just yet. And there are tentative plans for something with David Griscom in Austin sometime this spring. And I’m very happy to do more. I’d especially love to do more college stuff—talks at Philosophy Departments or Political Science Departments, events with YDSA chapters, etc. Hit me up!
The preview event in Kalamazoo was a blast. I cannot tell you guys how much I’m looking forward to the rest of these.
Thanks for reading Philosophy for the People w/Ben Burgis! This post is public so feel free to share it.
From Philosophy for the People w/Ben Burgis via This RSS Feed.