New Books in Intellectual History

Michael Willrich, "American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century" (Basic Books, 2023)


Listen Later

In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, anarchists were heroes to many working-class immigrants. But to many others, anarchism was a terrifyingly foreign ideology. Determined to crush it, government officials launched a decades-long “war on anarchy,” a brutal program of spying, censorship, and deportation that set the foundations of the modern surveillance state. The lawyers who came to the anarchists’ defense advanced groundbreaking arguments for free speech and due process, inspiring the emergence of the civil liberties movement.

Michael Willrich's book American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (Basic Books, 2023) tells the gripping tale of the anarchists, their allies, and their enemies, showing how their battles over freedom and power still shape our public life.

Geraldine Gudefin is a French-born modern Jewish historian researching Jewish family life, legal pluralism, and the migration experiences of Jews in France and the United States. She is currently a research fellow at the Hebrew University’s Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Intellectual HistoryBy New Books Network

  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9

3.9

59 ratings


More shows like New Books in Intellectual History

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,425 Listeners

Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature) by Robert Harrison

Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature)

494 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

288 Listeners

Philosophy Bites by Edmonds and Warburton

Philosophy Bites

1,535 Listeners

New Books in History by Marshall Poe

New Books in History

204 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,080 Listeners

New Books in Psychoanalysis by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychoanalysis

189 Listeners

New Books in Military History by Marshall Poe

New Books in Military History

163 Listeners

New Books in Economics by Marshall Poe

New Books in Economics

28 Listeners

New Books in African American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in African American Studies

161 Listeners

New Books in Political Science by New Books Network

New Books in Political Science

62 Listeners

New Books in Sociology by New Books Network

New Books in Sociology

46 Listeners

New Books in Literary Studies by New Books Network

New Books in Literary Studies

22 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

286 Listeners

New Books in Critical Theory by Marshall Poe

New Books in Critical Theory

142 Listeners

New Books in American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in American Studies

29 Listeners

Philosophy For Our Times by IAI

Philosophy For Our Times

304 Listeners

Why Theory by Why Theory

Why Theory

557 Listeners

Theory & Philosophy by David Guignion

Theory & Philosophy

340 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

175 Listeners

What's Left of Philosophy by Lillian Cicerchia, Owen Glyn-Williams, Gil Morejón, and William Paris

What's Left of Philosophy

252 Listeners

Close Readings by London Review of Books

Close Readings

54 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

297 Listeners