Zero Books: Advancing Conversations

Derick Varn interviews Zero Books author Ed Simon about his book America and Other Fictions, secularization theory, and religious life in a modern world.

Here's the back of the Jacket copy for Ed Simon's book:

At a moment of cultural and political crisis, with forces of reaction seemingly ascendant throughout the West, it's fair to ask what use does anyone have for America, God, or any other similar fictions? What use does theological language have for the radical facing the apocalypse? Among the subjects considered: the need for an Augustinian left, legacies of American violence, speaking in tongues, the humanities facing climate change, the maturity of realizing that you will die, how to sail towards Utopia, and witches.

Welcome to a special edition of the Zero Books podcast. Ashley Frawley is a member of the Zero Books team and this week she is the host of the Zero Books podcast. Frawley, being interested in Marxist crisis theory, interviewed professor Rick Kuhn who has spent over twenty years studying the Marxist economist Henryk Grossman and in this episode, Frawley and Kuhn discuss the declining rate of profit, countervailing tendencies, the Frankfurt school, and the cultural turn.

This week’s podcast is available in full. Our patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. I hope you enjoy them.

Friend of the podcast Mark Rainey joins Derick Varn to discuss Capital Volumes 2 and 3, and the obscure academic battles that are often ignored on the left. Why are socialists so allergic to Marx's critique of political economy? Why is it so uncommon to read Marx's actual writings?

Is there a way to bring theory and activism together in praxis?

Derick Varn is a reader at Zero Books, the host of Symptomatic Redness, and my nemesis. In this episode you’ll hear the second half of our debate the question of Free Speech as it relates to our mutual ill-defined Marxist socialism.

This is part two of a two-part conversation and is available in full for our Patreon supporters. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening for free you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. I hope you enjoy them.

In this episode of Symptomatic Redness Parkinson covers the question of Republicanism and Communist Republicanism. Derick and Donald discuss the history of the internationals and the SPD, anti-imperialism, and the question of the Great War.

Also covered: Marx on India and Ireland, immigration, and dialectics.

This is a teaser. The full episode is available to our Patreon supporters.

Derick Varn is a reader at Zero Books, the host of Symptomatic Redness, and my nemesis. In this episode of Zero Squared Derick and I debate the question of Free Speech as it relates to our mutual ill-defined Marxist socialism.

This is part one of a two-part conversation and is available for free. The second half will be available to our Patreon supporters next week. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening for free you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts each week. I hope you enjoy them.

C Derick Varn and JG Michaels investigate the difference between left and right-wing conspiracy theories. Covering everything from anti-vaccination conspiracies, communist fluoride, 9/11 Truth, Peak

Oil, and the social sorting that occurred in the aughts.

This episode is available in full on our Patreon feed.

Amanda Wasielewski is an artist and Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She is also the author of Made In Brooklyn, a book that was published by Zero Books in June of last year, and she’s the guest on this week’s podcast

This week’s podcast is free to everyone and this weekend’s Symptomatic Redness will be available to our Patreon supporters. Patreon subscribers get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared. If you’re listening for free you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcast each week. I hope you enjoy them.

C Derick Varn continutes his interview with the hosts of the "Regrettable Century" Podcast. The Regrettable Century podcast subscribes to what's called "revolutionary pessimism." The hosts describe themselves as both humanist and pessimist and the invite similarly hard headed people to listen.

"A clean, honest, and unsentimental melancholy is required; we've cultivated one and would like to share it with you."

Martin Frederiksen is the author of the book “An Anthropology of Nothing in Particular” which came out from Zero Books in August last year and he’s the guest this week as we discuss the group of nihilists he studied and their commitment to...well...nothing.

If you’re listening to this podcast through our Patreon feed you’ll hear about an hour conversation between Martin and me. You’ll hear me try to pin him down about just what these nihilists and their commitment to nothing means, and his continued insistence that they don’t have a meaning at all. If you’re listening through our regular feed on podomatic or blubrry you’ll hear a ten minute excerpt. Next week’s podcast will be available for free to everyone. Patreon subscribers get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared. If you’re listening for free you’ll be able to access one or the other podcast each week. I hope you enjoy it.