Please join Walter Benn Michaels and Adolph Reed, Jr. in conversation at 7 PM on Thursday September 28th as they discuss their new book No Politics but Class Politics with the distinguished historian Barbara J. Fields. Sponsored by the Institute of Radical Imagination in collaboration with ERIS, the event will be held at the People’s Forum on 320 West 37th Street.

No Politics but Class Politics collects several major essays by two of the most incisive analysts of the politics of race and class currently at work in the United States. Michaels and Reed’s writings demonstrate with unrivalled clarity the central role played in American life by economic inequality.

The subjects of the essays range from the political economy of higher education to the depiction of slavery in contemporary cinema. At the core of the book is a simple but powerful claim: that the liberal fixation with racial disparities, and associated efforts to distribute wealth and power more evenly among racial groups, ultimately serve to keep the fundamental injustices of capitalism intact. Michaels and Reed make the case instead for a genuinely radical politics: a politics that aspires not to the establishment of a demographically representative social elite, but instead to economic justice for everyone.

Michaels and Reed will be discussing their work live with Barbara J. Fields (co-author of the widely acclaimed Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life) and engaging the audience in conversation. Admission to the event is free, and guests are encouraged to reserve tickets in advance via Eventbrite to ensure a seat at the table. The discussion will begin promptly at 7 PM; we recommend a 6.30 PM arrival.

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