Last month I did a pair of public events with Eric Laursen, in which we discussed George Orwell and Alex Comfort, war and peace, blacklists and totalitarianism, his book and mine.
Video from one of those talks, at Red Emma’s in Baltimore, is now online. I haven’t watched the video, so I can’t speak to its overall quality, but I remember it was a good conversation. Eric said some smart things, and I did my best to keep up.
I forgot to link to it at the time, but last month I was interviewed by Eleanor Goldfield for the Act Out! Podcast. We talk about the history of policing, from slave patrols to militarization, and the challenges of creating alternatives.
I’ll be in Baltimore and Washington, DC this week, giving a pair of talks with Eric Laursen. We’ll discuss George Orwell and Alex Comfort, war and peace, anarchism and pacifism, honesty and integrity, ethics and politics, and whatever else occurs to us. Details are below.
Wednesday, October 10, 7pm
Red Emma’s
1225 Cathedral Street
Baltimore
Friday, October 12, 6:30pm
The Potter’s House
1658 Columbia Road NW
Washington, DC
Orwell for Beginners has been updated expanded as George Orwell Illustrated.
The new edition includes a previously undiscovered manifesto authored by Orwell, with revisions by Arthur Koestler and Bertrand Russell, calling for the creation of an international democratic-socialist human rights organization. Unfortunately, however, the volume’s illustrations have not improved over the past 35 years. Still, it serves as a pretty good introduction to Orwell’s life and thought.
Read my full review at Toward Freedom.