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Feminist writers and scholars consider whether technology has made good on its promise to liberate women—sexually, biologically, economically, and politically.In Once and Future Feminist, editor and lead essayist Merve Emre turns a critical eye on the role of technology in feminism both past and present. With her starting point the "fertility benefits” offered by Silicon Valley tech companies, Emre posits that such reproductive technologies as egg freezing and in vitro fertilization aren't inherently emancipatory; they often make women even more vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace. Almost fifty years ago, radical feminist Shulamith Firestone viewed developments in reproductive technology with skepticism, arguing in The Dialectic of Sex that they are only "incidentally in the interests of women when at all.” Engaging other feminist writers and scholars, this collection broadens out to examine whether technology in general has made good on its promise to liberate women—sexually, biologically, economically, and politically. In this context, Once and Future Feminist considers not only whether or not a radical, emancipatory feminism is possible today but what such a feminism might look like.ContributorsIrina Aristarkhova, Michael Bronski, James Chappell, Mary Darnovsky, Silvia Federici, Chris Kaposy, Sophie Lewis, Andrea Long Chu, Annie Menzel, Cathy O'Neil, Sarah Sharma, Diane Tober, Miriam Zoll

Some of today’s top legal thinkers consider the ways that legal thinking has bolstered—rather than corrected—injustice.Bringing together some of today’s top legal thinkers, this volume reimagines law in the twenty-first century, zeroing in on the most vibrant debates among legal scholars today. Going beyond constitutional jurisprudence as conventionally understood, contributors show the ways in which legal thinking has bolstered rather than corrected injustice. If conservative approaches have been well served by court-centered change, contributors to Rethinking Law consider how progressive ones might rely on movement-centered, legislative, and institutional change. In other words, they believe that the problems we face today are vastly bigger than can be addressed by litigation. The courts still matter, of course, but they should be less central to questions about social justice. Contributors describe how constitutional law supported a system of economic inequality; how we might rethink the First Amendment in the age of the internet; how deeply racial bias is embedded in our laws; and what kinds of changes are necessary. They ask which is more important: the laws or how they are enforced? Rethinking Law considers these questions with an eye toward a legal system that truly supports a just society. Contributors include Jedediah Purdy, David Grewal, Jamal Greene, Reva Siegel, Jocelyn Simonson, Aziz Rana 

How can the speculative imagination help us build a better world?At a world-historical moment of global upheaval, speculative writing is enjoying a renaissance. This collection of poetry, stories, and essays engages speculation as both a ubiquitous feature of financial capitalism and a radical tool of collective imagination. By rejecting dominant ideas about what is possible, speculation empowers us to plot new paths to a more just world.Creative works range over violence and healing, memory and erasure, and alternative worlds, while essays span the meaning of land and community in the African diaspora, Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction, and the ethics of the far future. Taken together, these works suggest that speculation is ultimately about our relationships with each other—as one contributor puts it, "what they have been, what they are, and most important, what they could be."

How we can recover from terrible ruptures, the pandemic, toxic politics, racist horrors, class warfare, gendered violence, and ecological brinksmanship.Individually and collectively, we bear deep wounds. Some of these are generations old; all have been worsened by a destructive period of pyrrhic politics that left us ill-equipped to respond to a global health catastrophe. As we struggle to recover our footing and grieve our dead, Boston Review believes that the arts must have a voice in the conversation about how we heal. In this new anthology of poetry, fiction, and essays from renowned writers and newcomers, writers explore whether and how we can repair terrible ruptures, life-threatening illnesses and the pandemic, toxic politics, racist horrors, class warfare, gendered violence, and ecological brinksmanship. ContributorsAriella Aisha Azoulay, Kemi Alabi, Donia Elizabeth Allen, Don Mee Choi, Adebe DeRango-Adem, Emma Dries, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Randall Horton, Savonna Johnson, Kim Hyesoon, Maya Marshall, Colleen Murphy, Simone Person, aureleo sans, Bishakh Som, Olúfmi O. Táíwò, Meredith Talusan, Brian Teare, Yiru Zhang

A wide-raging exploration of the place of uncertainty in our emotional and political lives.From climate change to the pandemic, uncertainty looms large over our public and personal lives. It is also the core feature of democratic life: while democratic governance seemingly heightens individual power, it exposes our life chances to the uncertain activity of others. We do not exercise control over those to whom we appeal, and yet we are constantly dependent on their actions for the goods in life we seek.  Sheila Jasanoff opens a forum on uncertainty and democracy in this volume, arguing that ideas around our autonomy, our freedom, and our individual agency, particularly in the US, obscure our dependence on others in so many ways. To recognize this political emotion is to start to see the transformative potential in uncertainty.  The debate that follows explores the ideas about uncertainty and experts in a democracy, as well its scientific, philosophic, and emotional aspects. 

How governments can spur growth and innovation to solve their greatest challenges—from green energy to national security to building resilient health systems. Known around the world for challenging mainstream economics, economist Mariana Mazzucato believes that  “the public sector can and should be a co-creator of wealth that actively steers growth to meet its goals” (The Financial Times). In The Mission-Driven Economy, she calls on governments to create the economies we need today.  Mazzucato’s challenge leads off a debate on the revival of Industrial policy—roughly defined as deliberate government action to re(shape) the economy. Industrial policy has fallen out of favor in recent decades as economists defer to free markets to produce innovation and growth. Yet today thinkers across the political spectrum have begun expressing new interest in industrial policy as a way to address the most serious problems of our times: from national security and climate change, to the market’s underfunding of public goods, to sluggish economic growth and labor market dysfunction.  Together, contributors make a compelling case for industrial policy—what it is, and why we need it now. Addressing investment, innovation, supply chains, and growth, they offer a robust vision of a renewed industrial policy, and what it can offer the US economy in the face of climate change and a global pandemic. 

A look at how new technologies can be put to use in the creation of a more just society.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not likely to make humans redundant. Nor will it create superintelligence anytime soon. But it will make huge advances in the next two decades, revolutionize medicine, entertainment, and transport, transform jobs and markets, and vastly increase the amount of information that governments and companies have about individuals. AI for Good leads off with economist and best-selling author Daron Acemoglu, who argues that there are reasons to be concerned about these developments. AI research today pays too much attention to the technological hurtles ahead without enough attention to its disruptive effects on the fabric of society: displacing workers while failing to create new opportunities for them and threatening to undermine democratic governance itself. But the direction of AI development is not preordained. Acemoglu argues for its potential to create shared prosperity and bolster democratic freedoms. But directing it to that task will take great effort: It will require new funding and regulation, new norms and priorities for developers themselves, and regulations over new technologies and their applications.At the intersection of technology and economic justice, this book will bring together experts--economists, legal scholars, policy makers, and developers--to debate these challenges and consider what steps tech companies can do take to ensure the advancement of AI does not further diminish economic prospects of the most vulnerable groups of population.

Is anger eternal? Righteous? Reflections on the causes and consequences of an phenomenon critical to our intimate and public lives.From Aristotle to Martha Nussbaum, philosophers have explored the moral status of anger. We get angry for a reason: we feel wronged. That reason can be eternal, some argue, because not even an apology or promise that it won't happen again can change the fact of the original harm. Although there are pragmatic reasons for ceasing to be angry and moving on, is eternal anger moral? Is anger righteous? In this collection, contributors consider these and other questions about the causes and consequences of anger.Leading off the debate, philosopher Agnes Callard argues that anger is not righteous rage; it is not an effort to solve a problem. Instead, it reflects a cry for help—a recognition that something shared is broken. And only in acknowledging the value of that shared project, she argues, can we begin together to repair it. Anger, then, is a starting point. But could there ever be the end of anger?Bringing together today's leading thinkers on anger, this volume raises questions critical to our intimate and public lives. ContributorsRachel Achs, Paul Bloom, Elizabeth Bruenig, Judith Butler, Agnes Callard, Daryl Cameron, Myisha Cherry, Barbara Herman, Desmond Jagmohan, David Konstan, Oded Na'aman, Martha C. Nussbaum, Amy Olberding, Whitney Phillips, Jesse Prinz, Victoria Spring, Brandon M. Terry

The history of international banking, the commodification of black masculinity, the buying and selling of women's eggs, Michelle Obama's dubious advice to black youth, and the workings of affirmative action at elite universities viewed through the lens of racial capitalism.In Racist Logic, lead essayist Donna Murch writes that "historically, the division between 'dope' and medicine was the race and class of users.” By using the concept of "racial capitalism” to examine the opioid crisis alongside the War on Drugs, Murch brings an otherwise familiar story into new territory. To understand the twisted logic that created the divergent responses to drug use—succor and sympathy for white users, prison and expulsion for people of color—Murch shows how a racialized regime of drug prohibitions led Purdue Pharma to market OxyContin specifically to whites.Alongside Murch, contributors consider how racial capitalism helps us understand the history of international banking, the commodification of black masculinity, the buying and selling of women's eggs, Michelle Obama's dubious advice to black youth, and the workings of affirmative action at elite universities.ContributorsMichael Collins, Richard Thompson Ford, Helena Hansen, David Herzberg, Peter James Hudson, Jonathan Kahn, L.A. Kauffman, Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, Jordanna Matlon, Max Mishler, Donna Murch, Julie Netherland, Britt Rusert, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Alys Eve Weinbaum

Original poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism explore issues of trust, bridge-building, difference, and betrayal, both political and private.How do we know who is on our side? Is it possible for someone who is not like us to share our hopes? Can links forged by empathy or mutual interest match those created by shared experience? What can we gain from alliances that we cannot achieve on our own?These are difficult question to answer even in intimate settings, and more so in arenas of cultural and political struggle. Through original poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism from both established writers and newcomers, Allies offers unique insights into issues of trust, bridge-building, difference, and betrayal. Drawing on the prophetic power of the imagination to conjure both the possible dangers and life-giving possibilities of alliances—be they political, private (such as marriage), therapeutic, or even aesthetic (between readers and writers, for example)—Allies will be essential reading for our times.Allies is the first publication of Boston Review's newly inaugurated Arts in Society department. A radical revisioning of the magazine's poetry and fiction, the department unites them—along with cultural criticism and belles lettres—into a project that explores how the arts can speak directly to the most pressing political and civic concerns of our age, from growing inequality to racial and gender regimes, a disempowered electorate, and a collapsing natural world.FictionSamuel Delay, Tananarive Due, Catherine TaylorPoetry Jane Miller, Ru Puro, Emilia Nielsen, Sarah Vap, Rachel Levitsky, Tess Liem InterviewsWalter Johnson and Tef Poe, Robin D. G. Kelley and Vijay Iyer EssaysRoderick Ferguson, Micki McEyla, Mark Nowak, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Abdullah Taïa

The President's House is Empty: Losing and Gaining Public Goods explores the question of what we—the public—owe each other as free and equal members of a democratic society. With essays by writers and thinkers like Bonnie Honig, this collection attempts to make sense of the current administration's disdain for public things like the White House, public education, and clean water.

Stories, essays, and interviews explore dystopias that may offer lessons for the present.As the recent success of Margaret Atwood's novel-turned-television hit Handmaid's Tale shows us, dystopia is more than minatory fantasy; it offers a critical lens upon the present. "It is not only a kind of vocabulary and idiom,” says bestselling author and volume editor Junot Diaz. "It is a useful arena in which to begin to think about who we are becoming.”Bringing together some of the most prominent writers of science fiction and introducing fresh talent, this collection of stories, essays, and interviews explores global dystopias in apocalyptic landscapes and tech futures, in robot sentience and forever war. Global Dystopias engages the familiar horrors of George Orwell's 1984 alongside new work by China Miéville, Tananarive Due, and Maria Dahvana Headley. In "Don't Press Charges, and I Won't Sue,” award-winning writer Charlie Jane Anders uses popularized stigmas toward transgender people to create a not-so-distant future in which conversion therapy is not only normalized, but funded by the government. Henry Farrell surveys the work of dystopian forebear Philip K. Dick and argues that distinctions between the present and the possible future aren't always that clear. Contributors also include Margaret Atwood and award-winning speculative writer, Nalo Hopkinson.In the era of Trump, resurgent populism, and climate denial, this collection poses vital questions about politics and civic responsibility and subjectivity itself. If we have, as Díaz says, reached peak dystopia, then Global Dystopias might just be the handbook we need to survive it.ContributorsCharlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Adrienne Bernhard, Mark Bould, Thea Costantino, Tananarive Due, Henry Farrell, JR Fenn, Maria Dahvana Headley, Nalo Hopkinson, Mike McClelland, Maureen McHugh, China Miéville, Jordy Rosenberg, Peter Ross, Sumudu Samarwickrama

Poetry that grapples with the intersection of natural and cultural crises.In an age of record-breaking superstorms and environmental degradation, What Nature seeks—through poetry—to make sense of how we interact with and are influenced by nature. Shifting its focus from what has already been lost to what lies ahead, What Nature rejects the sentimentality of traditional nature poetry. Instead, its texts expose and resist the global iniquities that create large-scale human suffering, a world where climate change disproportionately affects the poorest communities. The intersection of natural and cultural crises—like Standing Rock's fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan—are confronted head on. These poems, lyric essays, and hybrid works grapple with political unrest, refugeeism, and resource exploitation, transforming the genre of ecopoetics.ContributorsKaveh Akbar, Zaina Alsous, Desirée Alvarez, Rae Armantrout, Aase Berg, Kyle Booten, Jericho Brown, Kyce Bello, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Jesús Castillo,, Abigail Chabitnoy,Adam Day, Camille T. Dungy, Noah Dversdall, Gyrðir Elíasson, Tracy Fuad, Carolyn Guinzio, Amanda Hawkins, Sheikha Helawy, Claire Hero, Brenda Hillman, Joan Kane, Douglas Kearney, Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley, Nam Le, Diana Keren Lee, Adrian Lurssen, Matt Massaia, Iréne Mathieu, Ted Mathys, Christopher Nelson, Kathy Nilsson, Greg Nissan, Elsbeth Pancrazi, Sarah Passino, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Roger Reeves, Evelyn Reilly, Emelia Reuterfors, Mutsuo Takahashi, Brian Tierney, Alissa Valles, Nicole Walker, Ellen Welcker

Martin Luther King's legacy for today's activists, fifty years after his death.Since his death on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King's legacy has influenced generations of activism. Edited and with a lead essay by Brandon Terry, this volume explores what this legacy can and cannot do for activism in the present.King spent the months leading up to his death organizing demonstrations against the Vietnam War and planning the Poor People's Campaign, a "multiracial army of the poor” that would march on Washington in pursuit of economic justice. Thus the spring of 1968 represented a hopeful, albeit chaotic set of possibilities; King, along with countless other activists, offered both ethical and strategic solutions to the multifaceted problems of war, racism, and economic inequality. With a critical eye on both the past and present, this collection of essays explores that moment of promise, and how, in the fifty years since King's death, historical forces have shaped what we claim as a usable past in fighting the injustices of our time.ContributorsChristian G. Appy, Andrew Douglas, Bernard E. Harcourt, Elizabeth Hinton, Samuel Moyn, Ed Pavlic, Aziz Rana, Barbara Ransby, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Brandon M. Terry, Jeanne Theoharis, Thad Williamson

An examination of the emerging rural left, from environmentalists blocking pipeline construction to teachers on strike.In Left Elsewhere, volume editor and lead essayist Elizabeth Catte turns a skeptical eye toward "purple” politicians, such as West Virginia Democrat Richard Ojeda, who are hailed by many as the best hope for U.S. progressives outside the urban coasts. By offering a survey of what the left actually looks like outside major urban centers, Catte shows how an emerging rural left is developing new strategies that do not easily fit into typical ideas of liberals, leftists, and Democratic politics. From environmentalists who successfully block pipeline construction to advocates for "radical” health care solutions such as needle exchanges to school teachers who go on strike, these newly energized activists may offer a better path forward for both policy and candidates to represent the needs of poor and working Americans. By engaging activists and scholars outside the coastal bubbles, this collection offers insights into several overlooked areas, including working-class women's activism, victories in new labor struggle (especially in staunchly right-to-work states) and new organizing principles in Jackson, Mississippi—"America's most radical city"—that are bringing about meaningful racial and economic change on the ground. Taken together, the essays in Left Elsewhere show that today's political language is insufficient to convey what's happening in these areas and examine what, if any, coherent set of politics can be assigned to them.ContributorsWilliam J. Barber II, Thomas Baxter, Lesly-Marie Buer, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Nancy Isenberg, Elaine C. Kamarck, Michael Kazin, Toussaint Losier, Robin McDowell, Bob Moser, Hugh Ryan, Matt Stoller, Ruy Teixeira, Makani Themba, Jessica Wilkerson

How we can look beyond the tyranny of market logic in our public lives to reimagine the fundamentals of democracy.Bringing together thirty-two world-class economists, Economics After Neoliberalism offers a powerful case for a new brand of economics—one focused on power and inequality and aimed at a more inclusive society. Three prominent economists—Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik, and Gabriel Zucman—lead off with a vision for economic policy that stands as a genuine alternative to market fundamentalism. Contributors from across the spectrum expand on the state of creative ferment Naidu, Rodrik, and Zucman describe and offer new essays that challenge the current shape of markets and suggest more democratic alternatives.ContributorsSamuel Bowles, Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, Oren Cass, William R. Easterly, Alice Evans, Amy Kapczynski, Robert Manduca, Suresh Naidu, Caleb Orr, Lenore Palladino, Margaret Peters, Corey Robin, Dani Rodrik, Debra Satz, Quinn Slobodian, Marshall Steinbaum, Arvind Subramanian, Gabriel Zucman.

What might happen if a woman's right to vote is seen as coequal with her right to be elected? Why are other countries so much better than the United States at electing women to office? In her lead essay in this anthology, Jennifer Piscopo argues that women in the United States haven't fought for the right to be elected. A comparative political scientist, she shows that suffrage movements around the world often focused not only on the right to vote, but also the right to stand for office. As a result, when these movements succeeded, they saw the right to be elected as a positive right, enabling nationwide-efforts to both encourage and actively recruit female candidates. In her exploration of positive and negative rights in the United States, Piscopo explores what might happen if a woman's right to vote is seen as coequal with her right to be elected, considering, among other things, how our definitions of representational government could both change and restore public trust in democracy.Other essays in this anthology similarly analyze history for lessons that can be applied to today's political climate. What effects does gender parity in legislatures have both on policies enacted and government performance? How has the complicated relationship between race and gender both informed and prevented progress for both movements? And, most immediately, what will it take for a woman to be elected as president in the United States?

Investigation of power and dominion, through the lens of genre fiction, interviews, and essays."All history,” writes Maximillian Alvarez, "is the history of empire—a bid for control of that greatest expanse of territory, the past.” Evil Empire confronts these histories head-on, exploring the motivations, consequences, and surprising resiliency of empire and its narratives. Contributors grapple with the economic, technological, racial, and rhetorical elements of U.S. power and show how the effects are far-reaching and, in many ways, self-defeating. Drawing on a range of disciplines—from political science to science fiction—our authors approach the theme with imagination and urgency, animated by the desire to strengthen the fight for a better future.ContributorsMaximillian Alvarez, Mark Bould, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Adom Getachew, Yuri Herrera, Michael Kimmage, Marisol LeBrón, Pankaj Mishra, Jeanne Morefield, Frank Pasquale, Arundhati Roy, Stuart Schrader, Nikhil Pal Singh