 |
 |
THE LIBERAL DEFENCE OF MURDER By Richard Seymour Talk at BOOKMARKS BOOKSHOP Thursday, 19th February at 6.30pm 1 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE This event is free, but please phone 020 76371848 or email to reserve ([log in to unmask]) ---------------------------------------- "An excellent antidote to the propagandists of the crisis of our times" -- Independent on Sunday "Essential reading" -- New Statesman "Among those who share the responisbility for the carnage and chaos in the Gulf are the useful idiots who gave the war intellectual cover and attempted to lend it a liberal imprimatur. The more belligerent they sounded the more bankrupt they became; the more strident their voice the more craven their position. As the war they have supported degrades into a murderous mess, Richard Seymour expertly traces their descent from humanitarian intervention to blatant islamophobia." -- Gary Younge, columnist Nation and Guardian "Indispensable ... Seymour brilliantly uncovers the pre-history and modern reality of the so-called 'pro-war Left.'" -- China Mieville, author of Perdido Street Station ---------------------------------------- A war that has killed over a million Iraqis was a 'humanitarian intervention', the US army is a force for liberation, and the main threat to world peace is posed by Islam. Those are the arguments of a host of liberal commentators, ranging from Christopher Hitchens to Kanan Makiya, Michael Ignatieff, Paul Berman, and Bernard-Henri Levy. In this critical intervention, Richard Seymour unearths the history of liberal justifications for empire, showing how savage policies of conquest - including genocide and slavery - have been retailed as charitable missions. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Seymour argues that the colonial tropes of 'civilization' and 'progress' still shape liberal pro-war discourse. and still conceal the same bloody realities. ---------------------------------------- ISBN 9781844672400 / £16.99 / $29.95 / Hardback / 346 pages The Liberal Defence of Murder is available from all good bookshops and at: http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/s-titles/seymour_r_the_liberal_defense_of_murder.shtml UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liberal-Defence-Murder-Richard-Seymour/dp/1844672409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234542487&sr=8-1 US http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Defence-Murder-Richard-Seymour/dp/1844672409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234542813&sr=8-1 For further information about the book, the author or events, contact Zahra Khan: [log in to unmask] / Tel. 02074373546