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by Harry G. Frankfurt
We are all sick of the bullshit. Yet bullshit continues to cover everything from advertising, our economic system, politics, public health, etc etc. At this moment, it feels like the bullshitters have won. In this short essay, moral philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt argues that bullshit is a central problem of the world today, threatening truth more than lies and liars. Simply, the bullshitters have no shame. Reminiscent of Jean Paul Sarte’s comments on the absurdities of antisemitism, Frankfurt clearly identifies the centrality of bullshit to the methods and mindset of fascism that piles up more and more today.
by Jacqueline Harpman
Out of print since its initial translation from French in 1997, the 2024 reissue of this book has consistently sold out, we were only able to get a copy because our wholesaler reserves small quantities of popular books for indie bookstores. Get it from Riot Act while you can!
Deep underground, thirty—nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.
As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post—apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an essential addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.
by Thomas Picketty and Claire Alet, illustrated by Benjamin Adam
An adaptation of Tom Picketty’s economic treaties Capital and Ideology, this comic is perfect for anyone looking to understand the wealth gap and why society is the way it is today. Picketty’s work has been a central counter balance to neoliberal economic assumptions, and is at the forefront of a new wave of economic study based in material research which seeks to understand the mechanisms by which inequality sustains itself in today’s forms of capitalism.
Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam make the original work’s ideas more accessible through the addition of a family saga. Jules, the main character, is born at the end of the 19th century. He is a person of private means, a privileged figure representative of a profoundly unequal society obsessed with property.
He, his family circle, and his descendants will experience the evolution of wealth and society. Eight generations of his family serve as a connecting thread running through the book, all the way up to Léa, a young woman today, who discovers the family secret at the root of their inheritance.
The book concludes with six compelling proposals for participatory socialism in the 21st century.
Staff Picks
by Franz Kafka
Seemingly more relevant than ever, Kafka’s explorations of absurdity and power have captivated readers for decades. This book collects all of Kafka’s stories and fragments of tales, excluding his novels Amerika, The Trial and the Castle.
by Madeleine L’Engle
A beloved series, A Wrinkle In Time follows Meg, Charles, and Calvin as they try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Meg and Charles’ father. They soon discover their father is at the center of a discovery where travel between universes and time is possible, and has unleashed a Dark Thing. L’Engle asks young readers to confront the changes of growing older and the nuances between good and evil, knowledge and faith, and science and spirit. An older child’s classic. With illustrations by Taeeun Yoo.
Resistance in Minnesota Speaking Tour
Always Carry A Book
Always Carry A Book