Bill Brown
Bill Brown
On the Poverty of Student Life
The Little Pamphlet that Started a Revolution
a review of
On the Poverty of Student Life, Considered in its Economic, Political, Psychological, Sexual, and Particularly Intellectual Aspects, And a Modest Proposal for its Remedy: Members of the Situationist International and Students from Strasbourg. Edited by Mehdi El Hajoui and Anna O’Meara. Common Notions, 2022
Dec 10, 2022 Read the whole text...
Bill Brown
The Movement of the Yellow Vests in France
The Latest Spectre Haunting Europe?
Five months after its explosive appearance on the French scene, the mass movement of the Yellow Vests (les Gilets jaunes) stands at a crossroads. It faces many choices.
Should it remain outside of the properly political world or should it enter into it and engage in debate: and even electoral campaigns? If it does the latter doesn’t it risk recuperation by the existing parties?
Mar 17, 2019 Read the whole text...
Bill Brown
When Punk Was A Threat
a review of
We’re Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and The Real Culture War of 1980s America by Kevin Mattson. Oxford University Press 2020
This book reminds us that the 1980s—in addition to being a period of reactionary politics (Reagan’s efforts to “make America great again”) and reactionary music (synthesizer-dominated pop and MTV videos)—was also the decade of hardcore punk.
Nov 28, 2021 Read the whole text...