We are proud to announce the release of a new title from Maize Books, Lineages of the Literary Left: Essays in Honor of Alan M. Wald, edited by Howard Brick, Robbie Lieberman, and Paula Rabinowitz.
The essays in this volume in honor of Alan M. Wald investigate aspects of intellectual, literary, and cultural movements and figures associated with left-wing politics beginning in the early twentieth century and continuing into our own time. Intimately linked with social struggle, the thinkers and actors analyzed in these diverse essays can be collectively understood to form the intertwined lineages of the Literary Left. Moreover, the critics and historians participating in this tribute–including contributors Tariq Ali, Michael Löwy, Rachel Rubin, Dayo Gore and many others, attest to the varied lineages comprising myriad scholarly traditions as well. The collection stresses “lineages” and “traditions” in the plural, to indicate the multiple tendencies, fields and methods that serve to expand notions of the Literary Left.
“Alan Wald has been the most important teacher of every generation of historians of US cultural radicalism hatched since the 1970s—this despite the various names on our university diplomas and the alphabet soup of acronyms marking our numerous political commitments. Lineages of the Literary Left demonstrates why the common debt to Wald has been an excellent thing. Its twenty essays tackle a heady range of subjects—from Harlem boxing pulp to Japanese proletarianism, from mass dance to world systems theory—but all reflect Wald’s characteristic blend of humane detail and expansive historical imagination. Wald’s concluding autobiographical reflection, meanwhile, is itself worth the price of admission.”
—William J. Maxwell, Professor of English and African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
This book is freely available to read online. Print copies of the book may be purchased from Amazon.
Howard Brick is Louis Evans Professor of History at the University of Michigan.
Robbie Lieberman is Professor and Chair in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department at Kennesaw State University.
Paula Rabinowitz is Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. Her recent books include American Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street and the co-edited four-volume series Habits of Beings. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.