On Settler Colonialism

Ideology, Violence, and Justice

De: Adam Kirsch

Narrado por: Adam Barr

A prominent public intellectual tackles one of the most crucial political ideas of our moment.

Since Hamas's attack on Israel last October 7, the term "settler colonialism" has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new to most Americans, but already established and influential in academic circles, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the United States, Israel and Palestine, and a host of political issues.

This short book is the first to examine settler colonialism critically for a general audience. By critiquing the most important writers, texts, and ideas in the field, Adam Kirsch shows how the concept emerged in the context of North American and Australian history and how it is being applied to Israel. He examines the sources of its appeal, which, he argues, are spiritual as much as political; how it works to delegitimize nations; and why it has the potential to turn indignation at past injustices into a source of new injustices today. A compact and accessible introduction, rich with historical detail, the book will speak to listeners interested in the Middle East, American history, and today's most urgent cultural-political debates.

©2024 Adam Kirsch (P)2024 Kalorama

Speaking Truth to Academia

A genuine meditation on violence, history, and humanity. Brilliant conclusion about the contemporary academic pathology of turning hope backwards— as if the past can be redeemed.

Clear and concise

The clearest description of the concept of settler colonialism that I have heard as it applies to the US Canada and Australia, while noting the discrepancies of applying that model to the state of Israel.

A surprisingly balanced perspective on the politics of ‘settler colonialism’.

A well articulated assessment of the cynicism of settler colonialism ideology and how it does more harm than good in its approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Partial explanation of the genocidal trend in anti-Israelism

Kirsch does his best to remain appreciative of the anti-colonial movement while tracing its decline in academic circles to a doctrine of impractable radicalism vis-a-vis America, Canada, and Australia and an apology for the barbarism of Israel's enemies.

Outstanding, articulate corrective to today’s misguided intellectuals

An outstanding intellectual history and analysis of a highly prevalent, but deeply flawed ideology. Extremely highly recommended.

Lucid

Clear historical overview of how the Israel/Arab conflict is misunderstood due to misapplied political theories (that are not useful anywhere in grappling honestly with conflict) and how that misunderstanding distances peace rather than encouraging it.

This Author Has Blood on His Hands

First, the performance. The narrator had a clear voice and did not waver or stumble. The delivery was a little bloodless, but not wholly flat. It was generally competent, However, I have to knock it for poor audio quality.

The content of the book is rubbish. It presents inconsistent moral justifications for atrocity that relies on lazy stereotyping rather than serious scholarship. It presents no awareness that part of the purpose of studying history is to do better. It weighs in against despair, while it is itself despairing of the basic hope of moral progress that animates idealistic students of history. This guy's "non-despair" would be a renewed colonialism! It is messed up and not insightful at all that he characterizes his opponents with despair when they are the ones with the moral courage to disagree with humanity's history of atrocities committed by the strong against the weak.

I think the single most killer error in this text is that at one point Mr. Kirsch tries to argue that Israel was not colonized, even as one of his later points is a moral defense of colonial processes whereby one people dispossesses another. His tears for the supposed genocidal threat that Israel faces reek of bias and reveal, I think, his true and craven inclination to serve the greater power at the expense of the lesser in this conflict.

Snooze

Lengthy discussion of leftist theories that are meaningless. He does a fine job unpacking the idiocy of woke academics that have permeated into our daily lives. The author offers insights but truthfully who cares.