Workers' Lit

It’s Iowa time. Josiah Sutton of Fruitless joins us to discuss John Darnielle’s (of “The Mountain Goats” tame) Midwestern Gothic semi-horror, “Universal Harvester.” Themes: Iowa, corn, VHS tapes, beer, loneliness, more Iowa. If you like our show, you’ll like Fruitless. Check it out now! Episode art is a whole lot going on at a barn

Hey! So due to some logistical issues and Covid-19 dunking on Lenore, this week’s episode will be late, but we still wanted to give you something to listen to for your Tuesday. Please enjoy this shameless self promo as Jacob reads the prologue and first chapter of his upcoming novel, “They Called Her Rebel.” Pre-order Jacob’s novel here!

More like capitalist fake-ism… This week we take on Mark Fisher’s 2009 philosophical work, “Capitalist Realism,” an explanation of the seeming all-encompassing, eternally-enduring, indestructible nature of capitalism (and the systems that propagate that myth). We are joined by filmmaker, writer, photographer, and Fisher-appreciator Jonathan Kennedy to break down what this book actually says vs. wh...

We're going roach mode. This week we cover Franz Kafka's 1915 classic, "The Metamorphosis," a story about a man getting straight up turned into a giant cockroach...bro still tries to go to work. We get into the life of Kafka and the challenges of life as a Jewish man in early century Austria-Hungary. We discuss his numerous complexes and obsessions and how they manifested in this...

Disclaimer: killing people is bad actually. Don't try Patrick Bateman's techniques at home. This week we check out Bret Easton Ellis' 1991 work of horror, "American Psycho." Join us as we dive into the absolute horrifying nihilism that is late century Wall Street and its logical conclusion: mass, indiscriminate torture and murder. We get into the elements of the book the film fails to capture, the...

Welcome to a new subseries of The Socialist Shelf: Article Brain! Once a month, we'll take a break from the books for each of us to bring forward an article specifically designed to drive the other two insane. We'll read them, we'll laugh, we'll weep, we'll rage. This week we talk about: CNN's 2028 Democratic primary predictions, the NYT Opinion Section asking you to pleeeeeeaaaase stop protesting...

Y'all like socialism? Y'all like queers? Get ready for some...queer socialism!! Matéo Penado of the Rainbow Collective joins us to talk about Leslie Feinberg's 2008 collection, "Rainbow Solidarity: In Defense of Cuba," an analytical, journalistic, and educational analysis of the history of the queer liberation struggle since the socialist Cuban revolution of 1959. How did Cub...

We've seen plenty of dystopian futures...how about a utopian one? Terry Bisson's 1988, "Fire on the Mountain" explores an alternate timeline where Harriet Tubman was able to join John Brown at the Harper's Ferry raid, and with her tactical skill the raiders made it out and went on to start a nation-wide slave rebellion. How did history go differently? Listen on to find out! We talk about Bisson's...

Let's read a problematic gay fantasy novel!!! Author Lee Mandelo (Summer Sons, The Woods All Black, Feed Them Silence) and 5 time returning guest, writer, and podcaster, Aysha U. Farah (Life is Strange: Double Exposure, The Sky Left Us, All My Maidens Podcast) join us to discuss "Mélusine," a fantasy novel from 2005 by Sarah Monette (also known as Katherine Addison). We discuss the p...

Today, a gorilla will set us straight. This week we're covering "Ishmael," a 1992 philosophical dialogue between a man and a gorilla, written by Daniel Quinn. We are joined by Jen Big Nasty, host of the podcast, "How the Red Was Won" to figure out just what this huge, hairy cousin of humanity has to teach us about life. We go deep into environmentalism, anthropocentrism, an...

Folks, we're not immune to the Andor hype! This week, we decided to return to the world of Star Wars to cover what can be seen as loosely as an Andor tie-in novel, Alex Freed's 2025 Star Wars novel "Reign of the Empire, the Mask of Fear". We are joined by Manuclearbomb of NotACast and My Brother, My Captain, My Podcast to unpack the rise of fascism in the Star Wars universe, exam...

We did it, Shelfers. 100 EPISODES OF THE SOCIALIST SHELF!! To honor this beautiful occasion we answer some questions from you, our glorious listeners, and then get into perhaps the our most complex work of literature to date, Gary Larson's 1982 comic, "Cow Tools." If you're not familiar with Cow Tools, take a quick look at it now. Stay tuned during the outro to hear the kind of t...

Don't worry, we're still a literature podcast, but we wanted to have our friends Jason and Ankita from Resistance Cinema ATL on the show to talk about their collective and the role of film (and art more generally) in revolutionary movements. We've got a handful of links here, so bear with us (and click on all of them you know you want to). Pre-order Jacob's book now! Follow Resista...

STOP COP CITY! We are honored to be joined by Mariah Parker, editor and writer for the new collection, "No Cop City, No Cop World," a history, recounting, and analysis of the battle around the "Cop City" project in Atlanta's Weelaunee forest that led to global attention, severe local unrest, capitalist panic, and the state murder of a peaceful protester. This interview is g...

Our 100th episode is coming up! If you’ve got any questions, comments, or wisecracks to share with the Shelfers, send them our way at “thesocialistshelf@gmail.com” We want to hear from you! Now for the episode: So, these guys Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein wrote a book about a new liberalism...a liberalism that builds. Everybody in the Democratic party seems really impressed by it, so we had to see...

Step one: you're going to want to buy this book. Fortunately you can buy it here! The Shelfers welcome Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief on Current Affairs and co-author with Noam Chomsky of the book, "The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World". We know the U.S. foreign policy is destructive, but just how destructive? What is the future of the U.S....

In the grim darkness of the far future, Jacob has been banished to a desolate realm that knows naught but darkness and depravity, only inhabitable by the twisted creatures of the warp: Italy. In his stead, join Lenore and our tireless, intrepid editor with creative control over the episode caption, Ryan, as they dive into the Black Library with Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath and universe of Warhamme...

Remember when bumbling Neville knocked over all the time turners? Wasn't that funny and quaint? That should have been the end of it, but all you bothersome Harry Potter fans who made the author unfathomably rich kept asking her about them. So guess what, Cedric's a fascist now. So there. Join us as AJ from the Worst of All Possible Worlds (and of Puff fame, the much better wizard-themed pl...

We take a break from our series on the wizarding world to talk about a book that definitely has no dementors in it: The City & The City by China Miéville. We are honored to be joined by Breht O'Shea of the RevLeft Radio and Red Menace podcasts to discuss this work of political fiction about what would happen if you lived in a city where it would be a crime to mention the other city built d...

It's Part 2 of our Harry Potter series. Are we having fun yet? This week the Shelfers are joined by returning guest and brilliant web-comic creator, Max Graves, in discussing J.K. Rowling's 2003 fantasy novel, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" as well as the second half of the series, including its YA turn. Rowling's finally getting POLITICAL! We have thoughts. Read...

The Rowling miniseries begins. The Shelfers and honorary Shelfer, Aysha U. Farah, hop on our broomsticks and zoom into the impossibly big world of Harry Potter, and whatever now-notorious bigot J.K. Rowling's whole deal is (Our working theory is that once you cross $100 million in net worth, no matter what you were like before, you lose your mind.) In this episode, we talk Rowling's origin...

Thar she blows! This week, the shelfers unpack The Great American Novel: Herman Melville's 1851 epic, "Moby Dick." Joining us is Isaac Boa, a writer, educator, and revolutionary organizer. Together, we're going to solve just what's going on with this whole whale situation. You can find Isaac's writing here. You can join the PSL Action Network Here. Music by Solo Monk (@So...

Octavia Butler Round 3 The Shelfers finish the Parable Duology and the hazardous life of Lauren Oya Olamina in Octavia Butler's 1998 masterpiece, "Parable of the Talents." This book is an absolutely brilliant analysis of fascism and the powerful organizing that can arise in the face of it. Octavia is the best to ever do it. What else can we say? CW: There is some discussion of sexual violence comm...

This is a bully good episode (am I using that term properly?) This week, the shelfers check out S.M. Stirling's 2018 alternative history WWI novel, "Black Chamber." The premise? Teddy Roosevelt gets a third term as president, and this time he's Bernie Sanders in a cowboy hat. We didn't dig this one. Jacob REALLY didn't dig this one. If you're here, you should check ou...

Have you ever considered that when a nuclear war happens your grandparents will die and it'll be really sad? No? Well this book is gonna make you consider that. This week, the Shelfers take on Raymond Briggs' 1982 graphic novel, "When the Wind Blows," an upsetting little tale about an old couple facing the apocalypse. We are joined by veteran of our Sonic episode and artist behin...