Imaginary Power, Real Horizons

Political theorist and philosopher Richard Gilman-Opalsky's Imaginary Power, Real Horizons is a tribute to the imagination and to its necessity for liberatory struggle. ''Impractical' is the name given to anyone who imagines something radically other than what exists,' he writes. However, many things-such as the abolition of slavery-were dismissed as impractical before they came to be. In a warm, plainspoken manner, these essays chart the affects of creativity and utopianism through topics as varied as the cyclical nature of popular movements; the international history of May Day; the experience of teaching political theory and Marxism in contemporary China; and the revolutionary aspirations of Free Jazz. The human imagination is a real, world-creating power, and those who would declare otherwise have a poor understanding of history.