The Power of Memory in Democratic Politics

Reviews / Votes

Brendese's book is distinguished by its engagement with the politics of racial memory in the United States. . . . [It] helps us to see the double import of attending to racial injustice and the legacy of slavery: that is, that it is both important and pressing in its own right, and also that our failure to address the persistence of racial injustice (via segregated memory) undermines any attempt to govern ourselves democratically. For these reasons, Brendese's book deserves to be widely read. * THEORY & EVENT * Rather than simply argue that forgetting the past dooms us to repeat it, Brendese presents us with an inspired theory of spectral materialism that goes further, by alerting us to the tragic ways that we abandon our democratic ideals when we willfully forget, even if we do this in the name of democracy itself. CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEORY 'P.J. Brendese's book brilliantly weaves together theoretical issues with developed empirical cases, and with a very good sense for what is politically important. The chapters on the TRC, on race and memory in America, and on Mexico are all exceptionally illuminating. A remarkable achievement.' -- -- W. James Booth, Vanderbilt University 'P.J. Brendese has written an exceptional book on one of the central political questions of our time: the relationship between memory and democracy. The volume brilliantly examines how the past is often denied, reclaimed, and transformed in the political process, deeply influencing political identity. Brendese's analysis is nuanced and learned, illuminating the problems in coming to terms with the buried past. An indispensable book for contemporary political theorists.' -- -- Cynthia Halpern, Swarthmore College