Heaven in Disorder

As we emerge (though perhaps only temporarily) from the pandemic, other crises move center stage: outrageous inequality, climate disaster, desperate refugees, mounting tensions of a new cold war. The abiding motif of our time is relentless chaos. Acknowledging the possibilities for new beginnings at such moments, Mao Zedong famously proclaimed "There is great disorder under heaven; the situation is excellent." The contemporary relevance of Mao's observation depends on whether today's catastrophes can be a catalyst for progress or have passed over into something terrible and irretrievable. Perhaps the disorder is no longer under, but in heaven itself. Characteristically rich in paradoxes and reversals that entertain as well as illuminate, Slavoj Zizek's new book treats with equal analytical depth the lessons of Rammstein and Corbyn, Morales and Orwell, Lenin and Christ. It excavates universal truths from local political sites across Palestine and Chile, France and Kurdistan, and beyond. Heaven In Disorder looks with fervid dispassion at the fracturing of the Left, the empty promises of liberal democracy, and the tepid compromises offered by the powerful. From the ashes of these failures, Zizek asserts the need for international solidarity, economic transformation, and-above all-an urgent, "wartime" communism.

Review:

"Offers an overall view of [Zizek's] thinking and politics... There's much to agree with, enjoy, and ponder" - Splice

General praise for Slavoj:

"One of the most innovative and exciting contemporary thinkers of the left." -Times Literary Supplement

"The thinker of choice for Europe's young intellectual vanguard." -Observer

"The most dangerous philosopher in the West." -Adam Kirsch, The New Republic

"Never ceases to dazzle." -Daily Telegraph