Author of the book Christopher Hitchens: What he got right, how he went wrong, and why he still matters.
Published Dec 31st 2021.
Christopher Hitchens
What he got right, how he went wrong, and why he still matters
While his post-9/11 turn to the right has defined Christopher Hitchens for the last two decades, we may now be in a position to rehabilitate his long pre-9/11 career as a left-wing polemicist. Burgis reminds readers about what was best in Hitchens’s writings and helps us gain a better understanding of how someone whose whole political life was animated by the values of the socialist left could have ended up holding grotesque positions on Iraq and the War on Terror.
Burgis’ book makes a case for the enduring importance of engaging with Hitchens’ complicated legacy.
Published December 31, 2021
Canceling Comedians While the World Burns
A Critique Of The Contemporary Left
Between the decline of the labor movement, the aftershocks of the falls of so-called “actually existing socialism,” and the long exile of even social democrats from the levers of real power, we have gotten far too used to thinking of leftism as a performative exercise in expressing our political commitments rather than a serious effort to achieve left-wing goals in the real world. Cancelling Comedians While the World Burns calls for a smarter, funnier, more strategic left.
Published May 1, 2021
Myth and Mayhem
A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson
Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson is intended as a comprehensive critical look at all aspects of his thought, from the philosophical depths to the mundane heights. Written by four authors who each look at a different element of his thought, it shows why taking Peterson seriously doesn’t mean embracing him.
Published April 24, 2020
Give Them an Argument
Logic for the Left
Many serious leftists have learned to distrust talk of logic and logical fallacies, associated with right-wing “logicbros”. This is a serious mistake. Unlike the neoliberal technocrats, who can point to social problems and tell people “trust us”, the serious Left must learn how to argue and persuade. In Give Them an Argument, Ben Burgis arms his reader with the essential knowledge of formal logic and informal fallacies.