Springtime for Snowflakes: Social Justice and Its Postmodern Parentage

by Michael Rectenwald

Springtime for Snowflakes: "Social Justice" and Its Postmodern Parentage is a daring and candid memoir. NYU Professor Michael Rectenwald – the notorious @AntiPCNYUProf – illuminates the obscurity of postmodern theory to track down the ideas and beliefs that spawned the contemporary “social justice” creed and movement. In fast-paced creative non-fiction, Rectenwald begins by recounting how his Twitter capers and media exposure met with the swift and punitive response of NYU administrators and fellow faculty members. The author explains his evolving political perspective and his growing consternation with social justice developments while panning the treatment he received from academic colleagues and the political left.

The memoir is the story of an education, a debriefing, as well as an entertaining and sometimes humorous romp through academia and a few corners of the author’s personal life. The memoir includes early autobiographical material to provide context for Rectenwald’s academic, political, and personal development and even surprises with an account of his apprenticeship, at age nineteen, with the poet Allen Ginsberg.

Unlike many examinations of postmodern theory, Springtime for Snowflakes is a first-person, insider narrative. Likening his testimony to that of an anthropologist who has “gone native” and returned, the author recalls his graduate education in English departments and his academic career thereafter. In his graduate studies in English and Literary and Cultural Theory/Studies, the author explains, he absorbed the tenets of Marxism, the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, as well as various esoteric postmodern theories. He connects ideas gleaned there to manifestations in social justice to explain the otherwise inexplicable beliefs and rituals of this “religious” creed. Altogether, the narrative works to demystify social justice as well as Rectenwald’s revolt against it.

Proponents of contemporary social justice will find much to hate and opponents much to love in this uncompromising indictment. But social justice advocates should not dismiss this enlightening look into the background of social justice and one of its fiercest critics. This short testimonial could very well convince some to reconsider their approach. For others, Springtime for Snowflakes should clear up much confusion regarding this bewildering contemporary development.

The book provides a clear and balanced suggestion for unraveling the tangled twine of social justice ideology that runs through North American educational, corporate, media, and state institutions. Never soft-peddling its criticism, however, Springtime for Snowflakes delivers on the promise of the title by also including appendices that collect Dr. Rectenwald’s saltiest tweets and Facebook statuses.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Cultural, Sociology, Education, Social Justice

147 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2018

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a peculiar book. It is also a delightful book. The subtitle suggests a scholarly treatment of the subject, but the title adequately scuttles that expectation, and we get a memoir of ideological development and conflict, with a sketch of the bizarre noösphere that is postmodernist social justice.

Michael Rectenwald hails from the left. The far left. We read of his apprenticeship with American poet Allen Ginsburg, his introduction into the world of postmodern philosophy and literary theory, his travails as a teacher and husband and divorcé and suitor, his work as an academic consultant on TV news as well as his work in writing scholarly articles and books, and, most importantly, his meteoric transit at his college and in the general culture as Twitter’s “Deplorable NYU Prof.”

For many, that may be the sole delight this book provides, darting through the Twitterstorm and the following academic scandal that he initiated by daring to criticize the social justice cult. It is the first book I have read with an appendix of Tweets.

But I most enjoyed his concise explanations of the difference between Marxism, cultural Marxism, post-structuralism, post-modernism, Deconstruction and, yes, that strange cult, “social justice.” And his conclusion is interesting, too: he says we must treat social justice as a religion, and dethrone it from setting any policy — drive it from university administrations, where it now dominates — but not from its intellectual place in the Academy. Probably reasonable. But disappointingly modest. For social justice and the postmodernism it hails from are worse than mere cults, they constitute an insurrectionist cadre that demands more than the just a Cultural Revolution of virtue signalling and callouts (and doxxing). As far as I can tell, the crazed cult really does want to do what Barack Hussein Obama said he wanted to do: radically transform America.

I want freedom, not totalitarianism, whether mob-based or statist. So if we rush towards any form of radicalism, I suggest another direction.

But this book might be helpful in changing course. For, after all, the author himself has changed his whole perspective — he was almost forced to, he explains, by the betrayals of nearly all of his colleagues and friends . . . and comrades. He is no longer a communist or socialist or advocate of that mirage, social justice. He wants freedom and individual rights, now, too.

If a one-time Marxist/postmodernist can undergo such a metamorphosis, may not a whole culture, as well?

N.B. Blogged at wirkman.com.

[Charles Thorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is especially important about this book is Rectenwald's argument that the distorted conception of 'social justice' embedded in identity politics is 'practical postmodernism'. It is a depoliticizing politics, focused on personal identity, intolerant, narcissistic, self-seeking, reducing all questions to the level of the personal. I was also particularly struck by the parallels that Rectenwald points out between between the call-out culture of the social justice warriors and Maoist 'criticism and self-criticism'. These social justice warriors are unhinged and destructive. Their function is to destroy the kinds of solidarity that would make revolution or any effective resistance to capitalism and the state possible. It's all 'me, me, me' and at the end of the day that's perfect for capitalism. They're a bunch of fakes, their claims to radicalism are ridiculous. They are cultivated by upper middle-class Clinton-Obama Democrat academics who have advanced their careers by advancing the same identitarian strategies.

[Patrick Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023-02-25 Just finished this early this morning.
Fascinating.
Very dense in parts.
Undecipherable in parts, due to the crazy terminology and ideas.
But for the most part, Rectenwald describes the sad situation in the colleges today (the last two-four decades), at least in "liberal" arts.

The subtitle is the focus of the book: (modern) Social Justice, Social Justice Warriors, and their "Postmodern" predecessors.
Also discussed and in the mix:
Political Correctness
Marxism
Leftism/Leftists
Authoritarianism
Totalitarianism
"social[justice} media"
Critical Studies
Transgenderism
racism
socialism/communism/capitalism
liberalism/neoliberalism
etc. etc.
Many of the theorists/activists that have promoted these ideas are discussed of course too.

The book is a type of memoir that deals with his (rude) awakening about some of these ideas, partly/mostly due to his being put "on medical leave" (basically fired, but not exactly) then "promoted" then....


An amazing couple of pages actually discusses Ludwig Mises' discovery [in 1922] of how irrational Socialism is and why. The summary is fairly accurate all the way around, but kind of out of context for Rectenwald's professed Marxism and sometimes adherence to socialism. But this was Rectenwald's first book after his major rethink of the ideas mentioned above, so leeway should be given.

I found the book at times very insightful, but other times very frustrating and saying to myself, "oh, no, don't do that or...." Then Rectenwald does it and pays the inevitable consequences, that he did not quite (or at all) understand earlier. For the most part, he takes responsibility for his actions and moves on. Sometimes he just blames others. Sometimes he shows how ridiculous the ideas/powers he is fighting are. Sometimes he just takes the low road.

But I read this book after noting his battle and emergence from the SJW clutches several years ago, read some of his interviews, articles, etc. in the last few years, then wanting to know more, since he seems to be a fairly solid classical liberal/libertarian now, I read this book. We'll see if he really "gets" property rights, peace, rule of law, free markets, liberty, etc. or if some weird flip of his fascination with post modernism seizes control of his productive efforts again. I think he has found a solid base, ... but I could be wrong.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10. I did not expect a memoir, but ended up enjoying reading about the experience of a modern (white male) academic in the ideological mess which is the modern humanities. The diagnosis of the problem of SJWs, its solution, and Rectenwald’s egalitarianism leave much to be desired, however. He seems to not fully follow his own credo of “follow the facts”.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw an interview with the author, so I had different expectations about his memoir than what it actually is. I wanted more detail on how his social media persona as an outspoken conservative was handled by NYU. I also wanted some more background on his interpersonal relations with coworkers, students, administration, etc.

After a few chapters of discussing his social media outing, the bulk of this "academic memoir" is an explanation of how social justice was created from other postmodern concepts. If you haven't spent time studying the liberal arts, I imagine this explanation would be extremely helpful. Unfortunately, my undergraduate degree in women's studies exposed me to Foucault so many times I'd cry when I'd have to read another one of his essays. (Don't read Foucault. It's as dense as Nietzsche.) So, yes, everything the author mentions is applicable and accurate, but I wanted more of a story and less of an analysis.

[Ira Therebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The current events worry me. Society is going into a very troubling direction. i can see it outside of campuses but universities is where it all started.
This book gives us a good view on how it began. Michael Rectenwald gives us a look at his career and how the current social justice snowflake movement events were already experienced by him before they have fully blown up and became visible to everyone. I was actually surprised because I thought it just began 5 years ago. when I was in university as an undergraduate in the 00s I felt it was all reasonable. I was also for social justice but I didn't expect it to turn into something so unreasonable like for example today's trans movement where one is a woman just by saying so and as violent as it is now because the leftists feel it is justified to attack everyone who disagrees with them because they are all nazis, racists, misogynists, bigots and whatever other terms they like to throw around.
I also really liked him explaining of postmodernism and it's roots. Gives a good perspective. Although now i am worried more because what first seemed to me as a temporary social insanity outburst actually is something that kept on gradually developing and I wonder where it will go from here.
I also like how he compared it to Stalinism. this was something I felt it reminded me of as well. Accuse people of something that society sees as wrong, no evidence needed, exaggerate and twist around some facts and this can let you destroy that person with an angry mob around chanting.

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short but very worthwhile book. It presents the journey of an academic from political correctness and woke thinking to a much better place. Rectenwald describes his transformation from a marxist thinker who teaches writing. It did not come quickly or easily. The discussion of his transformation is well done and interesting.

But he also came up with a couple of insights which were useful to me. First, he argues that the initial premise of marxist thinking (and subsequent iterations of it) suggested that the totalitarian phase (which every regime seems to have gone through) never seems to go away. He argues in part that the notion that by eliminating price signals individuals are deprived from making decisions which fit their own needs. That is not a surprising conclusion - both Hayek and Von Moses came to that conclusion - but the way in which he gets to that conclusion was useful.

Second, he compared woke thinking and its inherently religious components to the work of the Soviet "biologist" (Trofim Denisovich Lysenko) who was a favorite of Stalin's, did sloppy research and by being a favorite of Stalin condemned a generation of Soviet citizens to starvation because in reality his theories were almost pure bunk. He makes the argument that a good deal of the work of social justice warriors is focused on signaling and shaming rather than actually making substantive change.

At the end he makes some initial suggestions about how to rid universities of the epidemic of Political Correctness which I did not find altogether convincing (by forcing the Woke to compete for attention among other theological and philosophical approaches). I would love to think that might work by diluting the social justice warrior's message - but I am not convinced that will work. I am genuinely worried that many universities in the US are so deeply imbedded with the practice of social justice that merely making it a competing thought framework on campuses will be successful. If higher education does not discover a way out of this sophistry - I fear one of two things - either universities will become irrelevant or society will break down into tribes.

[Ronald J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard the author interviewed on the Tom Woods Show, was intrigued and decided to read the book. NYU professor Michael Rectenwalk was a committed leftist, steeped in English, postmodern theory and cultural studies. On September 12, 2016 he created an anonymous Twitter account “Deplorable NYU Prof (@antipcnyuprof). He certainly wasn’t a right-winger, and self-identified as a left or libertarian communist, or “academic Marxist.” He studied poetry under Allen Ginsberg.

This book is his story, and rhymes with that of David Horowitz in his writings (especially Radical Son). There’s an interesting historical lesson on postmodern theory, which he says is definitely not Marxist. In fact, it is the philosophical response to the failure of Marxism, in the student uprising of 1968. He writes that social justice debuted in higher education in the fall of 2016 to avenge the death of its monster-mother, postmodern theory. Self-criticism and privilege-checking are the vestiges of “autocritique” and “struggle sessions,” purification methods of the Cultural Revolution. While the University of Chicago may not have safe spaces trigger warnings, but like 230 other colleges it has a bias reporting hotline, turning everyone into “sentinels of surveillance.” Social justice ideologues are authoritarian and anti-intellectual. Universities have abandoned the legacy of open and free inquiry.

He takes on transgender theory (began to rise in the late 1990s), and tells the story from the Fall of 2016 when the University of Michigan instituted a policy of pronoun preference opportunity. One student chose “His Majesty” as his pronoun, proving humor can ridicule lunacy out of existence. But he asks if gender has nothing to do with biology, why would Hormone Replacement Therapy or Gender Reassignment Surgery procedures ever be necessary or advisable? Good question. Why change the secondary characteristics of sex? He argues transgenderism is reminiscent of Lysenkoism. Besides, sexual difference does exist in human beings, otherwise how could we reproduce?

Interesting read from another intellect who turned away from the left because of its anti-intellectualism. I do believe David Horowitz does a more thorough job of explaining the left, its tactics and strategies, but still, this was a good story from a brave professor turning against the academic tide. Here are some provocative lines from his Twitter/Facebook feeds:

Cultural appropriation is an utterly inane notion. No one “owns” culture. Thus, no one can appropriate it.

Social Justice Warriors, SJWs = Stalin, Just Weider.

Diversity is a code word for uniformity of thought.

The leftist denial of the mass murders of communist regimes is comparable to Holocaust denialism.

Romantic utopianism is the opiate of the leftists.

Not even God has been thought able to judge people in groups. Social justice is impossible, a contradiction.

Gender is not a social construction. The social construction is the idea that gender is a social construction.

[Tedward · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better plain english (of such a thing exists) primers into postmodern theory. I like Rectenwald's take better than other pundits like Jordan Peterson because Rectenwald lived and breathed postmodernism for most of his life. The book fails in providing any kind of solution to the rise of social justice warriors and Rectenwald making the book about himself, but I would recommend to those trying to u derstand the intellectual origins of the madness were facing in the world today.

[Remi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have preferred this book more dry / academic as opposed to having to learn about the author's life.

[Vagabond of Letters, DLitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both 4/10 and 7/10.

The subtitle of this book (that appears only on the cover) is the description: 'an academic's memoir'. In this respect the book is interesting.

As a critique of postmodernism and Social Justice, it is wanting, though there are a few bright spots. Nothing like Bradley and Manning, Bawler, or Vox Day, though.

[Brian Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves to provide credentials for the author in two follow up books that he authored.

He takes a very deep dive into postmodernism and the social justice movement and provides the reader a good understanding. He is an excellent writer, which is no surprise given his PhD was in English.

He also provides his path from the advertising business to professor at NYU. It was an interesting journey, the journey of academia, which I don’t particularly have an interest in, but wanted to read as it helps me to better understand these institutions and the motivations on people who serve in academia.

Looking forward to his two other books, Google Archipelago and Beyond Woke.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bummer with this book is that the people who need to read (and comprehend) it, won't. Rechtenwald lays bare a lot of the current problems in our daily discourse coming from a professor driven out of his job by so called political correctness. He discusses the loss of intellectual discourse and his belief th at it will lead to extreme violence. Rechtenwald was a professor and a published Communist, and was persecuted for thinking outside the box- at the University - imagine. Really good, a bit sad, and he offers some good ideas to bring thinking back. Check it out.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Rectenwald was a fairly typical Marxist professor who solidified his bona fides by going on national television to call George W. Bush a war criminal. He studied, “Marxisms, The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, Feminisms, Semiotics, Poststructuralism (including Queer Theory), Science Studies, and the Rhetoric of Science.” In his early years, he apprenticed under beat poet Alan Ginsburg.

As a Communist and a professor, Rectenwald contributed to shaping the culture that eventually came for him; he admits to stacking syllabi and using the power of his position to promote a radical left-wing ideology.

But there came a point when Rectenwald reached his limit with the tyranny inherent to politically correct groupthink. Bravely, he began punching back at the intolerant iron fists of the social justice warriors, critical theory cultists, postmodern nihilists and regressive Marxists.

The so-called “Snowflakes” might melt-down easily, but they’re hardly gentle and delicate. We’re talking about bullies, and it’s a beautiful thing to see this rebel professor standing up to bullies. Rectenwald stood alone and naked against a juggernaut. He was viciously slandered and attacked, but he broke free, emancipating himself from his intellectual/ideological chains and turning his insider’s knowledge and sense of humor against his oppressors, pivoting to the right side of history in the process.

One interesting aspect of the book is the author’s expose of “Science Studies,” which is anything but scientific. Rectenwald describes Science Studies as, “an interdisciplinary field that draws mostly from the humanities and social sciences and includes postmodern theorists who have attempted to debunk the epistemological and institutional status of science in order to assimilate it to other ordinary human activities.” Postmodern versions of Science Studies attack empiricism as being racist, sexist, transphobic and white-supremacist. Undermining public trust in science is one of their objectives. Some of the critics that Rectenwald cites accuse Science Studies of being, “as but the latest in a series of assaults on reason in higher education.” Others claim that “…the anti-science academic left posed a greater threat to science than any rightwing climate or evolutionary science deniers.”

Rectenwald failed to convince me of his assertation that postmodernism is separate from cultural Marxism. If anything, his book showed just how much overlap and commonality exist between the two. I guess an academic might parse the differences, but a holistic understanding requires looking at both together.

This book is full of disobedient blasphemy - the type of stuff that makes faculty heads explode and student snowflakes melt. The appendix is a compilation of the author’s truth bomb tweets. A few examples:

“Since gender is eminently mutable, and potentially decoupled from sex entirely, why would Hormone Replacement Therapy or Gender Reassignment Surgery procedures ever be necessary or advisable?”

“Today’s Left is an agent of the state.”

“Communism merely consolidates capital in the hands of an oligarchy. Whether this oligarchy consists of bureaucrats or capitalists, matters little to the workers, although the former are worse to work for because they don’t know what they are doing.”

“As diversity extends its reign, everything becomes the same.”

“I deplore all forms of totalitarianism. But Left totalitarianism has killed many more millions than any other kind.”

“Romantic utopianism is the opiate of the leftists.”

“Hurry up and call someone a racist, lest you be called one!”

“The Left believes in sacrificing individuals for the good of the collective, even if they have to kill all the individuals to do so.”

“The contemporary LEFT has more in common with fascism than the contemporary right.”

“Gender is not a social construction. The social construction is the idea that gender is a social construction.”

"The shaming techniques that the Left engages in - callout culture, self-criticism, privilege checking, etc. - all have Maoism as their provenance."

"Playing the victim cloaks a surreptitious will to power."

[Ben Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir part descriptor of the times and why

I really enjoyed this book because the personal details of the authors life were interesting enough to keep me turning pages while I learned about the philosophical roots of what we are experiencing today in the culture wars. He shows the ideas that birthed why everyone white is a racist and privileged even if they don’t know it and gender is based on feeling and not science. The conclusion: we live in a postmodern age which is like someone trying to milk a tree because a tree to you could be a cow in my reality. He makes more sense of it. I do wish he gave more than just a descriptive analysis. I would have liked some prescriptive advice to talk with those who support these ideologies. But from all the hoopla, I’m not sure you can dialogue with them because before you start your ideas are discredited as racist and bigoted socially constructed by the patriarchy. Too bad they are unaware that they are living in the socially constructed matrix and outworkings of postmodern philosophy.

[Randy Corn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this eBook by Barry Simpson because he wanted to discuss it with me. Barry is fascinated by the way that culture is shifting and political correctness is beginning to rule. This book has to do with Rectenwald’s experience as a NYU professor and how ridiculous many of the advocates of postmodernism are becoming. He writes about people who style themselves “Social Justice Warriors” who will shout down a speaker they disagree with in the name of free speech!

I came away from this book with a couple of observations. First, there are far more people who take this stuff seriously than I ever imagined. Second, they are determined to make their idea of what is right the only way that things are allowed. It is truly remarkable to me that the SJW’s are ready to name anyone they disagree with as a Nazi and yet they are employing the very tactics the Nazis used!

This is an important book. I have already begun recommending it to friends.

[Rudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a view of Social Justice from someone who would be deemed a liberal writer. However, he questioned the bounds of the liberal thinking, and the world changed. Suddenly, his thinking was questioned, he was no longer sited for his wisdom or wit. Michael Rectenwald documents his "rise and fall" and documents, to include footnotes and a biolography of references and sources used. He also includes comments made by others in e-mails, tweets, etc. to include threats and, in some cases, the media attack by someone who will make you roll your eyes wondering, "Are they that misinformed (stupid)?"
If politically, you lean to the left, get ready to see the worst of those who share your believes. I hope that you are willing to keep an open mind as to hearing other views, even those you might not agree with.

[Jonny Andres · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at social policing and injustice through the eyes of a Libertarian Marxist. There is nothing truly groundbreaking here. This is basically a short anecdote of the author's experiences with speaking out against injustice and being ostracized by his peers and people whom he thought were friends. To be politically correct for the sake of being politically correct is just plain ignorant. On some California University campuses, we now have availability of separated dorms for black students...so they can basically segregate themselves. What's next...separate restrooms, cafeterias, classes... Drinking fountains? The only thing this does is effectively assist in a great divide of our great nation.

[Will Mead · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Further, when markers of race, gender, gender fluidity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion and other factors are the only criteria considered in hiring or admissions, students are cheated, as are those chosen to meet diversity measures on the basis of identity alone. Nothing is more essentialist or constraining than diversity understood strictly in terms of identity. Such a notion of diversity reduces 'diverse' people to the status of token bearers of identity markers and relegates them to the status of token bearers of identity markers and relegates them to an impenetrable and largely inescapable identity chrysalis, implicitly eliding their individuality" (p. 104).

[Noah Mickel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half-Memoir, Half-Primer on the Frankfurt School and Postmodernism.

Not the cleanest read, as the transitions between postmodern theory sections and memoir sections can be a bit erratic, but unbelievably fun through the whole book. In particular, I appreciated how Rectenwald notes the differences between Marxism, the Frankfurt School, and the postmodernists, as most modern discourse lumps them together as “POSTMODERN NEOMARXISM.”

All in all, a very readable intro to these schools of thought with the story of the “Deplorable NYU Prof” as a backdrop.

[JW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly educational, this trip through one academic's journey into (and eventual banishment out of) the social justice milieu provides a reader with enough background to understand that The Left and The Right are dealing with completely different definitions for even the most basic of words, leading one to a frightening but inevitable conclusion:

Both The Left and The Right are absolutely out of their fucking minds.

[Bob Bingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes you through his personal journey into the halls of higher learning, with his advanced research in postmodernism and its offshoot Cultural Theory. Overall it was interesting although there is plenty of esoteric terminology that makes the book somewhat above a popular level. It does provide a very good overview of the religion of "social justice", which sadly has taken center stage in politics, the university, and the media.

[Barry Linetsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an ex-Marxist, Rectenwald has a world of insights about the nature of the postmodernism movement and its ties to Marxist collectivism and antagonism against reason and individual rights. It's also the story of what happened to the author when the postmodernists in academia came for him for criticizing their irrational and belligerent dogmatic hatred for those who oppose their political objectives.

[Bryce Eickholt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guy that literally designed courses and taught the stuff exposes post-modern theory and social justice for what it is. He has a very artful writing style. Normally i dont like wordy books but this guy is good. The "fluff" is worthwhile. That said, it's pretty short and sweet. The last quarter or so is a bunch of tweets and facebook posts, which are good too.

[Katie Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, basically, academia is a sham.
I love reading books by people who do not hold the same religious/ political values that I do, yet do hold to rational thought.
I also realized how valuable my English degree from 1988 is. That's when you could major in English and expect to read great works of literature, do a lot of discussion and writing and study grammar.
Today, not very likely. 😞

[Adam Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of unnecessary personal anecdotes, but he gives a good look into his personal journey into postmodern philosophy and how that philosophy developed over time. He also does a good job of connecting social justice to postmodernism by way of it being deconstruction applied.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing book which reads more like a rushed autobiography with very little dispassionate explanation of the postmodern antecedents of Critical Theory, the predominant epistemological approach in today’s universities.

[Breezy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book and I’m not really one for memoirs. If you don’t frequently read academic documents on social philosophy, be prepared to google a bunch of terms. Despite the heavy material, the author’s wit and use of irony kept the book from becoming too stale.

[Jim Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let’s just say academia is pretty screwed up. And leave it at that...

[Donald Krug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great perspective of academia.

The author has come a long way, left to right extremes. Enjoyed the personal viewpoint of someone right in the middle of campus insanity.