Public Secrets: Collected Skirmishes of Ken Knabb

by Ken Knabb

Literary Nonfiction. Politics. Critical Theory. The first half of the book consists of two new texts. "The Joy of Revolution" is a series of observations on the problems and possibilities of a global antihierarchical revolution. Beginning with a brief overview of the failure of Bolshevism and the inadequacy of reformism, it examines the pros and cons of a wide range of radical tactics, then concludes with some speculations on what a liberated society might be like. "Confessions of a Mild-Mannered Enemy of the State" is largely concerned with Knabb's situationist activities, but it also includes reminiscences of the sixties counterculture and accounts of his Zen practice and other later ventures. The second half of the book contains virtually all of Knabb's previous publications. Beginning with his 1970 disruption of a Gary Snyder poetry reading, it includes critiques of the New Left and the counterculture; accounts of situationist groups, tactics and scandals;translations of several French texts; an appreciation of the great writer and social critic, Kenneth Rexroth; pamphlets, posters, comics and articles on Wilhelm Reich, radical Buddhists, Japanese anarchists, Chinese dissidents, the 1970 Polish revolt, the 1979 Iranian uprising; and the widely reproduced Gulf war tract, "The War and the Spectacle." The aim throughout is to bring the real choices into the open and to incite people to make their own radical experiments.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Ken Knabb (b. 1945) is an American radical writer and translator, particularly known for his translations of Guy Debord and the Situationist International. His works include The Relevance of Rexroth (1990), the Situationist International Anthology (1981), and the collection Public Secrets (1997). More recently, Knabb has written extensively on the Occupy movement. He holds a bachelor's degree from Shimer College in Chicago, where he enrolled via the early entrance program. (from Shimer College Wiki)

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Author, Ken, donated a number of his books to an anarchist bookstore in the bay area. From there, they made their way all across the country in to prisons. I was the recipient of both Public Secrets, and The Situationist Anthology which he had translated from french. I had plenty of time to read, and I did-voraciously. After getting into the situationist tracts in the Anthology, and then first reading Knabb's "Joy of Revolution" in Public Secrets then his compiled earlier work, I realized all the ideas put forth came from a long line of some of the greatest thinkers. It is an empowering read. Take it as serious as you should and you will discover that the world doesn't quite look the same. In the book there are concrete suggestions towards revolution in our lifetime, and the author quickly dispatches myths such as reformism, primitivism and pacifism while througt dispelling the idea of some kind of "necessary vanguard" and instead positing that the power for revolution ultimately lay in the hands of every day you and me.
Ken keeps a knowledge filled website at bopsecrets.org

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken Knabb is, of course, most well known for his editing of the important Situationist Anthology. I had some brief correspondence w/ him & he sent me ads for his bks. That irritated me because I have no intention of becoming a consumer of someone else's radicalism. SO, I wrote to him & told him that if he wanted to trade w/ me, fine, but otherwise to please not send me advertisements - regardless of whether the product is something I support. To his credit, he agreed to trade & I sent him a record of mine & he sent me this bk. I read it & liked it. It was interesting to follow his personal political development.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first quarter is an essay on the problems and possibilities of revolutionary moments which is surprisingly light and free of dogma. The next quarter is a brief autobiography of Ken Knabb. The rest is a collection of Knabb's various writings, almost entirely from the 1970s. These are mostly unpacking all the problems and issues in the wake of the collapse of the revolutionary moments of the 1960s, almost entirely from a Situationist perspective. Many of these are a bit dense, obtuse or obviously dated, though they are often lucid and interesting. Perhaps the best in the collection though is a longer essay on the life and writing of Kenneth Rexroth from a few years after his death. Most of this is perhaps for the specialist, but the opening essay and the work on Rexroth are for everyone.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is only mildly interesting. I guess we are supposed to care about the life of a man that really wished he lived in Paris during the 60's and 70's, but instead was stuck in San Francisco. The one thing that Ken Knabb has going for him is his translations of important books that are left with no copyright. His translations are good, but his original essays are somewhat weak.

In the end, i'd say that it is good that Knabb is out there to translate old and forgotten essays by French radicals if only because no one else is going to do it.