Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Paperback Roundhouse: Joe Berke and the 1967 Congress on the Dialectics of Liberation Book

ISBN: 3838216598

ISBN13: 9783838216591

Roundhouse: Joe Berke and the 1967 Congress on the Dialectics of Liberation

The 1967 'Summer of Love' brought all sorts of unusual people and events to London but perhaps nothing so extraordinary as the Congress on the Dialectics of Liberation. The congress, organized by the American 'anti-psychiatrist' Joe Berke, with help from Leon Redler, R.D. Laing, David Cooper, and a host of students, ex-students, psychiatric 'patients', and secretaries, took place at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm Road over two weeks during July, and was designed to 'demystify human violence in all its forms, the social systems from which it emanates, and to explore new forms of action.'

But that bald summary of the purpose of the congress, accurate as it is, hardly does justice to its immediate achievements or to its long-term significance. Mingling with the many then famous speakers: Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Marcuse, Paul Goodman, Stokely Carmichael, Gregory Bateson, C.L.R. James, Julian Beck, Emmett Grogan, Thich Nhat Hanh, Paul Sweezy, John Gerassi, and Lucien Goldmann, were many younger people who arrived with their own ideas and who themselves went onto distinguished and influential careers in the arts, politics and academia. One was the American artist Carolee Schneemann, who devised a happening which was performed on the last day of the congress. Another was the British psychoanalyst and feminist Juliet Mitchell. A third was the American feminist, Angela Davis.

This book, which is in part a biography of Joe Berke, traces the Congress from its origins in the United States to its major outgrowth The Anti-University of London, and concludes with some brief reflections on the congress's relevance to today's 'revolutionary' identity-based politics.

Recommended

Format: Paperback

Condition: New

$42.22
Almost Gone, Only 4 Left!
Ships within 24 hours

Related Subjects

History

Customer Reviews

0 rating
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured