The Emperor is Naked

The modern “state” and especially the so-called “nation-state” are increasingly showing their dark underbelly - their potential for global catastrophe. Is there another path ahead, beyond myth and calculation? Dabashi’s stunning text explores this crucial question. * Fred Dallmayr, author of Post-Liberalism *
A tour de force, insightful and enjoyable. The Emperor is Naked is an elegant dress-down of the West’s colonial legacy of fabrications and falsifications. Agree with him or not, Dabashi makes a strong case against the rationality and durability of Europe’s grand legacy, the nation-state. A seasoned intellectual, he emotes his readers like a grand maestro, summoning the voices and sounds of thinkers, poets and artists and elevating them into inspiring crescendos. * Marwan Bishara *
In an illuminating argument that mixes personal narrative and classical fables with history and political analysis, Dabashi counters a series of common assumptions about how revolutions today must proceed, including the destructive myth that the postcolonial state is a necessary vehicle for liberation. Particularly important is his argument – against the standard narrative that casts recent insurrections as failures – that the seeds of the future will be found in those “open-ended revolutions.” A vital contribution for all interested in liberation struggles today. * Michael Hardt, co-author of Assembly *

Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University, USA. His many books include The Arab Spring and Can Non-Europeans Think?, both from Zed Books. Dabashi has been a columnist for Al Jazeera for nearly a decade and has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, the CNN, the BBC, and the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly. His books have been translated into numerous languages.

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