{"product_id":"what-in-me-is-dark-isbn-9781662603402","title":"What in Me Is Dark","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Enlightening and enthusiastic.\" —Ed Simon,\u003ci\u003e The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow in paperback, a highly original hybrid of literary criticism and political history, telling of the enduring, surprising and ever-evolving relevance of Milton’s epic poem through the scandalous life of its creator and the revolutionary lives that were influenced by it.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat in Me Is Dark\u003c\/i\u003e tells the unlikely story of how Milton’s epic poem came to haunt political struggles over the past four centuries, including the many different, unexpected, often contradictory ways in which it has been read, interpreted, and appropriated through time and across the world, and to revolutionary ends. The book focuses on twelve readers—including Malcolm X, Thomas Jefferson, George Eliot, Hannah Arendt, and C.L.R James—whose lives demonstrate extraordinary and disturbing influence on the modern age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing from his own experiences teaching \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e in New Jersey prisons, English scholar Orlando Reade deftly investigates how the poem was read by people embedded in struggles against tyranny, slavery, colonialism, gender inequality, and capitalist exploitation. It is experimental nonfiction at its finest; rich literary analysis and social, cultural and political history are woven together to make a clarifying case for the undeniable impact of the poem.\"Enlightening and enthusiastic.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEd Simon, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"It's unusual, and instructive, to encounter a work of criticism so at ease with the idea that its cherished object might, at best, be useful to its readers—answerable to their needs and their purposes.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eCatherine Nicholson, \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The most perceptive passages in Mr. Reade’s book place thinkers in lively debate over the central meanings of Milton’s work . . . \u003ci\u003eWhat in Me Is Dark\u003c\/i\u003e attentively summarizes all these perspectives.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBenjamin Shull,\u003ci\u003e The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWhat In Me Is Dark\u003c\/i\u003e is, among other things, about the fraught relationship between art and revolution. It demonstrates for us how a poet wrestles with his own nature, and how societies and cultures do so too. It meditates on its own having-fallen, as both Adam and Satan do in Milton’s poem, and as we would do well to do right now, given the particular insanity of our current predicament. Orlando is a brilliant and a precise thinker.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eAriana Reines, \u003ci\u003eBOMB\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An incredible, pulsing reappraisal of how Milton’s great work has driven and influenced thinkers and revolutionaries from Thomas Jefferson to Malcolm X and beyond. Original and timely.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Big Issue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[An] excellent debut study . . . This edifying analysis testifies to the enduring power of literature.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Reade makes an eloquent case for the continuing vitality of \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Concise and lively.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eAndrea Brady, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eWhat in Me Is Dark\u003c\/i\u003e is a] thoughtful, wide-ranging and astute book . . . As a response to such a complex and equivocal historical figure neither hagiography nor iconoclasm seems quite adequate, and Reade’s excellent book strikes a difficult and deft balance between the two.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoe Moshenska, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eWhat in Me Is Dark\u003c\/i\u003e] has something for the English Renaissance freaks (me) and merely Milton-curious alike . . . The resulting work is a multivalent argument for the past’s reverberating potential to speak to our present moment.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKate Bailey, \u003ci\u003eSewanee Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With this book, school’s in session in the best way.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSharon Hsu, Goodreads\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A fresh consideration of the long and surprising afterlife of John Milton’s epic \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Edifying, wide-ranging cultural criticism.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a rare and extraordinary book. In tracing the surprising revolutionary legacy of Milton’s epic, Reade has himself produced a liberatory text. This is not only a book for Milton scholars, but anyone invested in the poetics of freedom struggle.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNatasha Lennard, author of \u003ci\u003eBeing Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Wonderfully written, intelligent and moving. Orlando Reade follows the enduring conversation between Milton’s Paradise Lost and revolutionaries across the centuries. Reade reminds us that literature is action, that epic poetry has the power to liberate minds, pens, and voices. Behind every revolution is a song. As it turns out, so often that song has been Paradise Lost.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLeah Redmond Chang, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eYoung Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Orlando Reade writes with exhilarating style, luminous clarity, and irreverent wit. Each page of What in Me Is Dark is aflame with ideas—on the relation between politics and evil, abolition and poetry—and with the sublimity of Milton’s verse, deftly brought alive. Earth may be hell, but fallen angels, as Reade shows, have been our unexpected guides toward freedom and justice.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eAnna Della Subin, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With many new discoveries and insights, Orlando Reade tells the story of how Milton’s Paradise Lost has inspired crucial figures in literature and politics. Reade writes a new history of liberty, as he shows how Milton has provided an influential and enduring resource for a better world, one for which we still strive.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNigel Smith, Princeton University, author of \u003ci\u003eIs Milton Better than Shakespeare?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"An entertaining, wide-ranging, and generally well-researched account of the meaning and influence of John Milton’s great epic, Paradise Lost.\"\u003cb\u003e —James Matthew Wilson,\u003ci\u003e World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eOrlando Reade studied at Cambridge and Princeton, where he received his PhD in English literature in 2020. For a period of five years, he taught in New Jersey prisons. He is now an assistant professor of English at Northeastern University London. His writing has appeared in publications including \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian, Frieze\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe White Review\u003c\/i\u003e, where he also served as a contributing editor.","brand":"Astra House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233841066213,"sku":"NP9781662603402","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781662603402.jpg?v=1767743844","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/what-in-me-is-dark-isbn-9781662603402","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}