Deforming American Political Thought

'Michael J. Shapiro’s Deforming American Political Thought is committed to the transformations that concepts, practices, and media bring to those reflective sensibilities neglected by our current sciences of politics. Contrapunctal in both style and rhythm, Shapiro shows us that politics has no specific medium. By bringing to light diverse figures, objects, and voices heretofore silenced in our descriptions of American political theory, he puts to work a transversality of material cultures that partition our genres of thinking. This is interdisciplinary political theorizing at its finest.' - Davide Panagia, UCLA, USA

'Michael J. Shapiro’s Deforming American Political Thought is a masterpiece. Shapiro deploys various genres of art, various disciplines of thought and science, to reveal an America that has always been there, just beyond the ken of conventional political theory. His is a counter-history of American conventions of the political, one that shows how cultures of resistance and creative arts nurtured by minority voices find their way to the surface of our lives. He offers an alternative understanding of the American demos that challenges the conceits of the bullies of American exceptionalism, from Jefferson to the present, whether they be found in the corridors of power or corridors of colleges and universities. This isn’t so much a book to be reckoned with as it is itself a reckoning.' - Thomas Dumm, Amherst College, USA