The Dialectics of Liberation - David Cooper

Published in the wake of the landmark 1967 Dialectics of Liberation Congress in London, this influential collection brings together essays from some of the most radical thinkers of the era, including R. D. Laing, Herbert Marcuse, Paul Goodman, Allen Ginsberg, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) and others. The contributors examine the psychological, political and cultural forces that shape modern society, exploring subjects such as alienation, capitalism, racism, imperialism, education, revolution and the possibilities of personal and collective liberation.

Rather than offering a single ideology, The Dialectics of Liberation presents a wide-ranging conversation between psychiatry, philosophy, politics and the counterculture. The essays reflect the intellectual energy of the late 1960s, when established ideas about authority, mental health, social justice and human freedom were being fundamentally challenged. Edited by anti-psychiatrist David Cooper, the volume remains an important historical document of the New Left and countercultural movements, making it an essential read for those interested in radical politics, social theory, psychology and the intellectual history of the 1960s.