Video from the interview that Pam and I conducted with the Italian Hegelian-Marxist philosopher and historian Domenico Losurdo for the Platypus Review:

The interview took place in the Best Western hotel at which Losurdo was staying for the Left Forum, in the public dining room. Some people occasionally wandered in and out, which accounts for some of the ambient noise.

The strategy for the interview was that I would approach the questions from a position of extreme familiarity with Losurdo’s work, while Pam Nogales would use her expertise in the history of the American Civil War, the great Haitian Revolution, and the Revolutions of 1848 to address specific historical and interpretive claims that Losurdo made. Personally, I think it was fairly effective. We are, again, extremely grateful for Professor Losurdo’s graciousness in granting us such a long and detailed interview.

He was extremely flattered, by the way, that I had read all of his work that has been translated into English. He even expressed surprise when I mentioned off-camera his essay “What is Fundamentalism?”

He said: “You know this essay? But it has not been translated!”

To which I replied: “Yes it has. It appeared a few years back in Historical Materialism.”

Pam remarked to me that I knew his own work (at least in English) better than he did! But of course his work has been translated into many languages, so he can’t be expected to keep track of all of it.