A review by sydthebeesknee
Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy by Lynne Segal

2.0

This was a little disappointing. I did not enjoy that this book was mostly synthesis, read like a literature review, and lack a clear thesis. I will say, the book's structure means that now I feel like I have an excellent resource to find other resources on collective joy and political economy because Segal's writing is so well-researched and cites heavily. As broad and heavily cited it was, I also feel like some points were undeveloped and under researched. For an example, Segal describes the very corporatized, reformist Black Lives Matter movement as a decentralized, non-hierarchical, radical movement.

I did like the two chapters on utopian thinking! These chapters were probably the strongest, in my opinion, because they strayed closest to the loosely-defined main thesis on the utility, possibility, and radical potential in collective joy.

Also, the breadth wasn't all bad! Segal mentions many interesting concepts, including anarchism, ecofeminism, and the weaknesses of direct democracy.