"For those who have been reading Maria Tamboukous books work over the years, this book is a denouement of sorts. For those not yet familiar with the pleasures of reading Tamboukou, a distinctive pleasure awaits. Everything comes together via Tambakous epistolary poethics, which put an Arendtian agonism of love into conversation with the private and political writings of four revolutionary women: Désirée Véret-Gay, Rosa Luxemburg, Emma Goldman and Rose Pesotta. Agonism is also in the archive, with Tamboukous focus on women whose love letters code private and public. And readers are in the archive with Tamboukou, searching for the shards of revolutionary womens writing, dispersed into the archives of men made more famous, or reading Emma Goldmans papers, aware of their pending move under precarious conditions from the reduced shelter of a neo-liberalizing university to a community center. The pain of loss, thrill of discovery, and responsibility of care are braided together as Tamboukou wondrously guides her readers through the epistolarium, its history, and its politics. A must-read for scholars or fans of women's and labour history, feminism, anarchism, or Hannah Arendt."
- Bonnie Honig, Nancy Duke Lewis Professor, Brown University, USA
"The lives of four revolutionary women read through Hannah Arendts thinking and writing about love: Tamboukou offers us a compelling theoretical narrative on the fascinating entanglements between love and politics. This book convincingly and joyously - argues that love is a crucial epistemological tool for feminist theory and a vital force for feminist practice."
- Olivia Guaraldo, Professor in Political Philosophy and Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies, University of Verona, Italy "For those who have been reading Maria Tamboukous books work over the years, this book is a denouement of sorts. For those not yet familiar with the pleasures of reading Tamboukou, a distinctive pleasure awaits. Everything comes together via Tambakous epistolary poethics, which put an Arendtian agonism of love into conversation with the private and political writings of four revolutionary women: Désirée Véret-Gay, Rosa Luxemburg, Emma Goldman and Rose Pesotta. Agonism is also in the archive, with Tamboukous focus on women whose love letters code private and public. And readers are in the archive with Tamboukou, searching for the shards of revolutionary womens writing, dispersed into the archives of men made more famous, or reading Emma Goldmans papers, aware of their pending move under precarious conditions from the reduced shelter of a neo-liberalizing university to a community center. The pain of loss, thrill of discovery, and responsibility of care are braided together as Tamboukou wondrously guides her readers through the epistolarium, its history, and its politics. A must-read for scholars or fans of women's and labour history, feminism, anarchism, or Hannah Arendt."
- Bonnie Honig, Nancy Duke Lewis Professor, Brown University, USA
"The lives of four revolutionary women read through Hannah Arendts thinking and writing about love: Tamboukou offers us a compelling theoretical narrative on the fascinating entanglements between love and politics. This book convincingly and joyously - argues that love is a crucial epistemological tool for feminist theory and a vital force for feminist practice."
- Olivia Guaraldo, Professor in Political Philosophy and Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies, University of Verona, Italy
"In an important contribution to feminist love studies, Tamboukou offers a highly original synthesis of materialist thought on private life. Beginning with a relational concept of the self and building upon the notion of love as a potential source of power for women, in her analysis of love letters by four notable feminist socialists, Tamboukou succeeds in realigning emotional attachments, effectively closing the gap between the personal and the political."
-Femmes Auteurs Anglo-AMéricaines [ FAAAM], Paris Nanterre University
