Person
Every book Brendan O'Neill recommended on podcasts
Brendan O'Neill appears on interview programs such as The Rubin Report as a political commentator and journalist focused on free speech, cultural trends, and civil liberties. Throughout his discussions, O'Neill recommends and analyzes foundational political texts to critique modern ideological movements. He strongly recommends Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto to viewers, specifically drawing attention to its surprising early sections praising the capitalist class. He also references Karl Marx's Grundrisse when examining early Marxist perspectives on international trade and consumer society. To support his arguments against contemporary censorship and informal tyranny, O'Neill brings up John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, alongside historical writings such as Frederick Douglass's A Plea for Free Speech, which details the suppression of abolitionist meetings by hecklers. Furthermore, O'Neill utilizes Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel Brave New World to warn against modern government initiatives obsessed with engineered happiness, using classic literature to anchor his critiques of contemporary authoritarian tendencies.
Books recommended by Brendan O'Neill
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The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is a foundational political pamphlet that outlines the core tenets of Marxism, class struggle, and the critique of capitalism.
Recommended“if you read the communist manifesto which I recommend to all your viewers they must read the communist manifesto the first nine or ten pages are devoted to praising the capitalist class”
Where to get it
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Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a dystopian novel that imagines a futuristic society engineered through biological conditioning, technological control, and the elimination of traditional human emotions.
Discussed“actually brings to mind Huxley's brave new world because in brave new world the terrifying authoritarian state is obsessed with making people happy”
Where to get it
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Great plea for freedom, read it and you cannot resist it
Discussed“you know they remind me of one of the greatest things ever written about freedom of speech was titled a plea for free speech by Frederick Douglas former slave of course become abolitionist one of my favorite figures from American history he took part in a abolitionist meeting in Boston and it was shut down by hecklers the pro-slavery hecklers”
Where to get it
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Grundrisse
Discussed“but you know the problem with anti capitalism today is that it's incredibly it hates all the things about capitalism that the early Marx is actually quite liked which is international trade the internationalization of trade even the consumer society in the Grundy's Marx wrote about the wonders of advertising”
Where to get it
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On Liberty
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill is an 1859 philosophical essay widely regarded as one of the most powerful and foundational defenses of free speech and individual liberty.
Discussed“and it's a point John Stuart Mill makes in on Liberty John Stuart Mill often argued that the worst kind of censorship is not necessarily legal or state censorship”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Speech: Hypocrisy of Antifa & the Radical Left | Brendan O’Neill | FREE SPEECH | Rubin Report | The Rubin Report | 2017-12-01 | 6 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“This is of course what Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson had been debating a lot for the last year and a half and many others a Ben Shapiro wrote a book about it”