Things That Can and Cannot Be Said: John Cusack & Arundhati Roy - Softcover

Cusack, John; Roy, Arundhati

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241980089 ISBN 13: 9780241980088

Publisher: Penguin, 2016

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

An extraordinary secret meeting between four brilliant political activists: Booker Prize-winner Arundhati Roy, NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, Pentagon Papers insider Daniel Ellsberg and acclaimed actor John Cusack

'What sort of love is this love that we have for countries? What sort of country is it that will ever live up to our dreams? What sort of dreams were these that have been broken?'

In 2014, four people met in secret in a hotel room in Moscow. Each was a leading global advocate for government transparency and accountability: they had come together to talk. Over the course of two days, Arundhati Roy, Edward Snowden, John Cusack and Daniel Ellsburg shared ideas and beliefs - about the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers, the NSA and the ongoing crises in the Middle East, the American government and the nature of activism.

Co-authored by Roy and Cusack, and interleaving verbatim conversations with narrated recollections, this Penguin Special captures an historic moment. Interrogating the geopolitical forces that shape our world, it is both political and personal, activist and humanist - irreverent, funny and absolutely urgent. In Things That Can and Cannot Be Said, Arundhati Roy and John Cusack issue a powerful rallying cry, a call to resistance against America's ongoing, malign hegemony.

About this title

Review:

Publisher's description. The historic account of a once-in-a-lifetime meeting between four of the modern world's most influential figures: NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsburg, tireless political activist Arundhati Roy and Hollywood superstar John Cusack. (Penguin)

Arundhati Roy is one of the most confident and original thinkers of our time (Naomi Klein)

A political critique of everything ... the book will make you sit up and question things (Financial Express)

[Roy is] an electrifying political essayist. . . . So fluent is her prose, so keen her understanding of global politics, and so resonant her objections to nuclear weapons, assaults against the environment, and the endless suffering of the poor that her essays are as uplifting as they are galvanizing (Booklist)

The fierceness with which Arundhati Roy loves humanity moves my heart (Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE)

From the Back Cover:

'What sort of love is this love that we have for countries? Isn't the greatness of great nations directly proportionate to their ability to be ruthless, genocidal? Doesn't the height of a country's "success" usually mark the depths of its moral failure?'

In late 2014, Arundhati Roy, John Cusack, and Daniel Ellsberg travelled to Moscow to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The result was a series of essays and dialogues in which Roy and Cusack reflect on their conversations with Snowden.
In these provocative and penetrating discussions, Roy and Cusack discuss the nature of the state, empire, and surveillance in an era of perpetual war, the meaning of flags and patriotism, the role of foundations and NGOs in limiting dissent, and the ways in which capital but not people can freely cross borders.

"Arundhati Roy is one of the most confident and original thinkers of our time."
-Naomi Klein

"The fierceness with which Arundhati Roy loves humanity moves my heart."
-Alice Walker

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0241980089
• ISBN 13: 9780241980088
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128