Dustin Byrd

Dustin J. Byrd, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at The University of Olivet. He specializes in social and political philosophy, the critical theory (Frankfurt School), philosophy of religion, psychoanalytic political theory, as well as contemporary Russian and Islamic thought.

Dr. Byrd has published numerous articles and books, including "Ayatollah Khomeini and the Anatomy of the Islamic Revolution in Iran" (University Press of America, 2011), "A Critique of Ayn Rand's Philosophy of Religion: The Gospel According to John Galt" (Lexington Books, 2014), and has co-edited books on Malcolm X, Ali Shariati, Frantz Fanon, Syed Hussein Alatas, and Sigmund Freud (all published with Brill and Haymarket Books). He has also written extensively on post-secularity, Islamophobia, Populism, and the Far-Right.

He has presented his work at the University of Oxford, University of Exeter, the University of Edinburgh, Loyola University (Rome), the International Psychoanalytic University (Berlin), New York University, Gonzaga University, Loyola University (Chicago), Michigan State University, The University of Michigan-Dearborn, Western Michigan University, Ball State University, and numerous other institutions.

In 2019, Dr. Byrd founded Ekpyrosis Press, an academic publishing house dedicated to advancing critical thought in an age of conformity and reactionary politics. His latest book (2023) is entitled, "The Dark Charisma of Donald Trump: Political Psychology and the MAGA Movement," which is available on Amazon.

He is also the Founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Critical Social Theory.