What's Left? with Malcolm Harris

In this episode, I’m joined by Malcolm Harris, author of Kids These Days, Palo Alto, and What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis, out April 15, 2025 and available for pre-order. His new book is a survey of left political-economic thought, broken down into what Malcolm sees as the three viable strategies for addressing the climate crisis. To end our economic addiction to fossil fuels, we can use the dark magic of marketcraft, build muscular public power, or we can go full communism. Or perhaps we will need all three, he says. “A strategy of strategies.” Malcolm and I also get into the pitfalls of market solutions and the so-called “abundance agenda,” the masculine allure of eco-modernism, and why the left needs to find common ground instead of fighting each other. Follow Malcolm on Twitter, and join him on tour for What's Left in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and Baltimore. And read Malcolm's full review of Abundance, The Baffler. This episode is part of the Non-Toxic Performative Male Book Club. It’s a series of all the author interviews I’ve done over the years, featuring some of the smartest writers, journalists, and academics I know. If you’re into Non-Toxic book coverage, click on any epsiode with the tag “Performative Male Book Club” to find more good books for guys who read, or pretend to. To keep the show going, become a subscriber today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe