View the archive of our 90-minute class and discover the Five Things We’ve Learned about the essential roles that rage and anger play in public life – and in our principled responses to all forms of social injustice.

Hi, I’m Nick Buccola, the author of The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America. I am thrilled to be hosting a series of four personal conversations with leading writers about their experience of the power of the written word.

Acclaimed writer and teacher Myisha Cherry will join me for the fourth session in this series for a discussion of Five Things I’ve Learned about the Social Uses of Anger. I first got to know Myisha through her work on the philosophy of emotions. Myisha is my kind of philosopher; she thinks clearly and deeply about ideas that can help us make sense of how we ought to live. Her thinking on anger, for example, culminated in her acclaimed recent book, The Case for Rage. In the book, Myisha argues that we too often have an oversimplified understanding of how anger can manifest itself in our social and political lives. We are often taught the anger is “bad” or “unproductive.” But Myisha shows this is not always the case. Indeed, sometimes anger is not only an appropriate response to a social or political situation, but it can even be a necessary and morally praiseworthy response.

Myisha is a perfect fit for this series of classes on the power of the written word because she has devoted her life as a teacher and a scholar to thinking in slow motion about ideas that matter and sharing her thinking with the public. Myisha is committed to the idea that philosophy ought to extend beyond the walls of the academy, to the broader culture. Through her writing, teaching, and celebrated Unmuted podcast, Myisha is changing the world, one idea at a time.

There is always so much wisdom to be gained in the presence of Myisha Cherry. Please join us for what I know will be a great class.