That’s the American Story

Lewis Lapham: All poles are greasy.

Angela Davis: Which is, of course, ridiculous.

Lapham: Fleet Street descended like a flock of crows.

Davis: That was true 50 years ago when I first encountered Marx but today, with the impact of global capitalism, it’s even more true.

Lapham: I think I devote a page to it.

•••

Davis: To this day, in the U.S. it is still said there are no political prisoners.

Lapham: It kind of depends on which crowd you’re with.

Davis: Large numbers became involved and many of them came to feel as if it was their story as well.

Lapham: That’s the American story. It’s the same story!

Davis: [Laughs] Yes, that’s true.

•••

Lapham: He may be insufficiently cynical to know how hard it is to move the furniture.

Davis: It took a while before she persuaded me.

Lapham: I think there was probably an element of idealism in it.

Davis: We could use some of that today.

Lapham: The thought that politics is, after all, what we make our freedom with.