Interview on mob violence in the Histories of Violence series in the LA Review of Books

This piece in the Los Angeles Review of Books was published on 9/27/2021 as part of a series of interviews by philosopher Brad Evans with writers who share their perspectives on violence. Here I discuss the nature of mob violence, the rhetorical functions of accusations of being ‘a mob’, the relation of these things to perceiving the public, and the perplexities of vigilantism. Starring Elias Canetti, Hannah Arendt, Adolph H. from Germany, the Jan 6th insurrectionists, the “I don’t call 911” signs that some gun owners post in their yards, Frederick Douglass, Ida B Wells, and historical research by Caroline Light and Elizabeth Hinton.