Disappointment has proved to be a durable, perhaps even inevitable, feature of the democratic project, yet so too has the resistance it precipitates. In her latest book, Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis, author Sara Marcus argues that the defining texts in twentieth-century American cultural history are records of losses sustained, fostered intellectual revolutions, and unexpected solidarities. Join for a riveting discussion between Marcus and two Minneapolis/St.Paul-based artists, Tish Jones and Sam Gould, moderated by the University of Minnesota’s Elliott Powell, about how Black writers and artists in particular confront disappointment directly and help to produce new political meanings and possibilities. Together, they will reflect on how defeat time and time again gives rise to novel modes of protest and new forms of collective practice, keeping alive the dream of a better world.

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