Content:

Former Jacobin editor Shawn Gude presents a stunning portrait of Eugene V. Debs, the railroad worker turned radical visionary whose leadership during the Gilded Age inspired the working class to fight back against the power of the rich—and speaks to our own Gilded Age, when the ultra-wealthy again rule America’s political and economic life.

Shawn Gude in conversation with Alderman Anthony Quezada presents American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs.

There was a time, a little more than 100 years ago, when some 1,200 Socialists held elected office across the United States. Ministers in Oklahoma preached the gospel of “Christian socialism” at revival-style gatherings come summertime. And Eugene V. Debs—part working-class agitator, part radical prophet—received nearly a million votes when he ran for president from behind bars. Before Bernie Sanders, before Zohran Mamdani, Eugene Debs was America’s favorite socialist—part working-class agitator, part radical prophet. Rousing, poignant, and intimately human, American Socialist is a striking portrait of one man’s radicalization—and of the country he radicalized in turn.

Gude reads from and discusses the book with democratic socialist alderman Anthony Quezada before an audience Q&A and signing.

Shawn Gude is a former editor at Jacobin and the author of American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs. He was born and raised in Iowa.

Alderman Anthony Quezada is a lifelong Chicagoan, community organizer, and public servant. He served for more than six years as the 35th Ward Neighborhood Services Director before being elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2022, becoming the first democratic socialist elected to the Board. In 2025, he was appointed Alderman of Chicago’s 35th Ward, where he has focused on delivering funding for affordable housing, strengthening tenant protections, and protecting our immigrant neighbors from ICE. Anthony is an endorsed Chicago Democratic Socialists of America candidate for Alderman in the February 23, 2027 election.