A review by librar_bee
Everybody: A Book About Freedom by Olivia Laing

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

5 stars. Laing is skilled at drawing new ideas and conclusions through the synthesis of historical figures and their experiences. Furthermore, they give a forecast of what is to come, and the potential for the human spirit.

In Everybody, the philosopher Wilhelm Reich, his life, and his ideas, serve as the main thread of the book. Pulling in figures from 1930s Berlin to the 1960s Civil Rights movement, Laing explores the concepts of freedom and individuality, and the body that contains the spirit. With digressions into modern struggles for the freedom of bodily autonomy, in queerness, reproductive health, and in asylum-seeking, Laing's musings and philosophical insights are equal parts accessible and inspiring.