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.