First published in The Wire and later Monthly Review Online   The death of James Petras—the American sociologist whose writings influenced generations of critical thinkers across continents—passed through the world almost like a whisper. A scholar who spent his life exposing the violence of power, the inequalities of global capitalism, and the illusions of empire left this world with little noise beyond small circles of readers and comrades. In a time when intellectual eminence is often measured by luminosity, the silence around his passing speaks volumes about the place reserved [...]