Political science and theory Books

Book SynopsisThis edition of Will Kymlicka''s best selling critical introduction to contemporary political theory has been fully revised to include many of the most significant developments in Anglo-American political philosophy in the last 11 years, particularly the new debates on political liberalism, deliberative democracy, civic republicanism, nationalism and cultural pluralism. The book now includes two new chapters on citizenship theory and multiculturalism, in addition to updated chapters on utilitarianism, liberal egalitarianism, libertarianism, socialism, communitarianism, and feminism. The many thinkers discussed include G. A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, William Galston , Carol Gilligan, R. M. Hare, Catherine Mackinnon, David Miller, Philippe Van Parijs, Susan Okin, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, John Roemer, Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor, Michael Walzer, and Iris Young. Extended guides to further reading have been added at the end of each chapter, listing the most important books and articles on each school of thought, as well as relevant journals and websites.Covering some of the most advanced contemporary thinking, Will Kymlicka writes in an engaging, accessible, and non-technical way to ensure the book is suitable for readers approaching these concepts for the first time. This second edition promises to build on the original edition''s success as a key text in the teaching of modern political theory.Trade ReviewReview of second edition: There is an effortless command of a range of arguments and theories, comprehensive and informed knowledge of the relevant sources, and a narrative which is highly accessible and at the same time organises the material intelligently. Kymlicka's own views are expressed but in a way that does not do a disservice to those he criticises. This is a fine example of an introductory text which does not mute its authors stance but which benefits from his partisan participation in the debates * Dr David Archard, University of St Andrews *Review of second edition: Kymlicka has an exceptional ability to present difficult material in an accessible manner that nevertheless allows the reader to understand why the issue is complex and why it matters. The chapters are clearly written, pitched at the right level, and cover the territory * Dr Matt Matravers, University of York *Review of second edition: (The) changes make this edition sill more attractive and useful than the first. Its depth, lucidity and rigour mark it out as one of the better introductions on the market for anyone who wishes seriously to engage with the important recent debates within contemporary liberal theory. It stands out as that rare introductory book that offers the hard analytical work required if one is really to get to grips with the issues. * THES *Review of first edition: Kymlicka has given us a superb book that might serve as a central text in both introductory and advanced courses in political philosophy...Kymlicka's striking achievement is to have presented a sophisticated philosophical analysis in clear, non-technical language readily intellible to any alternative reader... * David Stern, Teaching Philosophy *Review of first edition: ... For a higher-level undergraduate or graduate course on contemporary political philosophy it would be ideal. Moreover, it is a serious work in political philosophy deserving the attention and respect of the mature political-philosophical community * James Child, Philosophical Quarterly *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Utilitarianism ; 3. Liberal Equality ; 4. Libertarianism ; 5. Marxism ; 6. Communitarianism ; 7. Citizenship Theory ; 8. Multiculturalism ; 9. Feminism

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Book SynopsisPeople often refer to the 'United Nations' but without specifying which specific parts are responsible for success or failure. This book explores supportive the non-state actors that are essential players in developing global policies and norms, alongside the traditional categories of member states (first UN) and staff (second UN).Trade ReviewIn this impressive book, the authors Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss remind us that the UN system cannot survive without the input and ideas of an array of independent thinkers and players and actors, including research centers, human rights experts, economists, consultants, digital networks, and specialists of all sorts who daily help the UN carry out its Charter obligations. Indeed, in many ways, the unheralded 'Third UN' serves as one of the great strengths of the world's most indispensable security body. * Dr Stephen Schlesinger, Author of Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations *From scholars to think-tanks, NGOs to foundations, all of us working on global governance owe the authors a great debt of gratitude. Without their seminal work on the "Third UN", we simply would not have the language or evidence to demonstrate that civil society inclusion is not just 'nice to have' but essential to securing peace, sustainable development and human rights for all. * Natalie Samarasinghe, Global Director, Advocacy, Open Society Foundations *Carayannis and Weiss pithily anatomize the intellectual community that 'helps the UN think.' This is an excellent handbook for researchers wondering how to get the world organization to listen to their big ideas and a must-read for anyone who wants to get into the UN advocacy business. * Richard Gowan, UN Director, International Crisis Group *The examples presented by the authors demonstrate how important the development of new ideas and their transmission into the ''first'' and ''second'' UN is for the reform processes of the United Nations. * Helmut Volger, German Review of the United Nations no1. 2022 *The book presents the most comprehensive overview to date of external actors contribution to the formulation of ideas for decision-making in the UNs policy processes... the authors have given UN scholars many opportunities to connect the book to scholarship on international organizations and non-state actors and advance research in this area in a more fruitful and systematic manner...Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss have written a fascinating book of immense value to every student and scholar researching the UN, that will also give UN experts and global policymakers fresh insights, thanks to the original data the authors were able to assemble because of their unique expertise. * Nina Reiners, Global Policy Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The 'Third' UN: Non-State Actors and the World Body's Thinking 2: NGOs: Sovereignty-Free Partners for UN Policy Development 3: Commissions and High-Level Panels: How Eminent Individuals Shape UN Thinking 4: The UN's Knowledge Economy: Think Tanks, Academics, and Knowledge Brokers 5: Alternative Voices: Challengers of the Normative Post-War Order 6: Fitter for Purpose? The UN's Normative Future

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Book SynopsisHuman society is full of would-be ''change agents'', a restless mix of campaigners, lobbyists and officials, both individuals and organizations, set on transforming the world. They want to improve public services, reform laws and regulations, guarantee human rights, get a fairer deal for those on the sharp end, and achieve greater recognition for any number of issues or simply be treated with respect. It is striking then, that universities have no Department of Change Studies, to which social activists can turn for advice and inspiration. Instead, scholarly discussions of change are fragmented with few conversations crossing disciplinary boundaries, or making it onto the radars of those actively seeking change. How Change Happens bridges the gap between academia and practice, bringing together the best research from a range of academic disciplines and the evolving practical understanding of activists to explore the topic of social and political change. Drawing on many first-hand exampl

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Book SynopsisStudying Public Policy develops an analytical framework that will enable students to study public policy more effectively. The first of the books three parts examines different approaches to studying public policy by providing inventories of the relevant types of policy actors, structures, and ideas involved in public policy-making. Part Two then breaks down the policy process into the five sub-processes or sub-stages set out in the policy cycle model and analyzes the variables affecting each stage. Part Three concludes the text with a general commentary on the nature of policy change and stability.Table of ContentsNote: Each chapter includes: - Study Questions - Further Readings List of Figures Acknowledgments Part I: Methodology, Theory, and Context in Public Policy Research 1: Studying Public: Why and How 2: Understanding Public Policy: Theoretical Approaches 3: The Policy Context: States and Societies Part II: The Five Stages of the Policy Cycle 4: Agenda-Setting: Definition and Problematics 5: Policy Formulation: Identifying and Assessing Policy Alternatives 6: 6. Public Policy Decision-Making: Policy Selection and Choice 7: 7. Policy Implementation: Putting Policies into Effect 8: 8. Policy Evaluation: Policy-Making as Learning Part III: Long-Term Policy Dynamics 9: Patterns of Policy Change: Between Punctuations and Increments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisThe Oxford Handbooks of Political Science are the essential guide to the state of political science today. With engaging contributions from 39 major international scholars, The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions provides the key point of reference for anyone working on political institutions and beyond.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition 'The thoughtful essays in the handbooks are far more than literature reviews. Scholars and students will find them to be an invaluable resource for many years to come.' * Morris P. Fiorina, Senior, Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University *'Spanning all of the major substantive areas and approaches in modern political science, this blockbuster set is a must-have for scholars and students alike. Each volume is crafted by a distinguished set of editors who have assembled critical, comprehensive, essays to survey accumulated knowledge and emerging issues in the study of politics. These volumes will help to shape the discipline for many years to come.' * Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University *'Judging from the editors, contributors, and topics covered, the forthcoming Oxford Handbooks of Political Science will be a landmark series...This is a series that not only university libraries, but more specialized social science and political science libraries, will want to have on their shelves' * Robert O. Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Princeton University *Table of ContentsPART I. APPROACHES; PART II. INSTITUTIONS; PART III. PAST AND PRESENT

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Book SynopsisOxford Handbooks of Political Science are the essential guide to the state of political science today. With engaging contributions from 71 major international scholars, the Oxford Handbook of Political Economy provides the key point of reference for anyone working in political economy and beyond.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition 'This is an impressive book in every dimension.' * Randall G. Holcombe, Public Choice *'The overall quality of writing and analysis is high, and the bibliographies are very valuable...Highly recommended.' * M. Veseth, Choice, Vol. 44, No. 10 *'This volume comprises a thorough and definitive overview, written by the top people in the field, of the research frontier of political economy. It will be required reading for students, and essential reference material for scholars active in the field, for many years to come.' * Avinash K. Dixit, John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Princeton University *'The thoughtful essays in the Handbooks are far more than literature reviews. Scholars and students will find them to be a valusable resource for many years to come.' * Morris P. Fiorina, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Wendt Family Professor of Political Science, Stanford Univeristy. *This edited volume is comprehensive and impressive in every dimension. * Political Studies Review *Table of ContentsI. VOTERS, CANDIDATES, AND PRESSURE GROUPS; II. LEGISLATIVE BODIES; III. INTERACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE, PRESIDENT, BUREAUCRACY AND THE COURTS; IV. CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY; V. SOCIAL CHOICE; VI. PUBLIC FINANCE AND PUBLIC ECONOMICS; VII. POLITICS AND MACROECONOMICS; VIII. DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM; IX. HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND NON-DEMOCRATIC REGIMES; X. INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY; XI. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CONFLICT; XII. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES; XIII. OLD & NEW

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Book SynopsisThere are many debates about utopia - What constitutes a utopia? Are utopias benign or dangerous? Is the idea of utopianism essential to Christianity or heretical? What is the relationship between utopia and ideology? This Very Short Introduction explores these issues and examines utopianism and its history. Lyman Sargent discusses the role of utopianism in literature, and in the development of colonies and in immigration. The idea of utopia has become commonplace in social and political thought, both negatively and positively. Some thinkers see a trajectory from utopia to totalitarianism with violence an inevitable part of the mix. Others see utopia directly connected to freedom and as a necessary element in the fight against totalitarianism. In Christianity utopia is labelled as both heretical and as a fundamental part of Christian belief, and such debates are also central to such fields as architecture, town and city planning, and sociology among many othersSargent introduces and summarizes the debates over the utopia in literature, communal studies, social and political theory, and theology.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of ContentsPreface and acknowledgements ; 1. The forms of Utopian literature ; 2. Intentional communities ; 3. Nonwestern utopianism ; 4. Settler/colonial utopianism ; 5. Utopia and political theory ; 6. Ideology and utopia ; 7. Utopia and Christianity ; Conclusion ; References and further reading

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Book SynopsisEnvironmental politics is an established part of the political landscape, covering a host of different issues and impacting society, businesses, and individuals. Andrew Dobson explores the various actions, ideas, and dimensions that shape environmental politics - both on a local and global scale - and considers the role it will play in our future.Table of ContentsIntroduction: What is environmental politics? ; 1. Origins ; 2. Ideas ; 3. Movements, parties, policies ; 4. Local and global, North and South ; 5. Environmental futures ; Further reading ; Index

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Book SynopsisTerritory is one of the central political concepts of the modern world and, indeed, functions as the primary way the world is divided and controlled politically. This title provides an account of the emergence of territory within Western political thought.Trade Review"This is a brilliant intellectual exegesis of the concept of territory that will be of wide interest in a range of academic fields, from international relations to historical sociology and the history of political thought." (John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles)"

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates that ethnography is uniquely suited for illuminating the study of politics. This book addresses the central ontological and epistemological issues raised by ethnographic work. It also grapples with the reality that all research is conducted from a first-person perspective.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A juicy introduction to three of the most controversial figures in 20th-century American politics. . . . Well-researched and stimulating. . . Elias vividly describes the era’s political battles, tabloid magazines, and dramatic Senate hearings, and persuasively identifies the influence of the 'surveillance state masculinity' embodied by his three subjects on the political rise of Donald Trump.” * Publishers Weekly *“A perceptive, well-informed political and cultural history. . . . Elias makes a stimulating book debut with interwoven biographies of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and lawyer Roy Cohn.” * Kirkus Reviews *"Informative, entertaining. . . An important, novel history text." * Foreword Reviews *“This finely crafted book, based on meticulous use of archival records, satisfies on many levels and sheds light on often overlooked history. . . . Elias adeptly details the Lavender Scare of the mid-20th century, and the lasting impact of the use of fabrication and hyperbole.” * Library Journal (starred review) *“Elias brings fresh detail to how the trio worked together in pursuit of common enemies, and he persuasively argues that McCarthy’s death from alcoholism, at age 47 in 1957, failed to slow the Communist witch hunt he had done so much to foster. He also explores why the cross-dressing rumors about Hoover remain so much a part of his legacy (Elias skillfully skewers the more outlandish tales of Hoover being dressed “like an old flapper” at the Plaza and having the Bible read to him by a young man while another, wearing rubber gloves … well, let’s stop there) and deftly illustrates how the playbook these three men developed came to be used so devilishly by Cohn’s onetime client—the 45th president of the United States. Gossip Men manages the neat trick of portraying three monsters in ways that induce as much pity as fury." * Air Mail *"The writing is crisp and intelligent. . . Elias has written a sociological thesis, dense with information, extensively footnoted, and carefully hewing to the facts." * The Gay & Lesbian Review *“This may be a case of scholarship catching up with James Ellroy, whose novel American Tabloid pursued that thesis with all due imaginative embellishment.” * Inside Higher Education *"This engrossing work blends the best of standard political history with superb cultural analysis. . . . Recommended." * Choice *“A masterful interpretation of the politics of the early Cold War." * Commonweal *“Gossip Men is a fast-paced and absorbing account of how the men who were most vulnerable to gossip about their sexuality—Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and J. Edgar Hoover—rose to power by mastering the art of masculine performance. As the United States struggles once again with the perils of political manhood, Elias reminds us that alpha-male conservatism was born in a Cold War information economy where gossip, rumor, and innuendo were weapons—but also assets to a career.” * Claire Potter, The New School for Social Research *“Gossip Men is a terrific book about a trio of fascinating (if not necessarily terrific) political men. Hoover, McCarthy, and Cohn helped to create the modern security state. As this book shows, they also helped to create—and were created by—fierce public and private contests over masculinity, sexuality, and secrecy. Gossip Men is an important cultural history and a thoroughly engaging read.” * Beverly Gage, Yale University *“Gossip Men is compellingly written and fun to read from beginning to end. Elias tracks the emergence of surveillance state masculinity and highlights the role of the gossip industry in its creation and reproduction in a novel way, excellently integrating biography, media studies, and history.” * Shanon Fitzpatrick, McGill University *"For those who want a deeper understanding of the underlying cultural force influencing the work and actions of Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and his aide, Roy Cohn, this fine book is a must-read. In a sophisticated analysis, Christopher M. Elias focuses on changing understandings of manhood and their intersection with the rising power of gossip from the turn of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century." * Journal of American History *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: The Topography of Modernity Chapter Two: The Professional Bureaucrat in the Public Eye Chapter Three: Populist Masculinity in the American Heartland Chapter Four: The Power Broker as a Young Man Chapter Five: Scandal as Political Art Chapter Six: Under the Klieg Lights Epilogue: The Long Life of Surveillance State Masculinity Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLegal precarity, mobility, and the criminalization of migrants complicate the study of forced migration and exile. Traditional methodologies can obscure both the agency of displaced people and hierarchies of power between researchers and research participants. This project critically assesses the ways in which knowledge is co-created and reproduced through narratives in spaces of displacement, advancing a creative, collective, and interdisciplinary approach.Documenting Displacement explores the ethics and methods of research in diverse forced migration contexts and proposes new ways of thinking about and documenting displacement. Each chapter delves into specific ethical and methodological challenges, with particular attention to unequal power relations in the co-creation of knowledge, questions about representation and ownership, and the adaptation of methodological approaches to contexts of mobility. Contributors reflect honestly on what has worked and what has not, pTrade Review“Documenting Displacement advances and challenges our thinking and approach to conducting ethically sound research with people on the move. It effectively questions our more traditional research tools and approaches while providing guidance in how to explore alternatives.” Susan McGrath, York University

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Book SynopsisGerry Stoker is Professor of Politics, University of Southampton, UK and Centenary Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia. Jon Pierre is Professor of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of Government, University of Pittsburgh, USA.Trade Review'This stimulating volume bring together a host of well-known scholars to consider how, when and why political science contributes - or fails to contribute - policy-relevant insights to real-world concerns.' - Pippa Norris, Harvard University, USA, and the University of Sydney, Australia 'The call for relevance has been made ever more strongly in recent years. Few political scientists would disagree with this laudable aim, but they often do not know what relevance is, whether it is always to be preferred, and how to be relevant. The Relevance of Political Science ably answers these questions and many more. It addresses core intellectual issues about the nature of our discipline and offers solutions about how to broaden and deepen the intellectual endeavour.' - Peter John, University College London, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction; the Editors PART I 1. Challenging Three Blockages to Relevance and Political Science: the Obvious, the Avoidable and the Thorny; Gerry Stoker 2. The Relevance of Relevance; John Gerring 3. Relevant to whom? Relevant for what? The Role and Public Responsibility of the Political Analyst; Colin Hay 4. The Rediscovery of the Political Imagination; Matthew Flinders 5. Guilty as Charged? Human Well-Being and the Unsung Relevance of Political Science; Bo Rothstein 6. Why Did Nobody Warn US? Political Science and the Crisis; Graham Wilson PART II 7. The Relevance of the Academic Study of Public Policy; Sarah Giest, Michael Howlett and Ishani Mukherjee 8. Why Political Theory Matters; Thom Brooks 9. Constructivism and Interpretive Approaches: Especially Relevant or Especially Not?; Craig Parsons 10. Is Comparative Politics Useful? If so, for What?; B. Guy Peters 11. Can Political Science Solve the Puzzles of Global Governance?; Jon Pierre 12. Maximising the Relevance of Political Science for Public Policy in the Era of Big Data; Helen Margetts Conclusion; the Editors.

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Book Synopsis**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK**The definitive story of COVID-19 and how global politics shape our health - from a world-leading expert and the pandemic''s go-to science communicator Professor Devi Sridhar has risen to prominence for her vital roles in communicating science to the public and speaking truth to power. In Preventable she highlights lessons learned from outbreaks past and present in a narrative that traces the COVID-19 pandemic - including her personal experience as a scientist - and sets out a vision for how we can better protect ourselves from the inevitable health crises to come.In gripping and heartfelt prose, Sridhar exposes the varied realities of those affected and puts you in the room with key decision makers at crucial moments. She vibrantly conveys the twists and turns of a plot that saw: deadlier varients emerge (contrary to the predictions of social media pundits who argued it would mutate to a milder form); countries with weak health systems like Senegal and Vietnam fare better than countries like the US and UK (which were consistently ranked as the most prepared); and the quickest development of game-changing vaccines in history (and their unfair distribution)Combining science, politics, ethics and economics, this definitive book dissects the global structures that determine our fate, and reveals the deep-seated economic and social inequalities at their heart - it will challenge, outrage and inspire.''A brutally compelling reminder that if voices like Devi''s had been listened to, so many more could have lived'' OWEN JONES''One of the most brilliant scientists in the world who has been proven consistently right in this crisis'' PIERS MORGAN''Excellent . . . Fair, clear and compelling'' NICOLA STURGEON''Those who have found Professor Devi Sridhar''s expertise and calm advice invaluable since the arrival of Covid-19 will be glad to know that she has written Preventable'' RACHEL COOKE, Guardian, Non-fiction to look out for in 2022Trade ReviewThe sensational story of how a disaster was turned into a catastrophe, with the clarity, precision and humanity that you would expect from one of the most important voices of reason of the COVID era. A brutally compelling reminder that if voices like Devi's had been listened to, so many more could have lived -- Owen JonesExcellent . . . Fair, clear and compelling. And like all of Devi's contributions over the course of the pandemic, very accessible -- Nicola SturgeonOne of the most brilliant scientists in the world who has been proven consistently right in this crisis -- Piers MorganPowerful . . . If we're to stop history from repeating itself when the next pandemic pathogen emerges, books such as Preventable are very much welcome -- Oliver Barnes * Financial Times *Contributions such as Devi's will be the building blocks of the learning we need, as a global community, to create the awareness required for the healthier and safer world all people deserve -- Dr Tedros, Director-General of the World Health OrganizationEssential reading -- Lorraine KellyDevi is a public health expert with deep knowledge and expertise in the field. She has a unique ability to translate complex public health challenges, research and recommendations into language experts and non-experts alike can understand. I always read and listen to what she has to say and I hope you will too -- Chelsea ClintonBrilliant. I read it like a thriller that I had lived through, a fascinating, detailed and personal account of the pandemic that takes you behind and beyond the headlines. I suspect it will be the most readable account of all the analyses that will follow -- Chris van TullekenSridhar's prescience transformed her into one of Britain's most prominent commentators once . . . In her new book, Preventable, Sridhar distils the lessons of the time -- George Eaton * New Statesman *Those who have found Professor Devi Sridhar's expertise and calm advice invaluable since the arrival of Covid-19 will be glad to know that she has written Preventable -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian, 'Nonfiction to look out for in 2022' *Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at Edinburgh university, examines how the pandemic changed the world and how we might stop the next one happening * Financial Times, 'The books to read in 2022' *

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Book SynopsisHow parents have been set up to fail, and why helping them succeed is the key to achieving a fair and prosperous society.Few people realize that raising children is the single largest industry in the United States. Yet this vital work receives little political support, and its primary workers—parents—labor in isolation. If they ask for help, they are made to feel inadequate; there is no centralized organization to represent their interests; and there is virtually nothing spent on research and development to help them achieve their goals. It’s almost as if parents are set up to fail—and the result is lost opportunities that limit children’s success and make us all worse off. In The Parent Trap, Nate Hilger combines cutting-edge social science research, revealing historical case studies, and on-the-ground investigation to recast parenting as the hidden crucible of inequality. Parents are expected not only to care for their

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Book SynopsisThe roots of a racial reckoning through the lens of cannabis.From the start, the War on Drugs targeted Black, Brown, and Indigenous Americans already disadvantaged by a system stacked against them. Even now, as white Americans who largely escaped the fire capitalize on the legalization movement and a booming cannabis industry, their less fortunate peers continue to suffer the consequences of the systemic racism in policing and failed drug policy that fueled the original crisis. In Waiting to Inhale, Akwasi Owusu-Bempah and Tahira Rehmatullah issue a powerful call for a racial reckoning and provide a roadmap to redress this deep and abiding injustice.Waiting to Inhale illuminates the stories of those on the front lines of the War on Drugs—the individuals and communities disproportionately harmed, sometimes seemingly beyond repair; the official and social forces ranged against them; and the victims, legal and political activists, and cannabis en

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Book SynopsisHow organized resistance to new fossil fuel infrastructure became a political force, and how this might affect the transition to renewable energy.Organized resistance to new fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly conflicts over pipelines, has become a formidable political force in North America. In this book, George Hoberg examines whether such place-based environmental movements are effective ways of promoting climate action, if they might inadvertently feed resistance to the development of renewable energy infrastructure, and what other, more innovative processes of decision-making would encourage the acceptance of clean energy systems. Focusing on a series of conflicts over new oil sands pipelines, Hoberg investigates activists’ strategy of blocking fossil fuel infrastructure, often in alliance with Indigenous groups, and examines the political and environmental outcomes of these actions. After discussing the oil sands policy regime and the releva

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Book SynopsisWhat the Open Government Partnership tells us about how international initiatives can and do shape domestic public sector reform.At the 2011 meeting of the UN General Assembly, the governments of eight nations—Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States—launched the Open Government Partnership, a multilateral initiative aimed at promoting transparency, empowering citizens, fighting corruption, and harnessing new technologies to strengthen governance. At the time, many were concerned that the Open Government Partnership would end up toothless, offering only lip service to vague ideals and misguided cyber-optimism. The Power of Partnership in Open Government offers a close look, and a surprising affirmation, of the Open Government Partnership as an example of a successful transnational multistakeholder initiative that has indeed impacted policy and helped to produce progressive reform.By

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Book SynopsisFor more than four decades, George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America''s civic life. Today, the stakes could hardly be higher. Vital questions about the nature of man, of rights, of equality, of majority rule are bubbling just beneath the surface of daily events in America.The Founders'' vision, articulated first in the Declaration of Independence and carried out in the Constitution, gave the new republic a framework for government unique in world history. Their beliefs in natural rights, limited government, religious freedom, and in human virtue and dignity ushered in two centuries of American prosperity. Now, as Will shows, conservatism is under threat--both from progressives and elements inside the Republican Party. America has become an administrative state, while destructive trends have overtaken family life and higher education. Semi-autonomous executive agencies wield essentially unaccountable p

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Book SynopsisAn esteemed philosopher offers a vision for the central role of one of our most cherished—and controversial—ideas.Trade Review"Only Philip Pettit could offer us a ‘moral GPS’ that combines philosophical depth with practical advice for decision-making on issues ranging from taxation to social insurance to surveillance. I found Just Freedom to be a lively, compelling, and deeply useful book that opened my eyes to new ways of thinking from both an academic and a policymaking perspective." -- Anne Marie Slaughter, president and CEO, New America Foundation, and Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University"Just Freedom is a comprehensive vision of politics by one of the leading thinkers of our time. With great clarity and originality, Philip Pettit develops the idea of republican freedom as non-domination and pays close attention to what it means for institutions. To combine theory and practice in that way is a Herculean achievement." -- Rainer Forst, professor of philosophy and political theory, Goethe University, and winner of the 2012 Leibniz Prize

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Book SynopsisThis accessible textbook in the Intertext series is unique in offering student's practical experience of textual analysis focused on the language of politics. It can be used individually or with the series core textbook.Trade Review'A useful and original resource - invaluable for coursework - with effective and class-based activities. The commentaries are particularly useful.' - Linda Varley, Ashton-under-Lyne Sixth Form CollegeTable of ContentsKey texts include Conservative and Labour Party Manifestos; John Humphrys' interview with Tony Blair; Democratic National Platform; Speeches by Tony Blair (opening his campaign for 1997 general election) and Paddy Ashdown (address to his party, same election).

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Book SynopsisOne of the world''s most famous philosophers, Jacques Derrida, explores difficult questions in this important and engaging book. Is it still possible to uphold international hospitality and justice in the face of increasing nationalism and civil strife in so many countries? Drawing on examples of treatment of minority groups in Europe, he skilfully and accessibly probes the thinking that underlies much of the practice, and rhetoric, that informs cosmopolitanism. What have duties and rights to do with hospitality? Should hospitality be grounded on a private or public ethic, or even a religious one? This fascinating book will be illuminating reading for all.

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Book SynopsisIn this remarkable work, Weil analyses the causes of oppression, its mechanisms and forms, and questions revolutionary responses while presenting a prophetic view of a way forward.Trade Review'We must simply expose ourselves to the personality of a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints.' - T. S. Eliot; 'Simone Weil has become a legend and her writings are regarded as a classic document of our period.' - the New Yorker

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Book SynopsisAn ethical critique of existing approaches to sustainable development and international environmental cooperation, this book detailes the tensions, normative shifts and contradictions that currently characterize it.Table of Contents1. Introduction Part 1: Setting the Scene 2. Environmental Regimes: Medium for International Distributive Justice 3. Ideas of Justice and Global Environmental Sustainability Part 2: Empirical Analysis of Three Regime Texts 4. Managing a Global Commons: The United Nations Law of the Sea 5. The Global Waste Management Regime: The Basel Convention 6. Protecting the Global Atmosphere: The United Nations Framework Convention on the Climate Change (UNFCCC) Part 3: Exposition and Normative Critique of Dominant Approaches 7. Establishing the Core Ideas of Justice in the Three MEAs 8. A Critique of the Dominant Ideas of Justice in Relation to Sustainable Development 9. Global Environmental Justice and Neoliberal Environmental Governance 10. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisIntellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense of one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light. The views of individual intellectuals have spanned the spectrum, but the views of intellectuals as a whole have tended to cluster. Indeed, these views have clustered at one end of the spectrum in the early twentieth century and then clustered at the opposite end of the spectrum in the late twentieth century. Moreover, these radically different views of race in these two eras were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were very similar in both eras. Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, economic and statistical evidence- all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially intellectuals at the highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. The impact of intellectuals'' ideas and crusades on the larger society, both past and present, is the ultimate concern. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to social justice and multiculturalism. In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups, but for societies as a whole.Trade ReviewPittsburgh Tribune-Review "Sowell brings an all-too-rare perspective to whatever he writes about -- that of a conservative black intellectual, especially valuable for this book's topic." New American "After reading Dr. Thomas Sowell's latest book, Intellectuals and Race, one cannot emerge with much respect for the reasoning powers of intellectuals, particularly academics, on matters of race. There's so much faulty logic and downright dishonesty." Mona Charen, Creator's Syndicate "I plunged into Thomas Sowell's latest book, Intellectuals and Race, immediately upon its arrival, but soon realized that I needed to slow down. Many writers express a few ideas with a great cataract of words. Sowell is the opposite. Every sentence contains at least one insight or fascinating statistic -- frequently more than one."

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Book SynopsisThe provocative bestseller explaining the decline of power in the twenty-first century -- in government, business, and beyond.br> Power is shifting -- from large, stable armies to loose bands of insurgents, from corporate leviathans to nimble start-ups, and from presidential palaces to public squares. But power is also changing, becoming harder to use and easier to lose. In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor MoisÃNaÃilluminates the struggle between once-dominant megaplayers and the new micropowers challenging them in every field of human endeavor. Drawing on provocative, original research and a lifetime of experience in global affairs, NaÃexplains how the end of power is reconfiguring our world. The End of Power will . . . change the way you look at the world. -- Bill Clinton Extraordinary. -- George Soros Compelling and original. -- Arianna Huffington A fascinating new perspective . . . NaÃmakes eye-opening connections. -- Francis FukuyamaTrade Review"[An] altogether mind-blowing and happily convincing treatise about how 'power is becoming more feeble, transient, and constrained.'" --Nick Gillespie, Barron's "Moises Naim's The End of Power offers a cautionary tale to would-be Lincolns in the modern era. Naim is a courageous writer who seeks to dissect big subjects in new ways. At a time when critics of overreaching governments, big banks, media moguls and concentrated wealth decry the power of the '1%,' Mr. Naim argues that leaders of all types--political, corporate, military, religious, union--face bigger, more complex problems with weaker hands than in the past." --Wall Street Journal "Analytically sophisticated...[a] highly original, inter-disciplinary meditation on the degeneration of international power... The End of Power makes a truly important contribution, persuasively portraying a compelling dynamic of change cutting across multiple game-boards of the global power matrix." --Washington Post "This fascinating book...should provoke a debate about how to govern the world when more and more people are in charge." --Foreign Affairs "The End of Power will change the way you read the news, the way you think about politics, and the way you look at the world." --William Jefferson Clinton "In my own experience as president of Brazil I observed first hand many of the trends that Naim identifies in this book, but he describes them in a way that is as original as it is delightful to read. All those who have power--or want it--should read this book." --Fernando Henrique Cardoso "Moises Naim's extraordinary new book will be of great interest to all those in leadership positions--business executives, politicians, military officers, social activists and even religious leaders. Readers will gain a new understanding of why power has become easier to acquire and harder to exercise. The End of Power will spark intense and important debate worldwide." --George Soros "After you read The End of Power you will see the world through different eyes. Moises Naim provides a compelling and original perspective on the surprising new ways power is acquired, used, and lost--and how these changes affect our daily lives." --Arianna Huffington "Naim produces a fascinating account of the way states, corporations and traditional interest groups are finding it harder to defend their redoubts... (He) makes his case with eloquence." --Financial Times "The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used to Be is a wide-ranging, stimulating romp through the last 20 years or so in search of a universal explanation for the unraveling of the well-ordered, predictable postwar world of the late 20th century." --National Catholic Reporter "A timely and timeless book." --Booklist "Having served as editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy and the executive director of the World Bank, Naim knows better than most what power on a global scale looks like... [A] timely, insightful, and eloquent message." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Foreign Policy editor-in-chief Naim argues that global institutions of power are losing their ability to command respect. Whether considering institutions of government, military, religion or business, the author believes their power to be in the process of decaying... A data-packed, intriguing analysis." --Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisThe thesis of this original and provocative book is that representative government should be understood as a combination of democratic and undemocratic, aristocratic elements. Professor Manin challenges the conventional view that representative democracy is no more than an indirect form of government by the people, in which citizens elect representatives only because they cannot assemble and govern in person. The argument is developed by examining the historical moments when the present institutional arrangements were chosen from among the then available alternatives. Professor Manin reminds us that while today representative institutions and democracy appear as virtually indistinguishable, when representative government was first established in Europe and America, it was designed in opposition to democracy proper. Drawing on the procedures used in earlier republican systems, from classical Athens to Renaissance Florence, in order to highlight the alternatives that were forsaken, ManiTrade Review'Manin's book is scholarly written, thought-provoking, a pleasure to read and challenging to modern representative democracy.' Manfred Holler, Homo oeconomicus XVTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Direct democracy and representation: selection of officials in Athens; 2. The triumph of election; 3. The principle of distinction; 4. A democratic aristocracy; 5. The verdict of the people; 6. Metamorphoses of representative government; Conclusion; Index.

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Book SynopsisOn the centennial of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Tony Saich offers the definitive history of the CCP’s rise and rule. The party has suffered self-inflicted wounds yet thrived thanks to its flexibility. Looking ahead, Saich assesses how the CCP is adapting to global leadership and the expectations of China’s growing middle class.Trade ReviewThere is arguably no organization in the world today that is more important to understand than the CCP…Saich’s [book] provides a comprehensive narrative of the CCP from its inception to this day…He is meticulous in his research and descriptions. -- Martin Laflamme * Los Angeles Review of Books *One of the best and clearest treatments of the subject to date…Tony Saich walks us through the myriad transformations the Party and its members have been through: from rebels to survivalists, revolutionaries to crushers of rebellion, and finally to socialist capitalists. With clarity and attention to detail…this is a truly authoritative text on one of the most successful political parties in history. -- Alec Ash * The Wire China *An extremely lucid, insightful history of the Chinese Communist Party. Saich’s readable narrative takes the CCP from its origins as a tiny group of revolutionaries in Shanghai a century ago to the powerful, repressive rulers of a world power today. From Rebel to Ruler should stand as an authoritative account of the party’s development. -- James Mann, author of The China FantasyThe Chinese Communist Party is one of the most important, yet least understood, political organizations in the world today. Saich has produced a superb interpretation of the party for its hundredth anniversary. From Rebel to Ruler is both deep and nuanced in the account of its history, and incisive on the unique combination in the party under Xi Jinping of ideology, pragmatism, and sheer brute force. -- Rana Mitter, author of China’s Good WarThe definitive, candid, and absorbing history of a political organization that counts 90 million members and indisputably rules as America’s most powerful rival. Drawing on priceless contacts made in China over decades, Saich describes how ideological underpinnings, ruthless campaigns, and the ‘coercing of conformity’ pushed the CCP through revolutionary zeal to its current all-powerful position. A vital account, based on magnificent research, that shows the party as a colossal, relentless, and enduring machine. -- Jane Perlez, former Beijing Bureau Chief, New York TimesAn unpretentious, humane, and deeply informed history of the Chinese Communist Party. Saich, whose considerable time in China adds depth and understanding to this excellent book, offers a clear narrative that does justice to the earlier history as well as present concerns. This will be our most reliable account of the history of the CCP for a generation. -- Timothy Cheek, author of The Intellectual in Modern Chinese HistorySaich is a surehanded and deeply knowledgeable guide in this highly accessible tour of the entire sweep of the Chinese Communist Party’s century-long history. While the party now projects a self-image of unity, competence, and strength, Saich recounts a narrative replete with internal strife, uncertainty, and deep-seated insecurity. His reflections on the future of the party, and China, are sobering. -- Andrew G. Walder, author of China Under MaoA sweeping history of the Chinese Communist Party, from its fledgling urban beginnings in 1921 Shanghai to today…Offers key insights into how the party survived the collapse of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe and the steep challenges facing current leader Xi Jinping. This exhaustive, well-informed chronicle sheds light on one of the world’s most consequential political institutions. * Publishers Weekly *Gives a broad overview of the main characters, movements, and ideologies that have shaped the CCP… Saich provides a different angle by focusing on the inner workings, strategy, and personalities of the Chinese Communist Party…Presents the Party, in all its complexity, on its own terms. Saich is not simply offering commentary from an outside point of view, he is attempting to give readers the tools to access the CCP as they see themselves. * ChinaSource *If you were to travel back in time to 1921 and predict that the Communist Party of China would rule over the world’s second-largest economy 100 years later, no one would believe you. In this definitive primer, Tony Saich explains how the impossible came true. -- Yuen Yuen Ang * Project Syndicate *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewCamus’s Algerian Chronicles, edited and introduced by Alice Kaplan and beautifully translated by Arthur Goldhammer, affords Camus the belated opportunity to make his own case to the Anglophone public. This book, in slightly different form, proved his final public word on the Algerian question when it was originally published in June 1958… To witness the progression of his responses is to recognize above all the remarkable consistency of Camus’s moral conviction, the dogged optimism of his outlook, and his unfailing ability, even in the complex turmoil of emotional involvement with the issue, to cleave to his own principles of justice… It was this moral lucidity that had provoked Camus’s disenchantment with communism and underpinned his ardent opposition to the death penalty, a stance that prompted him to speak out, at different times, to save the lives of Nazi collaborators and FLN terrorists alike… Camus’s honesty and consistency retain, in retrospect, a moral purity that few others could claim. -- Claire Messud * New York Review of Books *It was the last book Camus published in his lifetime, and it appears now in its entirety for the first time in English, expertly translated by Arthur Goldhammer. The editor, Alice Kaplan, has added six texts to Camus’s original selection in an appendix, to further illuminate Camus’s relation to Algeria… As the writings in Algerian Chronicles make clear, Camus’s position in ‘no man’s land’ left him increasingly isolated: hated by the right for his condemnation of government policies, scorned by the left for his inability to imagine an independent Algeria from which the French would be absent… As Kaplan points out, we cannot know how he would have reacted to the final years of the war, or to the independence that followed. We do know that his ethical positions are still meaningful, worldwide. -- Susan Rubin Suleiman * New York Times Book Review *Algerian Chronicles is a collection of journalistic writings published in 1958, when the crisis in Algeria posed a persistent threat to the government of France. It was to be Camus’s final book and appears in retrospect as a summing-up of his feelings about his birthplace… These remarkably mature dispatches, written when he was 25, show that Camus was anxious from the start about the political relationship between his native country and the mainland… The impetus behind the repeated pleas for constructive dialogue that occupy the later parts of Algerian Chronicles was personal as much as political… Algerian Chronicles, never before translated in its entirety, is a document worth having. -- James Campbell * Wall Street Journal *[A] brilliant translation… Camus fell silent after this effort, but for one exception. In 1958, while the ‘sale guerre’ in his native country grew ever more dirty, he returned to his first trade, journalism. Gathering his newspaper articles and commentaries on Algeria, he published them under the title Actuelles III. In his preface, he lambasts France’s colonial policy, castigates the use of torture and terrorism by both sides, and defends innocent French and Arabs at the mercy of these violent designs. Yet, he concludes, his book ‘is among other things a history of a failure.’ But noble failures like the Algerian Chronicles are both timeless and timely. -- Robert Zaretsky * Times Literary Supplement *Camus was a far more engaged writer than his critics have allowed, and the essays, columns and speeches collected here make a strong case for his continued relevance… Today, although his failure to support full independence for Algeria seems off the mark, Camus stands as a powerful voice against violence and extremism, and the very late appearance of these essays in English could not have come at a better time… With the future of the Arab spring uncertain and with terrorism back on the front page, these Algerian Chronicles are not only history. They’re also guides for how to be just in a difficult world. -- Jason Farago * NPR Books *Algerian Chronicles…comprises everything Camus wrote on Algeria… Camus’s writing on Kabylia is a marvel of eloquence. His sympathy for the people, his critique of the colonial regime, his pain over the injustices that he witnesses—all thrilling. Seventy years after he wrote these pieces the reader is still penetrated by their literary beauty. But at no time in Algerian Chronicles are we listening to the speaking voice of a revolutionary. It is the voice of a despairing citizen who does not want his country’s government overthrown; he wants it to do better by its people. He wants France to remain in Algeria, but to honor its own founding myths of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The pieces in Algerian Chronicles that were written years later in France, during the war for independence, are repetitive pleas for each side to stop demonizing the other, for human decency to prevail. -- Vivian Gornick * Boston Review *Camus’s liberal admirers saw his insistence on a peaceful resolution to the [Algerian struggle for independence], his condemnation of violence on both sides, as further proof of his moral integrity. Meanwhile, his leftist critics saw his moderation as a species of evasion, condemning his failure to come down clearly on the side of Algerian liberation. Today, when North Africa is once again the scene of revolutionary violence and the relations between the West and its former Arab colonies remain dangerously fraught, the debate about Camus and Algeria still resonates. -- Adam Kirsch * The Daily Beast *Magnificently eloquent and courageous… Even today, admirers of Camus sometimes worry that his radiant bravery and integrity were compromised by a colonial kid’s blind spot when it came to Arab Algerians. The Chronicles—authoritatively edited by Alice Kaplan—should quell that doubt forever. From meticulous reports on poverty and prejudice in 1930s Kabylia to the great speech in Algiers in 1956, when right-wing thugs shouted down his heartfelt call for a civilian truce, every page speaks of his honesty, his compassion, his empathy. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *The singular importance of Algerian Chronicles is that it brings together for the first time in English all of Camus’s writings on Algeria, ranging over his early journalism covering the famine in Kabyle in 1939 to his appeals for reason and justice in Algeria in 1958. Beautifully translated by Arthur Goldhammer, they reveal Camus not so much as a philosopher (or ‘ponderous metaphysician’ as Said called him) but as something like a French George Orwell. Certainly, in all these essays he demonstrates a most un-Parisian aversion to abstraction and a taste for the concrete detail that reveals the reality of a situation… There is a new generation of readers in Algeria who are beginning to understand how [Camus] felt: torn between opposing forms of terror, neither of which promised justice or redemption. Algerian Chronicles is a beautiful and significant illustration of the complexities of that dilemma. -- Andrew Hussey * Literary Review *History has proven Camus right when he warned in 1955 that those who support terror and call for massacres, ‘no matter which camp they come from and no matter what argument or folly drives them, are in fact calling for their own destruction.’ A lesson the world, alas, has still not learned. -- Micah Mattix * New Criterion *Among the French writers, not too many people in those days, back in the 1930s, appeared to care one way or another about Algeria and its poverty. You could read about the erotic and exotic dream-life of André Gide, but not about injustice. Camus was a pioneer. -- Paul Berman * New Republic *Algerian Chronicles…has been invisibly translated by Arthur Goldhammer and prefaced perceptively by Alice Kaplan… All [the essays] are a model of engaged journalism: scrupulous and exhaustive in the facts, telling in colorful anecdote, reasoned in argument, with no hint of sarcasm or anger. Apart from their historical interest, Camus’s essays show us two things. One is it is possible to be politically engaged without foaming at the mouth. The other is the more things change in what historian Ian Morris calls ‘the arc of instability,’ from central Africa to Pakistan, the more they stay the same. Further, they remind us that a great deal of the horror going on there today is the legacy of 19th-century European colonialism and superpower maneuvering in the Cold War… Through all these bloody convulsions and those of the wider region, Camus’s central call—to spare the lives of noncombatants—echoes still… After Iraq, after Syria, after the still unexplained suspension of international law in deadly American drone strikes, after the constant bombing of marketplaces and mosques now that asymmetrical war has made obsolete the Geneva Conventions, Camus’s voice seems naively idealistic. The world needs that kind of naivete more than ever. -- Miriam Cosic * The Australian *Despite his lucidity and his avowed anti-colonialism, Camus during his lifetime failed to accept that Algeria should or could be permanently separated from France; and, as Kaplan rightly points out, his premature death in 1960 means that we can never know how he would have reacted to the agreements enacting that separation… At the same time, as a record of passionate insights into the processes involved, the book still makes absorbing reading, not least because of the many portentous analogies between what happened in Algeria and what is happening in much of our world today… Algerian Chronicles is infused with bitter-sweet nostalgia for a personal lost paradise, a not infrequent ingredient of Camus’s writing generally. But the book transmits a wider angry grief in its demonstration that the most humane and reasoned ideals seldom work to diminish the destructive and self-mutilating brutalities that humanity, endlessly, inflicts on itself. Camus has been well served here by Arthur Goldhammer, who is probably the most gifted living translator into English of French texts. Goldhammer, in his translator’s note, describes the challenges of capturing the purity, restraint, and discipline of Camus’s prose; and he expresses the hope that his work has done justice to what he calls ‘a precious document of a soul’s torment lived in real rather than eternal time.’ He need not have worried: the author’s voice resounds with eerie clarity. -- Colin Nettlebeck * Australian Book Review *[Algerian Chronicles] has not, for the most part, been regarded as one of Camus’s ‘important’ works… This is, perhaps, an oversight. At a historical moment when it seems crucial to the human prospect to think intelligently about terrorism and other forms of political violence, the thinking Camus does in Algerian Chronicles may strike us, if we open ourselves to it, as necessary, cogent, and sane… What is clear from Algerian Chronicles is that Camus’s compassion could be triggered by the suffering of any human being, and that his political and moral concern was with any innocent person who might be made the victim of violence in the name of any political cause… Algerian Chronicles may have suffered the fate of being published at a time when those who most needed to hear what it had to say were entirely unable to read it with an open mind. It is possible that, now that some decades have passed, it will find a second life. We Americans would be well advised to pay it serious attention. After more than a decade in which the United States has chosen to respond to the specter of lawless terrorism with forms of violence some have regarded as state-sanctioned terrorism—years during which, as in the Algerian war, the violence inflicted by each side has been used to justify the violence inflicted by the other, and during which the use of torture by American military and security forces has been not only condoned but applauded by a large segment of the American citizenry—Camus’s reflections on these subjects seem to address us directly. -- Troy Jollimore * Barnes & Noble Review *Camus’s Algerian political pieces, collected and published in 1956, have now been lucidly translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited along with some additional material by Yale’s Alice Kaplan. Their appearance in France was met by something worse than attack: virtual indifference. The bloodshed had gone on too long; proposals for compromise, integration, and a sharing of power were well past their sell-by date. History is less reasonable than words and can move faster; Camus’s words, sensible and moving, were left behind; he arrived at the station after the train had left… He unhesitatingly denounced the harshly unjust treatment of the Muslim majority; its exclusion from political power, its economic exploitation, the fact, for instance, that its wartime food ration was inferior to that of the settlers. He forcefully called for equitable economic partnership between the two populations, equal rights, and a shared political role. -- Richard Eder * Boston Globe *Camus’ writing is shot through with appeals to the moral sense of his audience. And it is his own moral sense that makes the occasional writing collected here still so readable… After years of neglect and rejection, Camus is being rediscovered in Algeria. In the 1990s, Algeria endured another decade of bloody civil strife, this time between the Algerian army and Islamic insurgents. The questions Camus raised about common guilt, forgiveness, justice, and who is a true Algerian have been recognized as relevant once more. -- Gerald J. Rusello * Commonweal *The last time [Camus] had spoken out on Algeria had been in January 1956 on a visit to Algiers, when he had called for a civilian truce between French colonialists and the Arab-dominated National Liberation Front (FLN). For his trouble he received death threats from the colonialists and scornful rejection by the FLN. At the risk of being labeled a coward, Camus decided to keep his peace. This silence lasted until 1958 when he published Actuelles III, a selection of essays and articles outlining his position on Algeria. Some of these writings were translated into English for Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960) but others, such as his early forays into journalism for the anti-colonialist newspaper Alger Républicain, appear for the first time in this new translation of the 1958 collection. Algerian Chronicles also includes two letters that Camus wrote to French president René Coty in 1957 beseeching him to pardon several captured FLN members. That Camus should have been working behind the scenes to save the separatists whose violence he so abhorred speaks volumes about this complex man. -- Tobias Grey * Financial Times *Camus’s tortured words may profitably be reconsidered half a century later, with the benefit of hindsight as regards Algeria’s traumatic accession to independence, which included the mass exodus of the territory’s settler population. Algeria’s history since 1962, and particularly the ‘black decade’ of civil war in the 1990s between the military-backed government and Islamist rebels, also casts new light on these texts, underscoring their contemporary relevance. Camus’s alternately angry and anguished engagement is made readily accessible to an English-speaking audience in Arthur Goldhammer’s sensitive rendering… As the Franco-Algerian memory wars continue to rage—significantly, the French state acknowledged that the 1954–62 ‘events’ had been a war only in 1999—this new translation offers a welcome opportunity to engage with the political soul-searching of a major figure who, as the American historian James Le Sueur has argued, may have been wrong about Algeria but may also have been right to be wrong. -- Philip Dine * Irish Times *Essentially, Algerian Chronicles surveys the making of a metaphysical rebel, Camus himself. In his world, like ours, riven by mindless extremism and terrorism, he sought moderation, toleration and humanity. He is being reread today, without post-colonial prejudice, as a means to engage our comparable metaphysical condition. ‘The role of the intellectual is to seek by his own lights to make out the respective limits of force and justice in each camp,’ he contended in 1958. ‘It is to explain the meaning of words in such a way as to sober minds and calm fanaticisms, even if this means working against the grain.’ Algerian Chronicles reminds that Camus accepted that lonely, singular role with inspiring courage and commitment. -- Phillip C. Naylor * Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel *In his own lifetime, [Camus] was criticized for keeping quiet as his Algerian homeland slipped into crisis; then, when in 1958 he published this eloquent and passionate plea for understanding, the hush from the reviewers was deafening… As one of over a million pieds noirs himself, he was better placed than any of his comrades on the French Left to appreciate the inadequacy of the opposition they drew between cruel colonialists and a suffering Arab mass. ‘Day after day,’ he says, ‘these simplifications prove, in a sort of reductio absurdum, that in Algeria the French and the Arabs are condemned either to live together or to die together.’ Whether he was ultimately right is open to question: he certainly paid a high price for his nuanced view of the situation. -- Michael Kerrigan * The Scotsman *[Camus’s] writing about Algeria confounds the persistent accusation that he was a metropolitan Frenchman… Some of his finest writing is here. -- Brian Morton * Sunday Herald *Albert Camus’ astonishing Algerian Chronicles, published in the strife-torn France of 1958, has never before been translated. Its even-handedness appalled both Left and Right in France, but the book, beautifully translated by Arthur Goldhammer and introduced by Alice Kaplan, has a probity and an eloquence that make it an enthralling read as the post-colonial Muslim world further unravels around us. -- Lucy Beckett * The Tablet *Read today, the articles brim with [Camus’s] trademark Mediterranean passion, the sensibility that lent all his literary works their moral and lyrical depth… Prove[s] indispensable to a fuller understanding of the intellectual history of 20th-century Europe. -- Arlice Davenport * Wichita Eagle *Timeless musings on torture, terror, assimilation and extremism… Ultimately, [Camus’s] writing represents a moral plea for an idealism beyond politics. * Kirkus Reviews *This first English translation of his Chroniques Algériennes (1958) proves parochial and universal, timely and timeless… The impassioned, politically committed Camus addresses issues that feel as current today as they did more than 50 years ago. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *

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Book SynopsisThe pace of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and population growth has thrust the planet into a new age—the Anthropocene. Humans have altered the planet’s biogeochemical systems without consciously managing them. The Great Acceleration explains the causes, consequences, and uncertainties of this massive uncontrolled experiment.Trade ReviewAmong the first scholarly works to make explicit use of the geological framework of the Anthropocene for the purpose of rethinking the grand narratives of global economic change. -- Fredrik Albritton Jonsson * Public Books *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWhereas [others] suggest that the downfall of the postwar system in Europe and the United States is the result of the triumph of ideas, Kotz argues persuasively that it is actually the result of the exercise of power by those who benefit from the capitalist economic organization of society. The analysis and evidence he brings to bear in support of the role of power exercised by business and political leaders is a most valuable aspect of this book—one among many important contributions to our knowledge that makes it worthwhile…In analyzing how neoliberalism worked, Kotz makes an important contribution to our understanding of the roots of the economic crisis of 2008 and the failure of the economy to rebound. -- Michael Meeropol * Challenge *Kotz has written a highly readable book that is easily accessible to the general public. The book would serve as an excellent companion for courses in macroeconomics and economic history. -- Mayo C. Toruño * Journal of Economic Issues *Kotz’s book will reward careful study by everyone interested in the question of stages in the history of capitalism. -- Edwin Dickens * Science & Society *Kotz contrasts neoliberal capitalism (1979–2007) with its predecessor, regulated capitalism (1948–73), in order to explain the development of the financial crisis and subsequent recession that began in the U.S. in 2007, which he views as the greatest challenge for neoliberal capitalism to date. His neo-Marxian analysis is set within a historical treatment of U.S. political economy and offers a wealth of institutional comparisons and economic data in its discussion of the unique characteristics of the recent period… The goal of the book is to explain how neoliberal institutions gave rise to the financial crisis; while Kotz does not attempt to predict Western capitalism’s next institutional form, he offers a number of reasonable and insightful considerations about its possible future directions. -- J. Gerber * Choice *David Kotz gives an insightful and original account of the origins of the economic crisis. He attributes it to a massive upward redistribution of income. This in turn led to a surge in debt, financial crisis, and huge excess capacity. His outline of possible paths of recovery should give readers much to consider. -- Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.Here is the carefully researched backstory to how the heyday of right-wing economic policies came about, and why it is ending. Kotz provides the most compelling explanation to date of how a coalition of U.S. business interests dismantled the institutions and norms that had underpinned the long period of shared growth from the end of the Second World War to the early 1970s. He goes on to show how the return to a more free-market version of capitalism allowed them to hold down wages and expand their wealth, while setting the U.S. economy on course for the financial shipwreck of 2008. This is a convincing account of a sorry chapter in the history of the U.S. economy, now coming to a close. -- Samuel Bowles, Santa Fe Institute and author of Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions, and EvolutionProfessor Kotz provides an instructive analysis of the neoliberal form of capitalism prevailing in the United States—its origins, its modus operandi, its critical weaknesses, and its future prospects. Particularly illuminating is his history of the U.S. economy, showing how successive institutional forms of capitalism have resulted in a crisis that can only be resolved through significant institutional change. -- Thomas Weisskopf, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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Book SynopsisJudith Butler elucidates the dynamics of public assembly under prevailing economic and political conditions. Understanding assemblies as plural forms of performative action, she extends her theory of performativity to show why precarity destruction of the conditions of livability is a galvanizing force and theme in today's highly visible protests.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is a polished and carefully wrought argument—really, an extended series of arguments—on an urgent topic by one of the best political theorists in the world. -- Russell Muirhead, Dartmouth CollegeDavid Miller is one of the world’s leading political philosophers and an expert on immigration. Strangers in Our Midst is a lucid, succinct, and accessible statement of his views on this important topic. -- Joseph Carens, University of TorontoA cool dissection of some of the main moral issues surrounding immigration and worth reading for its introductory chapter alone. Moreover, unlike many progressive intellectuals, Miller gives due weight to the rights and preferences of existing citizens and does not believe an immigrant has an automatic right to enter a country…Full of balanced judgments and tragic dilemmas. -- David Goodhart * Evening Standard *[Miller’s] timely book Strangers in Our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration may not be the first treatise of its kind, but it aims to be the first to combine such an abstract approach to the topic with such a strong dose of realism. -- James Ryerson * New York Times Book Review *A lean and judicious defense of national interest…In Miller’s view, controlling immigration is one way for a country to control its public expenditures, and such control is essential to democracy. -- Kelefa Sanneh * New Yorker *Much like the title, this book proves to be provocative in its discussion of the philosophy of immigration. Miller provides a broad and deep inquiry into immigration issues found in the current political, social, and global culture that will likely stimulate thought and discourse around this important topic. Miller challenges readers to question the current systems that people are familiar with, examine values, and take a humanistic approach to the question of what is right. He then shepherds readers through analyzing such difficult questions as what is national identity, who should be allowed to leave, where should they be allowed to go, and under what conditions? Once they arrive, what are their rights, and how should they be treated? The author thoroughly examines these questions while thoughtfully considering legal theory, ethics, political philosophy, human rights issues, and economic considerations. Immigration, emigration, and refugee status continue to be hot topics in world news and national politics, and Miller’s book is successful in presenting differing views followed by careful analysis and thought-provoking arguments about immigration from a global perspective. -- P. Butler * Choice *Miller is generous about refugees but makes a strong case for limiting migrant numbers. It is clear to him that refusing migrants entry on the basis of race is immoral and illegal, but he stoutly denies that capping numbers is inherently unjust…One of the strengths of his extremely lucid book is that it manages to state a strong moral and philosophical case against maximal cosmopolitanism and open borders without using this as any kind of excuse to ignore humanitarian catastrophe. -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *Strangers in Our Midst is not a handbook of political solutions, nor a roadmap to equitable immigration policies. Rather, it is a work of political and moral theory…Miller is most useful not in proposing answers to which everyone will subscribe, but in proposing questions in such a way and within such a context that there can be common moral ground among those who disagree on specifics, and thus an improved prospect of progress toward workable and effective solutions. -- Richard J. Hoskins * Christian Century *

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Book SynopsisPessimism is thought of as an exclusively negative stance that inevitably leads to resignation. Even when pessimism looks like utter truth, we are told that it makes the worst of a bad situation. This book challenges the received wisdom about pessimism, arguing that there is an unrecognized yet vibrant pessimistic philosophical tradition.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2006 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers "Mr. Dienstag aims to rescue pessimism from the philosophical sidelines, where it has been shunted by optimists of all ideologies. The book is seductive, because pessimists are generally more engaging and entertaining than optimists, and because, as the author notes, 'the world keeps delivering bad news.' It is almost tempting to throw up one's hands and sign on with Schopenhauer."--Adam Cohen, The New York Times "The pessimism that Joshua Foa Dienstag seeks to celebrate in his engaging book can be joyful... Philosophical pessimism is an ethic that offers practices to tackle a mistaken belief in human progress... His version of pessimism is of the best sort because it leads to activity."--Mark Vernon, Times Literary Supplement "[An] absorbing study... Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit examines the pessimistic tradition in all its variants--cultural, metaphysical and existential--and analyzes the works of some of its chief practitioners... When at his best in making his case for the vitality and pertinence of pessimism, Mr. Dienstag may well cause readers to wonder whether they should take up pessimism as their own philosophy."--Joseph Epstein, Wall Street Journal "A necessary corrective to the unfettered optimism or faith in progress seen in recent world history... [C]omprehensive, readable, and thought provoking."--Library Journal "Joshua Foa Dienstag's rich and subtle book blows away ... facile and narrow-minded understandings of pessimism, which invariably reduce it to little more than a mood or a character trait. Dienstag ... holds that pessimism is a serious and coherent philosophical perspective... Pessimistm: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit is a work of exact scholarship... [T]he value of the book comes from its brilliant nuances."--Scott McLemee, Newsday "Dienstag's gallery of incompatibles proves that pessimists can't be made to march in step, even as a coherent philosophical tradition. And the other thing that this densely argued, but always lively and engaging, book successfully proves is that pessimism works best when it drops the arguments in its favor and settles for bitter laughter."--Lawrence Klepp, Weekly Standard "These studies are quite insightful. A critic might object that, in attempting to discern the limits of meliorism, pessimism fails to recognize that those limits themselves may be discerned only in hindsight. Pessimism might respond that this is itself another instance of those limits... Highly recommended."--Choice "Dienstag manages to make Nietzschean pessimism seem attractive--even to optimists."--Raymond B. Marcin, Review of Politics "Dienstag's ... book is not just a study in political theory but a challenge to its contemporary practice, and for this he deserves our gratitude... [B]old, original and admirable."--Ryan Patrick Hanley, American Political Science Review "Pessimism was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone who is remotely interested in the theme. The author's use of aphorisms at the end of the book was especially stirring, as it was clear that the author was enjoying his subject. Dienstag's work is creative and learned, and even with the critical remarks above, is well argued and will hopefully open up a space where more research into this marginalized tradition will arise."--Michael Bruce, Metapsychology Online Reviews "There is much to admire in [this] book, especially [its] ambitious scope and original choice of characters... Dienstag's book is a balanced appraisal and a nuanced endorsement of a long tradition in modern thought, that attempts to reframe the history of political thought so that pessimism becomes one of its major strands."--Aurelian Craiutu, European Journal of Political TheoryTable of ContentsPREFACE ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv ABBREVIATIONS xvii PART I CHAPTER ONE: The Anatomy of Pessimism 3 PART II CHAPTER TWO: "A Philosophy That Is Grievous but True": Cultural Pessimism in Rousseau and Leopardi 49 CHAPTER THREE: "The Evils of the World Honestly Admitted": Metaphysical Pessimism in Schopenhauer and Freud 84 CHAPTER FOUR "Consciousness Is a Disease": Existential Pessimism in Camus, Unamuno, and Cioran 118 PART III CHAPTER FIVE: Nietzsche's Dionysian Pessimism 161 CHAPTER SIX: Cervantes as Educator: Don Quixote and the Practice of Pessimism 201 CHAPTER SEVEN: Aphorisms and Pessimisms 226 CHAPTER EIGHT: Pessimism and Freedom (The Pessimist Speaks) 244 AFTERWORD 265 BIBLIOGRAPHY 273 INDEX 283

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Book SynopsisTaps archival materials and unread works from John Updike’s college years to offer a clearer view of his acute political thought and ideas. Updike's prescient literary imagination, Fromer shows, sensed the disappointments and alienation of rural white working- and middle-class Americans decades before conservatives sought to exploit them.Trade ReviewJohn Updike has long been acknowledged as one of the great American novelists of the twentieth century, even while his political insights have consistently been underappreciated. Yoav Frome's The Moderate Imagination delivers an important new understanding of Updike's political instincts and vision. This fuller and more rounded picture of Updike's literary intentions and his social and political insights will benefit even the experts." - Cal Jillson, author of The American Dream: In History, Politics, and Fiction"John Updike has long been regarded as one of America's great writers, but one whose domain was largely American domesticity. Fromer's book builds a compelling case for Updike also being one of America's great prescient writers - one who anticipated the current political state of events more than fifty years ago. 'More than anything,' Fromer writes, 'Updike's writings help illustrate the fundamental inability of more and more Americans to grasp, let alone cope with, profound transformations they could neither understand nor control.' This is a smart book that reads at times like the academic equivalent of a 'real page-turner." - James Plath, author of Conversations with John Updike and John Updike's Pennsylvania Interviews and R. Forrest Colwell Endowed Chair & Professor of English, Illinois Wesleyan University

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Book SynopsisCarole Pateman is one of the foremost political theorists writing in English today. In this outstanding new work, she presents a major reinterpretation of modern political theory. She shows how standard discussions of social contract theory tell only half the story.Table of Contents1. Contracting In. 2. Patriarchal Confusions. 3. Contract, the Individual and Slavery. 4. Genesis, Fathers and the Political Liberty of Sons. 5. Wives, Slaves and Wage-Slaves. 6. Feminism and the Marriage Contract. 7. What's Wrong with Prostitution?

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Book Synopsisa Globalizationa is a word that is currently much in use. This book is an attempt to show that there is far more to globalization than its surface manifestations. Unpacking the social roots and social consequences of globalizing processes, this book disperses some of the mist that surrounds the term.Trade Review"Eminently readable." The Times Literary Supplement Table of ContentsIntroduction. 1. Time and Class. 2. Space Wars: a Career Report. 3. After the Nation-state - What?. 4. Tourists and Vagabonds. 5. Global Law, Local Orders. Notes. Index.

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The idea of finding a a third waya in politics has become a focus of discussion across the world. Political leaders, in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America claim to be following its principles. Yet the notion has also attracted much criticism. Some say it is an empty concept without any real content.

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Book SynopsisFrançois Mitterrand was one of the giants of post-war French politics - a master tactician whose political career spanned more than four decades from wartime occupation to decolonization, the Cold War to European integration. As President, elected twice, he enjoyed an unprecedented fourteen years in office, bringing the left to power and demonstrating that it was a credible governing coalition over some ten years. When he died in 1998, Mitterrand left an enduring political legacy not only on the French domestic scene, but also in European and foreign affairs. In this pre-eminently accessible political biography, David Bell, offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes' analysis of the politics of François Mitterrand. Bringing together a wealth of material, Bell explores Mitterrand's political leadership and the techniques he used in attaining and wielding political power. Mitterrand's unusual journey from right to left, from the Third to the Fifth Republic is a story of ambition, mTrade Review"David S. Bell's excellent new bigraphy describes an astonishing career." Times Literary Supplement "This is one of the best political biographies that I know. Bell depicts Mitterrand with the bark on and pulls no punches. It is a superbly realistic study of a totally political man." Erwin C. Hargrove, University of Vanderbilt "David Bell’s thorough grasp of the political background of modern France enables him to provide a fascinating account of Mitterrand’s journey from the 1930s through the war years and the Fourth French Republic to the complicated and fluid politics of the Fifth Republic. Mitterrand's personal beliefs are hard to fathom, but throughout this penetrating study David Bell guides us to a good understanding of the motivations and values which lay behind the actions of one of the most enigmatic politicians to have held power in France." B. D. Graham, formerly University of SussexTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1 1916-1944 Chapter 2 The Fourth Republic Chapter 3 De Gaulle’s Republic Chapter 4 The Common Programme Chapter 5 Alliance Problems 1978-81 Chapter 6 The First Socialist Government Chapter 7 ‘Cohabitation’ 1986-1988 Chapter 8 Second Term 1988-92 Chapter 9 The Last Years 1991-1996 Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe global policies of the United States over the years encouraged the widespread belief that we live in a new era of imperialism. But is this belief true, and what does 'imperialism' mean? Exploring these questions, this book intervenes in one of the main political and intellectual debates of the day.Trade Review"Highly recommended - should be read by anyone looking for a sophisticated Marxist analysis of imperialism." International Affairs "One of the most outstanding works in Alex Callinicos's impressive list of publications ... packed with food for thought." International Socialism "These is a considerable disagreement as to what empire really means. Alex Callinicos' new book, is a crucial intervention into these arguments ... Imperialism and Global Political Economy is an invaluable guide as well as a unique and persuasive argument by itself." Socialist Worker "As Alex Calinicos argues in this important and impressive study, it is not enough to have a generalised understanding of "empire" and "imperialism". Its strengths are, firstly, that it is historically open, in allowing for the exploration of different types of imperialism. Secondly, it is non-reductionist, since it involves a concrete analysis of the relative influence of each of these dimensions in each specific situation. Thirdly, and very importantly, it places competition at the heart of our understanding of imperialism. This book is both a valuable contribution to our understanding of modern imperialism and a powerful weapon in the struggle to end it." Socialist Review "While Donald Rumsfeld famously declared that the US does not do empire, Callinicos does it very well. He draws on his immense breadth of theoretical and historical knowledge to put 'empire' and 'imperialism' in their place in the development of liberal, mainstream, radical, and Marxist thought and to situate the practices of empire and imperialism in the long durée of historical struggles and conflicts around capital accumulation on a world scale. This accessible book provides an important introduction to a complex field and explores the significance of contemporary as well as classical forms of imperialism. It is an important addition to the revival of interest in the critique of empire." Bob Jessop, Lancaster University "This is a welcome intervention in the contemporary debates on imperialism. No one is better qualified for this task than Alex Callinicos. His compelling historical narrative, clear theoretical exposition and politically engaged adjudication make this essential reading not only for students of Marxism or International Relations, but also for anyone who wonders why, at the start of the twenty-first century, the Lenin-Bukharin thesis has not, will not, and should not go away." Justin Rosenberg, University of SussexTable of ContentsList of Tables vii Preface and Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Empire of Theory, Theories of Empire 1 0.1 Marxism and imperialism 3 0.2 The need for theory 6 0.3 Imperialism and global political economy today 14 Part I: Theory 23 1 The Classical Legacy 25 1.1 Continuing Marx’s Capital 25 1.2 Luxemburg’s fertile diversion 36 1.3 The Lenin-Bukharin synthesis 41 1.4 Organized capitalism and economic crises 53 1.5 Spectres of ultra-imperialism 62 2 Capitalism and the State System 67 2.1 Rethinking the theory of imperialism 67 2.2 Conceptualizing the state system 73 2.3 Interests and ideologies 93 Part II: History 101 3 Capitalism and La Longue Durée 103 3.1 What is capitalism? 103 3.2 Markets and empires 115 3.3 The sinews of capitalist power 123 4 Ages of Imperialism 137 4.1 Periodizing imperialism 137 4.2 Classical imperialism (1870–1945) 144 4.3 Superpower imperialism (1945–1991) 165 5 Imperialism and Global Political Economy Today 188 5.1 The specificity of American imperialism 188 5.2 Global capitalism at the Pillars of Hercules? 197 Notes and References 228 Index 281

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Book Synopsis* * This is the first major biography of Max Weber to appear in more than 80 years. * Radkau was able to make use of previously unavailable source material, including the extensive correspondence of Max Weber and that of his wife, Marianne Weber.Trade Review"Max Weber: A Biography is studded with sparkling observations on topics ranging from German academia to zoology, and the references to primary and secondary literature are truly encyclopedic." The Journal of The Review of Politics "No serious sociologist can be without a copy of this heavy tome. Artfully translated by Patrick Camiller, the study is hypnotic reading, beautifully written, lively, stimulating, and wonderfully well organized. No review could do justice to the plethora of new insights into Weber that emerge in this study, which will keep specialists happy in controversy for years to come." Canadian Journal of Sociology "Radkau has provided a comprehensive, authoritative, balanced and nuanced view of the man we have come to know as the conflicted, driven, enigmatic genius of 10th-century modernity." Sociology "This absorbing and meticulously researched biography ... recounts a complex, moving story." Book of the week in the Times Higher Education "Radkau's exceptional book brings out the relations between Weber's thought and his life experience. There are sensational revelations about Weber's suffering and eroticism, his fears and desires, and his great creative power." Lancashire Evening Post "The reader is in for an exciting time, but also an agreeable one, since Radkau has an easy, relaxed style, and has been fluently and serviceably translated." Times Literary Supplement "Radkau's biography takes great advantage of the archive documentation and of the family correspondence made available by Guenther Roth's enormous 2001 effort." The Philosophers' Magazine "Joachim Radkau is the first biographer to bring the great social thinker Max Weber to life. He reveals what others tried to conceal: the emotional turmoil suffered by the champion of rationality." Lord Dahrendorf "In this remarkable and engaging study, Joachim Radkau investigates the life, loves, and intellectual passions of one of the early twentieth century’s most engaging thinkers. Capturing both the tumultuous times and the singular accomplishments of Max Weber, the author has written a spirited and penetrating account of the creative life that is perhaps unrivaled in its provocative originality. Based on impeccable documentation, the result is a striking portrait of the eros of the intellect, of scientific work in relation to personality. Radkau's impressive achievement is certain to provoke a passionate response of its own." Lawrence A. Scaff, Wayne State University "A minor social-scientific scoop ... By any standards, this is an important work." Peter Thomas, New Left Review "Despite the immense Weber industry, until now we had no biographical account of this quality." Hans Joas, Merkur "An amazing, breath-taking book." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "A brilliant achievement." Süddeutsche Zeitung "I read every sentence of Radkau’s Weber ... A must-read." Michael Greven, Neue Politische LiteraturTable of ContentsAcknowledgements xii Preface to the English Edition xiii Abbreviations xviii At the Den of the Sick Lion 1 Part I The Violation of Nature 1 Great Mother and Harsh Nature: A Precocious Youth on the Margins of Berlin 7 2 Max and Minimax: Blood Brothers and Drinking Companions – Surly Fraternity as a Primary Social Experience 25 3 From Father’s Boy to Mother’s Boy: A Comradely Marriage and the Day of Judgement for the Father 39 4 Antaeus, Antiquity and Agrarians: The Unshackling of Creativity through the Earthing of Culture 70 5 Eruptions from the Ice: Creativity as Natural Catastrophe 96 6 A ‘Gospel of Struggle’ and Old German Corpulence: From Lifestyle Crisis through Creativity Crisis to Existential Crisis 117 Part II Nature’s Revenge 7 The Demons: The Wildness of Nature and the Riddle of Sexuality 145 8 ‘A Sort of Spiritualistic Construction of the Modern Economy’: The Protestant Ethic and the Vain Quest for Redemption through the Spirit 179 9 South – North – West – East: Changing Attempts at Spiritual Conquest of the World 208 10 From the ‘Essay of Sighs’ to ‘Psychophysics’: the Seven-Year Fight with Naturalism against Naturalism 250 11 From the Eranos Circle to the ‘Erotic Movement’: New Roots and New Milieux 275 12 Max Weber’s Love–Hate for the Germans 316 Part III Salvation and Illumination 13 Value-Free Science, Love and Music 345 14 Charisma 390 15 The Naturalness of Community – The Disguised Naturalism in Economy and Society 405 16 From Deborah’s Song of Triumph to the ‘Titans of the Holy Curse’: Pacifist Herdsmen, Prophets and Pariahs – the Israelites 427 17 World War and Flight from the World 450 18 Great Speeches, the Great Love and Death 481 19 Epilogue: Powerplay and the Wrangling over Max Weber’s Spirit 551 Notes 572 Index 667

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