Social and political philosophy Books
MIT Press Ltd Somebody Should Do Something
£24.00
MIT Press Omnicide Mania Fatality and the FutureInDelirium UrbanomicSequence Press
Book SynopsisA fragmentary catalogue of poetic derangements that reveals the ways in which mania communicates with an extreme will to annihilationWhat kind of circumstances provoke an obsessive focus on the most minute object or activity? And what causes such mania to blossom into the lethal conviction that everything must be annihilated? There is no turning away from the imperative to study this riddle in all its mystifying complexity and its disturbing contemporary resonance—to trace the obscure passage between a lone state of delirium and the will to world-erasure..A fragmentary catalogue of the thousand-and-one varieties of manic disposition (augomania, dromomania, catoptromania, colossomania…), Omnicide enters the chaotic imaginations of the most significant poetic talents of the Middle East in order to instigate a new discourse on obsession, entrancement, excess, and delirium. Placing these voices into direct conversation, Jason Bahbak Mohagh
£21.60
Taylor & Francis Politics and Religion The Basics
Book Synopsis
£29.99
Cambridge University Press Positive Freedom
Book SynopsisThis book will appeal to anyone interested in the complex meanings of the idea of 'freedom', especially as it relates to other fundamental social values. It will be of interest to philosophers and political theorists, legal scholars, feminists, people in disability studies and other social theorists and critics.Trade Review'This is a very rich volume exploring the notion of 'positive freedom' from a variety of angles: historical, conceptual, normative, and related to applied debates. Highly recommended to any reader who wants to know what thinking about 'positive freedom' has to offer us.' Ingrid Robeyns, Utrecht UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Multiple Dimensions of Positive Freedom John Christman; 1. Unity and Disunity in The Positive Tradition Michael Garnett; 2. Positive Liberty as Realizing the Essence of Man Michael Quante; 3. Moral and Personal Positive Freedom Maria Dimova-Cookson; 4. Positive Freedom and Freedom of Contract: Fairness, Fairing Well, and Freedom Avital Simhony; 5. Recognition and Positive Freedom David Ingram; 6. Self-Mastery and the Quality of a Life Steven Wall; 7. Basic Freedom in the Real World John Christman; 8. Reframing Democracy with Positive Freedom: The Power of Liberty Reconsidered Carol C. Gould; 9. Positive Liberty, Feminism and Disability Nancy Hirschmann; 10. Positive Liberty and Paternalism Horacio Spector; 11. Beyond Positive and Negative Liberty: Habermas and Honneth on Freedom in the Political Public Sphere Maeve Cooke; 12. Property and Political Power: Neo-Feudal Entanglements Rutger Claassen; 13. Public Reason, Positive Liberty, and Legitimacy Chad Van Schoelandt.
£23.74
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Memory Makers
Book Synopsis'...the most reliable, up-to-date account of the use and misuse of history and memory in post-Soviet Russia' - Financial TimesWhy aren't ordinary Russians more outraged by Putin's invasion of Ukraine? Inside the Kremlin's own historical propaganda narratives, Russia's invasion of Ukraine makes complete sense. From its World War II cult to anti-Western conspiracy theories, the Kremlin has long used myth and memory to legitimize repression at home and imperialism abroad, its patriotic history resonating with and persuading large swathes of the Russian population. In Memory Makers, Russia analyst Jade McGlynn takes us into the depths of Russian historical propaganda, revealing the chilling web of nationwide narratives and practices perforating everyday life, from after-school patriotic history clubs to tower block World War II murals. The use of history to manifest a particular Russian identity has had grotesque, even gruesome, consequences, but it belongs to a global political pattern
£12.99
Autonomedia Foams: Spheres Volume III: Plural Spherology
Book SynopsisThe final volume in Peter Sloterdijk''s celebrated Spheres trilogy, on the phenomenology of community and its spatial peripheries.“So the One Orb has imploded—now the foams are alive."—from FoamsFoams completes Peter Sloterdijk''s celebrated Spheres trilogy: his 2,500-page “grand narrative” retelling of the history of humanity, as related through the anthropological concept of the "Sphere." For Sloterdijk, life is a matter of form and, in life, sphere formation and thought are two different labels for the same thing. The trilogy also offers his corrective answer to Martin Heidegger''s Being and Time, reformulating it into a lengthy meditation on Being and Space—a shifting of the question of who we are to a more fundamental question of where we are.In this final volume, Sloterdijk''s “plural spherology” moves from the historical perspective on humanity of the preceding two volumes to a philosophical theory of our contemporary era, offering a view of life through a multifocal lens. If Bubbles was Sloterdijk''s phenomenology of intimacy, and Globes his phenomenology of globalization, Foams could be described as his phenomenology of spatial plurality: how the bubbles that we form in our duality bind together to form what sociological tradition calls "society." Foams is an exploration of capsules, islands, and hothouses that leads to the discovery of the foam city.The Spheres trilogy ultimately presents a theology without a God—a spatial theology that requires no God, whose death therefore need not be of concern.As with the two preceding volumes, Foams can be read on its own or in relation to the rest of the trilogy.
£28.80
Semiotext (E) How It Might Should Be Done
£14.39
Verso Books Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People
Book SynopsisWhat is it that makes humans human? As science and technology challenge the boundaries between life and non-life, between organic and inorganic, this ancient question is more timely than ever. Acclaimed Object-Oriented philosopher Timothy Morton invites us to consider this philosophical issue as eminently political. In our relationship with non-humans, we decided the fate of our humanity. Becoming human, claims Morton, actually means creating a network of kindness and solidarity with non-human beings, in the name of a broader understanding of reality that both includes and overcomes the notion of species. Negotiating the politics of humanity is the first and crucial step to reclaim the upper scales of ecological coexistence, and not to let Monsanto and cryogenically suspended billionaires define them and own them.Trade ReviewI have been reading Timothy Morton's books for a while and I like them a lot. -- BjorkConsidered by many to be among the top philosophers in the world, especially among those tackling issues related to human effects on our environment, Morton herein provides an important, spirited, and sometimes frenetic analysis of the foundational assumptions of Marxism and other -isms with regard to nature and culture. -- Jeff Vandermeer, author of The Southern Reach trilogy * The Millions *[Morton is] a Ralph Waldo Emerson for the Anthropocene. -- Alex Blasdel * Guardian *A very good introduction to what Theory (capital T) might have to say about climate change and species die-off. -- Ted Hamlton * Los Angeles Review of Books *To read [Timothy Morton] is to be caught up in a brilliant display of intellectual pyrotechnics. -- P D Smith * Guardian *
£17.28
Verso Books The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg Volume IV:
Book SynopsisThis 600-page volume of Luxemburg's Complete Works contains her writings On Revolution from 1906 to 1909 - covering the 1905-06 Russian Revolution, an epoch-making event, and its aftermath. Over 80 per cent of writings on this volume have never before appeared in English. The volume contains numerous writings never before available in English, such as her pathbreaking essay "Lessons of the Three Dumas," which presents a unique perspective on the transition to socialism, her "Notes on the English Revolution" of the 1640s, and numerous writings on of the role of the mass strike in fomenting revolutionary transformation. All of the material in the volume consists of new translations, from German, Polish, and Russian originals.Trade Review“One of the most emotionally intelligent socialists in modern history, a radical of luminous dimensions whose intellect is informed by sensibility, and whose largeness of spirit places her in the company of the truly impressive.”—Vivian Gornick, Nation “Rosa goes on being our source of fresh water in thirsty times.”—Eduardo Galeano “Intrepid, incorruptible, passionate and gentle. Imagine as you read between the lines of what she wrote, the expression of her eyes. She loved workers and birds. She danced with a limp. Everything about her fascinates and rings true. One of the immortals.”—John Berger “One cannot read the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, even at this distance, without an acute yet mournful awareness of what Perry Anderson once termed ‘the history of possibility.’”—Christopher Hitchens, Atlantic
£28.49
Verso Books The Benjamin Files
Book SynopsisThe Benjamin Files offers a comprehensive new reading of all of Benjamin's major works and a great number of his shorter book reviews, notes and letters. Its premise is that Benjamin was an anti-philosophical, anti-systematic thinker whose conceptual interests also felt the gravitational pull of his vocation as a writer. What resulted was a coexistence or variety of language fields and thematic codes which overlapped and often seemed to contradict each other: a view which will allow us to clarify the much-debated tension in his works between the mystical or theological side of Benjamin and his political or historical inclination. The three-way tug of war over his heritage between adherents of his friends Scholem, Adorno and Brecht, can also be better grasped from this position, which gives the Brechtian standpoint more due than most influential academic studies. Benjamin's corpus is an anticipation of contemporary theory in the priority it gives language and representation over philosophical or conceptual unity; and its political motivations are clarified by attention to the omnipresence of History throughout his writing, from the shortest articles to the most ambitious projects. His explicit program - "to transfer the crisis into the heart of language" or, in other words, to detect class struggle at work in the most minute literary phenomena - requires the reader to translate the linguistic or representational literary issues that concerned him back into the omnipresent but often only implicitly political ones. But the latter are those of another era, to which we must gain access, to use one of Benjamin's favorite expressions.Trade ReviewIn The Benjamin Files, the high Jamesonian style is everywhere on display, with the slight difference that the prose in this book seems at once more forthright and more playful than in many of the older works. -- Ian Balfour * Los Angeles Review of Books *Jameson skilfully situates Benjamin within his immediate and wider contexts, and he is an attentive close reader, drawing out the tight, mutual links between form and content in Benjamin's thought. -- Carolin Duttlinger * Times Literary Supplement *Marvelous -- David Carrier * Hyperallergic *Probably the finest cultural critic in the world...one of the great stylists among literary theorists, whose rolling waves of sentences unfurl in such leisurely fashion that the reader must take deep breaths, careful not to be dragged under before the next full stop arrives. -- Terry Eagleton * LRB *Alert to the finest of ... nuances, Fredric Jameson has given us a Benjamin whose mental fulgurations can still illuminate a world blown backwards through the thickening dark. -- Stuart Walton * Review 31 *
£14.99
Watkins Media Limited New Model Island: How to Build a Radical Culture
Book SynopsisFrom Orwell-reading centrists to right-wing extremists, there have been countless attempts in recent decades to reimagine the feudal nation that was once England. But there is a strong case for saying that `England' doesn't exist at all in the twenty-first century. New Model Island examines a disparate range of cultural references-the late Mark Fisher, Dylan Thomas, Alton Towers, Northumbrian activism and Catholic Marxism-as it seeks to reimagine the architecture of the British Isles in the context of the energetic socialist revival of the moment. Part utopian memoir, part elegy for the 2010s, New Model Island is an impassioned call for a new kind of dreaming about post-national identity in a post-capitalist future.Trade Review"Looking for a new England? Alex Niven draws on our diverse identities to forge a radical vision of a once and future land." — Billy Bragg"One of the sharpest, most unusual critics writing today, and with this call for the end of England, he has surpassed himself. Personal, polemical and historical in equal measure, this is a strange, powerful and beautiful book." — Owen Hatherley"An urgent and heartfelt instruction to dig over and reseed the soil of England, so that something more substantial might grow." — Richard King, author of How Soon Is Now?"By reminding us that community is sustained not by rhetoric but by material infrastructure, Niven issues a brave and timely rejoinder to those who would have us believe it can be magicked into being by platitudes and flag-waving." — Times Literary Supplement
£8.49
Columbia University Press What Kind of Creatures Are We
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewChomsky's writings invariably reflect the force of intellect and cogency of thought that befits one of the greatest thinkers of our times—this work is no exception. -- Robert May, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy & Linguistics, University of California, DavisNoam Chomsky is arguably the most influential thinker of our time, having made seminal contributions to linguistics and philosophy, as well as political and social thought. In one succinct and powerfully argued volume, he presents a synthesis of his key ideas. -- Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard UniversityNoam Chomsky launches this remarkable discussion with the age old question, "What kind of creatures are we?" Thus begins an extended inquiry into human cognition that takes him from the ancients to contemporary theorists of language and science, to politics. Chomsky's erudition is formidable, and I read his disquisition with pleasure and many "aha' moments. But what stands out for me is his wisdom; he accepts that being mere biological creatures, there is much that we can never know, and yet he is deeply empathetic with us, his fellow creatures who must struggle and try to impact our world, even though we ultimately cannot know. -- Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center of the City University of New YorkIt's always spring in Mr. Chomsky's garden. Like John Ashbery, Noam Chomsky seems to come up with thoughts that are always fresh, unaffected by the polluting clichés that most of us inhale and exhale all day and night. To read his sentences is a life-giving elixir. -- Wallace Shawn, author, EssaysEngaging. * Library Journal *Recommended. * Choice *A rewarding and challenging read. * PsycCritiques *Differentiating between problems, which we can solve, and mysteries, which we cannot, Chomsky concludes that the relationship between brain and consciousness may well be a mystery. Still, we can explore. -- Jackson Lears * London Review of Books *This work is elemental; it touches and hints at some fundamental thoughts at the pivot of our existence and it invites the reader to pursue detailed studies of linguistics, hermeneutics, ethics, and metaphysics. Chomsky often speaks the mind of the readers. -- Editor * Prabuddha Bharata *Table of ContentsForeword1. What Is Language?2. What Can We Understand?3. What Is the Common Good?4. The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?NotesIndex
£12.34
Columbia University Press The Black Circle
Book SynopsisJeff Love reinterprets Alexandre Kojève’s works, showing him to be a provocative thinker who challenged modernity's valuation of self-interest. Joining intellectual history, close textual analysis, and philosophy, The Black Circle reveals Kojève’s thought as a profound critique of capitalist individualism and a timely meditation on human freedom.Trade ReviewThe Black Circle is an extraordinary study in which hardcore philosophical issues are approached at a cosmic level but lyrically, almost as part of an intimate conversation. Alexandre Kojève was so thoroughly at home in German and French culture that his origins in yet a third culture have been neglected. In this book, Jeff Love restores Russian contexts to Kojève’s thought on Hegel and the ‘end of history.’ -- Caryl Emerson, Princeton UniversityKojève is best known as arguably the best twentieth-century commentator on Hegel. But Love’s incisive book shows that he is much more. This is by far the best, most comprehensive overview of Kojève’s thinking in any language and the only one to draw in detail on Kojève’s Russian background. Clearly, elegantly written and argued, it is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the complexity and range of twentieth-century thought. -- William Todd Mills, Harry Tuchman Levin Professor of Literature, Harvard UniversityKnown only in Anglophone letters for a drastically truncated translation of his idiosyncratic and influential Parisian “Lectures on Hegel,” Alexandre Kojève bequeathed to posterity a multitude of tantalizing manuscripts and has finally received the intellectual contextualization and philosophical interpretation he deserves. In his magisterial study Jeff Love uncovers the profound presence of nineteenth-century Russian thought within Kojève’s literary style and his philosophy of negation, finality, perfection, repetition, political community, and radical freedom, such that Kojève emerges from Dostoevsky's underground as a distinctly Russian Hegelian existentialist thinker worthy of serious consideration today. -- Henry W. Pickford, Duke UniversityIn this excellent intellectual biography, Jeff Love explicates the thought and speculates on the intentions of expatriate Russian Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève. Love’s readings of neglected Russian influences on Kojève (Dostoevsky and philosophers Vladimir Soloviev and Nikolai Fedorov) and of Kojève himself are satisfyingly complex, clear, and accessible. His Kojève is deep, controversial, and a 'philosophical propagandist' still relevant today. -- Donna Orwin, University of TorontoA sophisticated contribution to the study of one of the most enigmatic modern thinkers, this book is simultaneously scholarly and bold. It not only retraces Kojève’s roots in more than a century of Russian literature and thought but also–attuned to the paradoxes and ironies embedded in his kaleidoscopic corpus–orchestrates a spirited exchange among canonical figures of the 'Western tradition,' from Plato and Aristotle to Beckett and Leo Strauss. -- Ilya Kliger, New York UniversityLove’s thoughtful account and probing interrogation of Kojève’s texts shed light on both the powerful arguments and interpretations that Kojève presents and the bewildering paradoxes and problems that the outcomes of these arguments leave us with. -- James H. Nichols * H-Net *This lucid book goes far in clarifying the origins of and the problems with Kojeve's 'end of history' thesis. * Choice *Meticulously researched and boasting an extensive bibliography in multiple languages . . . of interest to philosophers [and] intellectual historians. * Slavic Review *Kojève’s thought is complex, puzzling, and intense—and so is this book about writings and ideas he puts forward. It is no easy reading, but the reader who takes the challenge will be rewarded with a (not the) profound grasp of the philosophical thought of this important Russian-European thinker. * Studies in East European Thought *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgments ixList of Abbreviations xiIntroduction: A Russian in Paris 1I. Russian Contexts1. Madmen 172. The Possessed 443. Godmen 70II. The Hegel Lectures4. The Last Revolution 1035. Time No More 1326. The Book of the Dead 161III. The Later Writings7. Nobodies 1938. Roads Or Ruins? 2139. Why Finality? 257Epilogue: The Grand Inquisitor 279Notes 291Bibliography 335Index 347
£22.00
Columbia University Press Universality and Identity Politics
Book SynopsisThis book develops a new conception of universality that helps us rethink political thought and action. Through a wide range of examples in contemporary politics, film, and history, Universality and Identity Politics offers an antidote to the impasses of identity and an inspiring vision of twenty-first-century collective struggle.Trade ReviewI used to be among those left-leaning academics who believe that universalism is problematic and that particularism represents a corrective to false universalism. Not anymore. McGowan shows that a genuinely emancipatory politics is intrinsically universalist, and he reveals the various ways in which identity politics inevitably serves the conservative establishment and traps us into a conception of politics as a struggle of one identity against others. Universality and Identity Politics is a groundbreaking book. -- Mari Ruti, author of Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday LifePassionately yet patiently argued, Universality and Identity Politics looks back at earlier debates surrounding the universal and mounts fresh defenses of it. More than timely, this book writes to the moment. -- Joan Copjec, author of Imagine There’s No Woman: Ethics and SublimationWhat is universality? With his signature exactitude, Todd McGowan radiantly argues that universality is what we lack in common, the absent foundation for a nonetheless necessary sociality. Against the many theories conflating universality with positive content and violent oppression, Universality and Identity Politics illustrates how movements beyond the particular are indispensable for solidarity. Ceaseless catastrophes now rain down; McGowan boldly underwrites new political imaginings of equality and freedom. -- Anna Kornbluh, author of The Order of Forms: Realism, Formalism, and Social SpaceIn calm, level-headed formulations that are as elegant as they are clear, Todd McGowan presents a crucial insight into all emancipatory political efforts. Those who want to liberate themselves without at the same time aiming at liberating all others do not lead an emancipatory struggle. As a result, they do not even liberate themselves. -- Robert Pfaller, author of On the Pleasure Principle in Culture: Illusions Without OwnersHe calls for uniting the process of emancipation for some with the universal project of emancipation for all. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Finding Universality1. Our Particular Age2. The Importance of Being Absent3. Universal Villains4. Capitalism’s Lack and Its Discontents5. This Is Identity Politics6. This Is Not Identity PoliticsConclusion: Avoiding the WorstNotesIndex
£27.00
Columbia University Press Cooperation
Book Synopsis
£20.90
Harvard University Press Degenerations of Democracy
Book SynopsisCraig Calhoun, Dilip Gaonkar, and Charles Taylor argue that democracies have embraced individual freedom at the expense of equality and solidarity, economic growth at the expense of democracy. Rebuilding local communities and large-scale institutions is now crucial, with attention to the public good beyond private advantage or ingroup loyalty.Trade ReviewMany scholars have traced the crisis of Western liberal democracy to the rise of authoritarian and populist leaders. Three distinguished theorists argue that the problems run deeper…Wealth inequality and economic stagnation have exacerbated political divisions, but the bigger problem is the fraying of the civic solidarity that knits citizens together across lines of difference. -- G. John Ikenberry * Foreign Affairs *[The authors] set out to dissect in detail the long-term degenerations of the democratic structures that have occurred in three major democratic countries: the United States, Canada and India…Stimulating and refreshing. -- Simone Benazzo * Democratization *Democracies around the world are in crisis. This important book by three social theorists…analyzes the underlying causes of these interrelated crises, focusing mostly on the United States, Europe, and India…At stake are the quality of public life, social institutions, and, in many cases, people’s lives. -- Don Schweitzer * Critical Theology *Written by three world-class thinkers, the book provides a fresh and well-argued diagnosis of what must be done to save democracy from itself. No other book can offer something remotely similar to what this book has to offer in terms of historical detail, conceptual argument, moral outlook, and political acuity. -- Lars Tønder, University of CopenhagenDemocracy in the twenty-first century is degenerating from within rather than being attacked externally as was totalitarianism. We consequently need to reinvent it, not just preserve it. This book defines the task ahead of us. Written by three key figures of political philosophy and social theory, it makes a conceptually powerful contribution to the rebuilding of democracy at a time when the sovereignty of the people and the promise of equality are understood in a trivializing way by populist governments and neoliberal regimes. -- Pierre Rosanvallon, author of Good Government: Democracy beyond ElectionsQuestions about what ails democracy today get a new lease on life in this captivating book. Calhoun, Gaonkar, and Taylor blend their voices well to produce a series of deep and insightful reflections remarkable for their combination of lucid prose, critical diagnoses, reasoned optimism, and perspectives that are strikingly fresh. A must-read for all students of contemporary politics. -- Dipesh Chakrabarty, author of The Climate of History in a Planetary Age
£22.46
Harvard University Press Waiting for the People
Book SynopsisNazmul Sultan explores Indian contributions to democratic theory, as anticolonial thinkers developed principles of peoplehood and self-rule. Indians contested British claims that the “backwardness” of the Indian people offered a democratic justification for imperial domination.Trade ReviewA brilliant demonstration of anticolonialism’s critical contributions to the history of democratic political thought. Sultan’s historically nuanced and theoretically insightful account of how the leading thinkers and activists of India’s anticolonial struggle confronted the fraught colonial legacies of democratic developmentalism and the problem of peoplehood makes an essential contribution to contemporary democratic theory. -- Jason Frank, author of The Democratic SublimeA dazzling reconstruction of how the problem of peoplehood spurred conceptual innovations in Indian anticolonial thought. Sultan demonstrates, with style and rigor, that to answer the challenge of colonialism, Indian thinkers had to reinvent the very meaning of democracy. -- Karuna Mantena, author of Alibis of EmpireAn engaging, innovative, and wide-ranging account of the way in which anticolonial thought in India creatively reconceptualized the idea of popular sovereignty. It sheds new light on the theoretical relationship between democratic legitimation and development. -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta, author of The Burden of DemocracyAn indispensable intervention to the fields of postcolonial theory and democratic theory, Waiting for the People illustrates how the colonial construction of India’s backwardness gave rise to a very distinct dilemma for anticolonial thinkers and actors. Seeking to authorize their demands for independence in the name of the people, they found that the people had not yet arrived. Traversing a range of figures and periods in the history of Indian anticolonial political thought, Sultan tracks the innovative conceptual and institutional strategies advanced in response to this dilemma of colonial peoplehood. -- Adom Getachew, author of Worldmaking after EmpireWith dazzling insight, Waiting for the People demonstrates how Indian anticolonial thinkers reimagined democracy and popular sovereignty. A sure-footed guide through the fault lines between political thought and practical politics, this highly original work shows us the global future of democratic government. -- Rohit De, author of A People’s Constitution
£32.26
Harvard University Press Political Political Theory
Book SynopsisPolitical theorists focus on the nature of justice, liberty, and equality while ignoring the institutions through which these ideals are achieved. Political scientists keep institutions in view but deploy a meager set of value-conceptions in analyzing them. A more political political theory is needed to address this gap, Jeremy Waldron argues.Trade ReviewThe problem with revolutionary politics, in short, is that it tends to be naïve about political institutions. I can recommend no better corrective than liberal political philosopher Jeremy Waldron, and no better introduction to his thinking than his recently published collection of essays, Political Political Theory… To read Waldron is to reawaken ideas that so shape our world that they typically only live in the background of political theory and debate. It is to survey the pantheon of constitutional liberalism—Locke, Montesquieu, Condorcet, Madison, Kant, Mill, et al.—to step into their shoes and think hard about bicameralism, bills of rights, and judicial review, and appreciate the enormity of their intellectual and real-world achievements. -- David V. Johnson * Dissent *This is a brilliant book. It will excite readers and spark a revival of constitutional concerns that people might once have believed had been consigned to the history of ideas. -- Marc Stears, University of Oxford
£30.56
Harvard University Press The Pursuit of Equality in the West
Book SynopsisDo democratic citizens have equal right to rule? Is it enough that they have equal standing before the law, or must there also be economic and social equality? Aldo Schiavone traces these questions and their diverse answers from the ancient world to the present and urges a new course to rescue democracies now suffering from excesses of inequality.Trade ReviewSchiavone has written a considered and considerable monograph, which is worthy of the magnitude of its subject-matter: equality. His knowledge of political thought is both deep and broad…and his combining of historical inquiry with conceptual work successful. -- Andreas Avgousti * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *A bold, original book—learned without ever being pedantic, engaging without being frivolous, highly personal without ever being self-referential. It takes the reader through a vast body of European literature without ever losing its way. In the end, the reader will come away with far deeper, more nuanced understanding of what ‘equality’ has come to mean over the centuries, what it should mean for us today, and what its possible future might be. -- Anthony Pagden, author of The Pursuit of EuropeSchiavone displays here extraordinary historic, legal, and philosophical knowledge, enabling him to cover the full span of Western history with great erudition. -- Roberto Esposito, author of Politics and NegationThe Pursuit of Equality in the West is one of the most richly detailed, original, and thought-provoking books I have ever read. Only Aldo Schiavone could have given us such a lucid and cogent study. -- Massimo Ciavolella, University of California, Los Angeles
£31.46
Princeton University Press Conservatism
Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2020: Politics""One of Kirkus Reviews Best Big-Picture History Books of 2020""A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice""A NRC Book of the Year""A truly magisterial survey of the thought and actions of conservatives in Britain, France, Germany and the United States. . . . It’s a tour de force of intellectual eclecticism, and a vital recognition that the war within conservatism matters."---Andrew Sullivan, New York Times Book Review"A valuable wide-lens perspective on currents that have been at play for decades if not centuries."---Greg Cowles, New York Times Book Review"Invaluable."---Paul Rosenberg, Salon"Enriching and worth reading."---Jacob Soll, New Republic"[An] epic history of conservatism."---John Prideaux, The Economist"This book is a stimulating read, benefiting from the author’s clarity of style, breadth of historical knowledge and decision to place conservative thinkers from each period of history alongside political practitioners."---William Hague, The Spectator"The chief virtue of Fawcett’s rich and wide-ranging account is to demonstrate how conservatism has repeatedly managed to renew itself, politically and intellectually. The conservative tradition is a remarkably fecund one. For both its supporters and opponents, that is a truth worth rescuing."---Nick Pearce, Financial Times"Members of both [liberalism and conservatism] thought-categories will find much to learn from both books, not least from the historical figures Mr. Fawcett brings into view."---William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal"[A] magisterial history. . . . Perhaps the most comprehensive view of ‘the conservative mind’ since Russell Kirk’s book (1953) of that title. . . . One of the fairest accounts of the conservative intellectual tradition to be published in recent years."---Gerald J. Russello, National Review"Fawcett, a veteran Economist journalist who describes himself as a left-wing liberal, seeks to understand conservatism as a historical phenomenon. He surveys political practice and political thought in Britain, the US, France and Germany since 1800, with authority and perspective."---Jonathan Parry, London Review of Books"An ambitious book with lucid accounts of a wide range of thinkers and some practitioners."---David Willetts, Prospect"The honest struggle of a thoughtful liberal to understand the enemy gives the book its strength, vitality and structure. . . . [A] compelling, lucid and learned work."---Richard Cockett, The Critic"The author of a much acclaimed history of liberalism turns his attention to another crucial branch of political philosophy."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"A sweeping new work of political history."---John Harris, The Guardian"The narrative is absorbing, the pace unflagging. The reader is carried along by the energy of the prose, by sharp insights and nice turns of phrase, and above all by the author’s evident engagement in politics and joy in ideas."---Jesse Norman, Catholic Herald"Readable and comprehensive. . . . An immensely stimulating canter though a major segment of Western political tradition." * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *"An astonishingly accomplished survey of the last two centuries of conservative thought."---Andrew Gimson, Conservative Home"Timely."---William Chislett, Real Instituto Elcano"In Fawcett’s analysis, the French Revolution in 1789 was both a founding moment and a false start. Fawcett rightly observes that conservatism was not “founded” with the publication of Burke’s critique of the Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790): it wasn’t until the 1830s that the term gained currency as a political label."---Emily Jones, New Statesman"A compelling work of history."---John Harris, Guardian
£27.00
Princeton University Press Shame
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Fascinating."---Charlie English, The Guardian"Shame genuinely enlightens."---Boyd Tonkin, The Spectator
£27.00
Princeton University Press Tocquevilles Dilemmas and Ours
Book SynopsisHow Tocqueville's ideas can help us build resilient liberal democracies in a divided worldHow can today's liberal democracies withstand the illiberal wave sweeping the globe? What can revive our waning faith in constitutional democracy? Tocqueville's Dilemmas, and Ours argues that Alexis de Tocqueville, one of democracy's greatest champions and most incisive critics, can guide us forward. Drawing on Tocqueville's major works and lesser-known policy writings, Ewa Atanassow shines a bright light on the foundations of liberal democracy. She argues that its prospects depend on how we tackle three dilemmas that were as urgent in Tocqueville's day as they are in ours: how to institutionalize popular sovereignty, how to define nationhood, and how to grasp the possibility and limits of global governance. These are pivotal but often neglected dimensions of Tocqueville's work, and this fresh look at his writings provides a powerful framework for addressing the tensions between liberalism and d
£29.75
Princeton University Press How to Drink
Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is always good to find a new book on the shelves that regards wine with both pleasure and common sense, including a good deal about manners and drunkenness. . . . [How to Drink is] an enjoyable read and . . . makes good, genial sense at a time when wine is now being taken far too seriously as a subject to be put under a microscope rather than be sloshed into a glass."---John Mariani, Forbes"[How to Drink is] a fetching translation . . . I recommend it, as much for its hints about drinking ‘sustainably and with discrimination’ as for its wry warnings about excess."---Roger Kimball, Spectator US"[A] lively modern rendition . . . [How to Drink] mashes up a How to Win Friends and Influence People Under the Influence sort of self-help book, a snapshot of a binge-drinking culture 500 years ago and a personal airing of grievances through the lens of one entertaining, wildly self-contradictory and extremely cantankerous tutor."---Ben O’Donnell, WineSpectator.com"If you can escape the world for a couple of days, bring this delightful book with you and cue up your Pandora 'Circa 1500' playlist . . . a balance of elegance and boisterousness."---Lana Bortolot, Forbes"Fontaine has done a good job in resurrecting an amusing enough oeuvre for those who enjoy exploring such highways and byways."---Peter Jones, Classics for All"[How to Drink] serves as relevant social commentary for today, railing, with wit and humor, against toxic masculinity and overindulgence while providing advice on how to win drinking games. It’s a great addition to your bartending library."---Matt Kettman, Santa Barbara Independent"I found this book fascinating . . . I recommend How to Drink for anyone who enjoys history, the social aspects of alcohol, and the fact that some things never seem to change through the ages!" * TheBrewholder.com *"I adored this quirky little book. It’s half a millennium old and relevant. It’s vulnerably human, capricious, mercurial, inconsistent, wise, ridiculous, passionate and poetic. It’s unintentionally hilarious."---Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com"[How to Drink] is a witty, entertaining and well produced book, whose editor/translator is clearly well-matched to the subject-matter: in Fontaine’s capable hands, Obsopoeus is anything but an acquired taste."---Gary Vos, The Journal of Classics Teaching"This is a fun little book; it is also a scholarly edition of a little-known sixteenth-century didactic poem, accompanied by an eminently readable translation—an unusual and commendable combination. . . . We should be thankful to Michael Fontaine for undertaking this edition and translation, and to Princeton University Press for publishing it. . . . Obsopoeus might well be proud of how his poem has been presented to twenty-first-century readers."---David Money, Neo-Latin News
£13.29
Princeton University Press Of Rule and Office
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] meticulous new analysis of Plato’s constitutionalism. . . . With the appearance of Melissa Lane’s authoritative Of Rule and Office, debate over the evolution of Plato’s discussion of the vulnerabilities of political office and the various ways in which rule and office might be understood must be nearly at an end."---Andrew David Irvine, Times Literary Supplement
£35.70
Princeton University Press Private Government
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Anderson explores a striking American contradiction. On the one hand, we are a freedom-obsessed society, wary of government intrusion into our private lives; on the other, we allow ourselves to be tyrannized by our bosses.”—Joshua Rothman, NewYorker.com“Private Government is a welcome and important call to bring workplace governance back into political theory and discourse, and should be taken seriously if we are to promote greater democracy in the workplace.”—David Cowan, Times Literary Supplement“Highlight[s] the dramatic and alarming changes that work has undergone over the past century—insisting that, in often unseen ways, the changing nature of work threatens the fundamental ideals of democracy.”—Miya Tokumitsu, New Republic“The extent of the arbitrary authority of owners and managers over employees is surprisingly neglected by political thinkers, given how much time we spend at work and how little in the polling booth. Elizabeth Anderson provides a much-needed, important, and compelling account of this overlooked subject. Private Government deserves to be widely read and discussed.”—Alan Ryan, professor emeritus, University of Oxford
£15.29
Princeton University Press How to Be a Bad Emperor
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A gleeful new compendium of dastardly highlights from Suetonius' The Lives of Caesars . . . Horribly fascinating." * Minerva *"[How to Be a Bad Emperor is] a look at some of the worst emperors from history and how they failed. I am a big believer in learning from cautionary tales, and while of course many of the stories from ancient Rome are extreme, there is plenty to take note of here."---Ryan Holiday, Reading List Newsletter"How to Be A Bad Emperor deftly demonstrates what tendencies make a poor leader and exposes fatal character flaws along with a good dose of humour. It's a rollicking, funny, and educational eyeopener on Roman leadership, and a great introduction for newcomers to Suetonius' work. A must-read for anyone interested in Roman History."---Sandra Alvarez, Ancient History Magazine"Fun and instructive."---Brook Manville, Forbes.com"[How to Be a Bad Emperor] cleverly reproduces the choicest bits of Suetonius’s writings."---Adrian Woolridge, Bloomberg Opinion"[In How to Be a Bad Emperor], Osgood has provided an important reminder of the delicacy of systems, and how once they are overturned, the citizenry will be eagerly and easily trammeled by power hungry narcissists."---Mary Spencer, New Criterion"A deft introduction to the world and mindset of the Caesars." * Inside Story *"How to Be a Bad Emperor is an exuberant, witty, and incisive critique of four power-hungry egomaniacal Roman emperors. . . . Superbly translated."---Antonio Battagliotti, Open History"An accessible translation. . . .there is no doubt that this volume is a timely product in our era of rising authoritarianism across the globe."---Mallory Monaco Caterine, Polis
£13.29
Princeton University Press Perfect Me
Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of The Atlantic's Best Books of 2018"
£22.50
Princeton University Press We Are Not Born Submissive
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""Beautifully written and a delight to read. . . . Garcia’s book is a fascinating provocation for contemporary feminism that deserves a broad readership."---Ellie Anderson, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Garcia works diligently to refute the myth of the ‘eternal feminine,’ or that women are submissive by nature." * Kirkus Reviews *"[A] good book to include in your studies of lived experiences shaped around the patriarchy."---Gabby Cisneros, Porchlight
£29.75
Princeton University Press Aporophobia
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Cortina has written a significant work of social philosophy that deserves close attention in the Anglophone world. Aporophobia is a provocative book that will stimulate discussion, argument and investigation."---Nick Haslam, The Conversation
£20.90
Princeton University Press Dark Matters
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2021""Honorable Mention for the Journal of the History of Philosophy Book Prize""Van der Lugt succeeds brilliantly in her aim of setting aside the arid technical disputes in which philosophy often seems (at least to the layman) to be enmeshed, and applying it with compelling urgency to perennial and fundamental moral questions."---Ritchie Robertson, Times Literary Supplement"This is a highly readable, elegantly written and sophisticated study that even non-philosophers will find accessible and illuminating, and perhaps also inspiring."---Steven Nadler, Literary Review"Engaged and engaging."---Julian Young, Society"Reading this book is a rare event and something of an adventure in that it is as solidly argued as it is eloquent and as learned as it is moving. Those who feel philosophers no longer care to address truly vital issues are especially in for a treat."---Wiep van Bunge, British Journal for the History of Philosophy"[Van der Lugt] handles these ‘dark matters’—evil, suffering, suicide—with admirable delicacy. As such her book is an invaluable source for anyone interested in the history of human thinking about evil and suffering, hope and consolation."---Maikki Aakko, Heythrop Journal"Prospective readers of Dark Matters should come to this work first of all for van der Lugt’s masterclass in exegesis of Enlightenment philosophy and cultural criticism. Readers should stay for her personal insights into the problem of suffering and her ingenious insistence on pessimism as a moral source. Don’t be fooled by its somber title; Dark Matters is a treasure-trove of moral argument and inspired philosophical insights that left this reader consoled and hopeful."---David Greder, Reading Religion"A monumental achievement." * The Philosopher *
£28.80
Princeton University Press How to Be a Farmer
Book SynopsisTrade Review"I loved the book. I love the Princeton University Press series. I've read a dozen of these now; they're all awesome but I was very excited to see this one."---Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic podcast"This book is a gem."---Jonathan Self, Country Life"[A]n engaging mixture of history, philosophy, [and] poetry. . . . [T]his suitably sturdy volume is small enough to fit easily into the knapsack or the pocket of the hill-walker or the eco-tourist and would give him plenty of food for thought as he eats his ploughman’s lunch."---John Godwin, Journal of Classics Teaching
£13.29
Princeton University Press Liberalism in Dark Times
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year""[A] stellar and timely contribution. . . . In Liberalism in Dark Times, Cherniss has done us a great service by pointing us toward the examples [Camus, Aron, Niebuhr, and Berlin] set in their times. In our own times, as we continue to wrestle with the liberal predicament, we would do well to follow their lead."---Daniel Stid, American Purpose"Cherniss . . . is to be commended for writing the first book-length study on the historical origins and ethical nature of Cold War liberalism."---Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Baffler"[A] fascinating book."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs"In this terrifically rich, scholarly, and stimulating book, Cherniss seeks to recover a way of thinking about liberalism as a response to the problem of ruthlessness. . . . Liberalism in Dark Times is a vital book for those who are not willing to give up on [liberalism] quite yet."---Matt Sleat, Perspectives on Politics"Thoughtful and clearly presented." * Choice Reviews *"Liberalism in Dark Times is a historically sensitive presentation of what Cherniss reconstructs as a tempered liberalism within the interwar period, the Second World War and the Cold War as reservoirs for the political thinking of Aron, Berlin, Camus and Niebuhr. . . . the book is not only deep in its detailed readings of Weber, Lukács, Camus, Aron, Niebuhr and Berlin, but also broad- and open-minded in the intellectual engagements with the variety of traditions and positions in contemporary political theory."---Anders Berg-Sørensen, Contemporary Political Theory"A persistent political temptation is to fight fire with fire—to defend liberalism by illiberal means, to become ruthlessly liberal. In Cherniss’s hands, the liberal predicament becomes the challenge of sustaining the moral fortitude to refuse ruthlessness. . . . Ruthlessness corrodes the liberal ethos, eventually transforming us into our foes"---Robert B. Talisse, Review of Politics"Liberalism in Dark Times [is] an important, impressive and well documented book. . . .A much needed study now that the liberal democracies face the rise of autocratic governments around the world as well as the rise of internal autocratic movements."---Joseph C. Bertolini, The European Legacy"Cherniss extracts continuities across his cohort of thinkers with singular rigor and richness; he continually teases out meaningful distinctions between the positions these figures held, the subtle but significant degrees of emphasis on realism or idealism that distinguish their respective characters and conclusions; and he provides an especially enlivening view of the way that each thinker’s personal experiences shaped their liberal temper. . . . As an historical study, peering into the lives and minds of major midcentury thinkers, this book seems to me exemplary. Every text Cherniss engages with yields suggestive nuances through his careful analysis."---Ian Afflerbach, H-Diplo"Important and original. . . .Liberalism in Dark Times remains one of the best studies of its kind."---Iain Stewart, History of European Ideas"Liberalism in Dark Times as a whole is more than its parts, as Cherniss draws perceptive comparisons between his protagonists throughout the book. . . . Those interested in twentieth-century liberal thought have much to learn from his carefully researched work."---Kei Hiruta, Global Intellectual History
£29.75
Princeton University Press Losing Ourselves
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Popular books on the illusion of self tend to be crass and sensationalist, the academic ones dull and turgid. Jay L. Garfield has successfully followed the less trodden middle way. As a result, the promise of losing yourself in a book has never been more literal."---Julian Baggini, Times Literary Supplement"Passionate, logical, and thought-provoking."---David Greder, Reading Religion"Incisive. . . .This book makes a valuable contribution."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer
£13.29
Princeton University Press Viral Justice
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Stowe Prize, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center""Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards, Personal Development & Human Behavior Category""A NationSwell Book of the Year""Finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems""Shortlisted for the getAbstract International Book Award 2023, Business Impact Category""This is an openhearted, multilayered work that vibrates with ideas on ways to make a new world out of the interlocking crises of COVID-19 and racial capitalism. Progress may be a 'tear-soaked mirage,' as Benjamin writes, yet her book is far from devoid of a sense of humor or hope, full of ways to 'live poetically' while remaking the systems that have failed us."---Rhoda Feng, New York Magazine"Heartbreaking, inspiring, and hopeful. . . . Benjamin’s approach is undoubtedly radical."---James M. Jones, Science"There’s no one better to light the way out and guide us in building a just future than Ruha Benjamin."---Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine"Benjamin’s choice to weave personal stories of childhood and motherhood with action and theory made it easier to see how I fit into the narrative she was crafting. . . . In the spirit of activists and writers like Octavia Butler, Benjamin encourages us to dream up a new, more equitable world."---A. Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez, YES! Magazine"A powerful, urgent plea for individual responsibility in an unjust world." * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *"An emotional and thought-provoking wake-up shout to put an end to systemic discrimination. . . . A rich and engaging space for collective healing." * Library Journal *"Compelling . . . . The final pages of Benjamin’s Viral Justice are a testament to human resilience, to finding meaning in little acts, imbuing beauty in the mundane, and growing a garden from a seed."---Mehr Tarar, Stanford Social Innovation Review"I encourage educators across all subject matters to incorporate Benjamin’s Viral Justice framework in the classroom. These lessons ultimately provide students with a toolkit to reimagine justice and redistribute power in their own communities little by little."---Amber Joy Powell, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"A unique and inspiring intervention, that comes at just the right moment."---Ros Williams, Ethnic and Racial Studies"Benjamin’s work is foundational for understanding society and social change. . . . Viral Justice offers real experiences coupled with theory and practicality to engender change."---Kenya Massey, Symbolic Interaction"[A] brilliant and impassioned book." * Paradigm Explorer *"A salve and a powerful revisiting of movement history. . . . I see Viral Justice as a refreshing reminder of how much we can learn from the analysis and perspective of a brilliant thinker outside our field . . . The book is lyrical and searing in its analysis."---Michelle Morse, The Lancet
£22.50
Princeton University Press What Can We Hope For
Book SynopsisTrade Review"An invaluable collection."---Thomas Nagel, New Statesman"Thought-provoking. . . . Fiercely argued yet thoroughly empathetic, these political musings are littered with valuable insights and astute analysis." * Publishers Weekly *"If anyone deserves the mantle ‘America’s Orwell,’ it’s Rorty, who combined political activism and sharp observation with a fierce intellectual independence that allowed him to criticize both left-wing and right-wing ambitions. . . . Exemplary political writing by a renowned maverick." * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *
£15.19
Princeton University Press Lost in Thought
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Zena Hitz, Winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, The Dallas Institute""Seminary Coop's Notable Books for 2020""A London Lyceum Top Book of the Year""[In Lost in Thought] Hitz is asking the right questions. . . . The question at its heart is disarmingly simple and deeply engaging: What should we do with ourselves."---Jonathan Marks, Wall Street Journal"[An] amazing book." * MC Hammer on Twitter *"Utterly charming."---John Warner, Chicago Tribune"[Lost in Thought] proved a salutary reminder for me, and may for other readers as well, that we should try to make at least a little space . . . for the contemplative learning that drew us into the life of the mind."---James M. Lang, Chronicle of Higher Eduation"Zena Hitz’s Lost in Thought offers a passionate and powerful defense of pure intellectualism and the intrinsic value of the intellectual life."---Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed"An inspirational attestation of the ability of intellectual activity to dignify oppressed lives. . . . Much of this book is beautiful."---Sophie Duncan, Literary Review"Hitz’s memoir is profoundly affecting as she describes how academic life made her lose her love of learning before, finally, she found a meaningful path."---Joe Humphreys, Irish Times"Compelling. . . . you’ll probably walk away from this book, as I did, feeling that your inner life has been enlarged."---Roosevelt Montás, Wall Street Journal"Lost in Thought [is] a persuasive defense of learning and intellectual life . . . Hitz’s breadth of knowledge is on display."---Aurelian Craiutu, Los Angeles Review of Books"[Lost in Thought is] full of wonder, full of the joyful smiles of somebody who’s been saved, or saved herself, from empty toils of ledger-sheet learning. In her good-natured way, Hitz chastises the increasing commodification of intellectual endeavor. . . . This is a book to savor in your quietest reading nook. Which is very much the point."---Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review"Everyone who cares about colleges and universities and their place in American life should read it. [Lost in Thought] confronts familiar and abiding questions about intellectual inquiry in an utterly engaging and profound way. . . . [A] wonderful book."---Flagg Taylor, National Review"In her rich and rewarding book Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, Professor Zena Hitz argues that the goal of education is not the status or privileges it confers upon us, or even the valuable life skills it demands that we acquire. In line with classical pagan and Christian traditions, she argues that we have a natural desire to understand the world outside of us, and that a true education carefully cultivates this natural love of learning and helps to bring it to its full maturity. . . . [A] rich, timely book, a book educators and students alike would do well to read."---Jennifer A. Frey, Classical Learning Test blog"Lost in Thought [is] an examination of conscience or a manual for discernment for those who care about the intellectual life . . . Lost in Thought is the strongest case for the humanities to appear in years."---Nathaniel Peters, Public Discourse"[Zena Hitz's] account is persuasive, not least because it is personal."---Peter Costello, Irish Catholic"Part autobiography, part defense of impractical intellectualism, and part cultural lament, Lost in Thought forces us to contemplate the ways in which we might salvage thoughtfulness—perhaps not through our universities but in spite of them . . . elegant . . . Hitz’s book is a valuable opportunity."---Charles McNamara, Commonweal"In Lost in Thought, Hitz seeks to revive an appreciation for intellectual pursuit as inherently good and fundamental to human happiness. - Rachel K. Alexander, Tablet Magazine""Lost in Thought is a rhetorical case for the loveliness of learning for its own sake . . . insightful."---Pavlos Papadopoulos, Athwart.org"Very well written and referenced, this book is a reminder that pursuit of the intellectual life, broadly understood, can be of great benefit to individuals and society." * Choice *"[An] important book in which [Hitz] reminds us that the humanities are about humanity, and essentially about cultivating an inner life." * Paradigm Explorer *"One of the most interesting volumes I’ve read this year . . . Lost in Thought mounts a direct challenge to anyone who would collapse contemplative work into a mere prelude to political action, gainful employment, or any other utilitarian pursuit. The development of one’s 'contemplative side,' for lack of a better term, is an end in itself. And for Hitz, it is the cultivation of this distinctly human faculty that lays the groundwork for enduring joy and flourishing, even in the midst of dire personal circumstances."---John Ehrett, Patheos"[Lost in Thought] is best understood as a kind of intellectual pilgrim’s progress: taking us on a tour of the temptations and misunderstandings that prevent us from achieving our nature as thinking beings . . . an absorbing story . . . Lost in Thought helps us to dislodge our dreary preoccupation with transient goods by giving us a glimpse of . . . more lasting satisfactions."---Jenna Silber Storey, Real Clear Books"The best compliment I can give the author of this excellent book is to note that Lost is Thought itself counts as a perfect example of the elusive thing it tries to capture: splendidly useless yet intrinsically valuable thinking in action."---Derek van Zoonen, Nexus Instituut"[A] lovely . . . meditation . . . [in Lost in Thought] Hitz defends learning for its own sake and takes aim polemically at the canard that such learning is “elitist” or draws necessary attention away from the properly activist bent of intellectual inquiry . . . accessible [and] jargon-free."---Matt Dinan, The Hedgehog Review"Zena Hitz’s wonderful book presents a different and refreshing take on these issues. Focusing on what it means to love learning and learning for learning’s sake, she shows us how intellectual activity is part of human flourishing and is essential to our fulfilment."---Joana Correa Monteiro, Forma De Vida"[An] elegant and absorbing argument. . . .The remarkable thing about Lost in Thought is that it makes. . .rather dreary propositions not only palatable but also compelling. Hitz doesn’t just want to persuade you; she wants to win over your heart. . . .You might walk away from it with a little more clarity, a little more conviction, and a little more dedication to what really matters in your life."---Roosevelt Montás, American Political Thought
£13.29
Princeton University Press You Say You Want a Revolution
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Historically dense, intelligently organized, and deeply analytical, You Say You Want a Revolution? offers a great deal to a wide array of audiences. . . . This book’s cheeky title is at once a warning and a lament: those who foment discord as a vehicle for change very often find themselves in a situation more dire than the status quo ante, and the idealism inherent in such movements is exposed as a mirage." * Choice *"This is an essential book."---Steven Simon, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy"For those seeking a quick, sharply written survey of how revolutions have so often brought violence, corruption, and authoritarian rule, Chirot has provided a clear and valuable book."---Jack Goldstone, Social Forces
£16.14
Princeton University Press Justice and the Politics of Difference
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the 1991 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association""Young has written an extremely important book, articulating a position which challenges theorists of justice from Plato to Rawls."---Andrew Murphy, Journal of Politics"This is a superb book which opens up many new vistas for theorists of justice. Young makes a number of insightful arguments both about the issues that need to be addressed by a theory of justice, and about the kind of theory capable of addressing them."---Will Kymlicka, Canadian Philosophical Reviews"With remarkable precision and clarity, Young constructs a 'pluralized' account of oppression, aiming to describe all the groups and all the ways they are oppressed." * Signs *
£17.09
Princeton University Press The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Smith has given readers a fresh interpretation of the history of technology . . . and a keen sense that we don’t always know what the internet is doing to us."---Christine Rosen, Wall Street Journal"Smith traces the early internet through the outlandish ideas of Renaissance inventors, ill-fated fraudsters and forgotten polymaths. It’s a provocative reframing of the internet, a lament for what might have been, and a fresh way of thinking about what we’re doing when we spend endless hours scrolling online. . . . Smith avoids offering easy solutions to the current crisis but suggests that we might be able to reach back into the past in order to reorient the internet towards a more meaningful end."---Joshua Gabert-Doyon, Financial Times"This heady, unusual book sets out to view the internet—idealistic experiment, revolutionary communication tool, repository of amusing cat memes—through a longer conceptual history. Instead of the expected trips to research laboratories and US university campuses, there are detours via Buddhist thought and a 19th-century hoax involving a ‘snail telegraph.’ Idiosyncratic, fascinating stuff."---Rhiannon Davies and Matt Elton, BBC History Magazine"The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is begins as a negative critique of online life. . . . But the book’s second half progresses into deeper philosophical inquiries. . . . [Smith] ends by recognizing that the interface of the Internet, and the keyboard that gives him access to it, is less an external device than an extension of his questing mind."---Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker"While Smith addresses what is wrong with the web—especially compelling is his exploration of how it affects our attention and how it encourages us to trade our sense of self for 'an algorithmically plottable profile'—he is also offering a big picture vision of this machine-assisted communication as an extension of all forms of communication in nature."---Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald"Smith wants to make us think differently about the internet and much of his book is spent explaining that many of the ideas behind its uses are, in fact, ancient, and he gives myriad fascinating examples."---Peter Neville-Hadley, South China Morning Post"Smith examines the alarming problems of the Internet in its contemporary incarnation and insightfully explores some of the historical antecedents of this technology."---Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness"In a book that meditates upon networks, webs, and connections, Smith’s astounding range becomes something of a method for revealing the interconnectedness of everything between stars and modems."---Trevor Quirk, Bookforum"[Smith] draws on centuries’ worth of philosophy to examine the pervasive reach of the internet in this enlightening survey. . . . A capable guide to why what’s online is there, and how it came to be." * Publishers Weekly *"Thoughtful. . . . A worthy critique of a technology in need of rethinking—and human control that seeks to free and not enchain." * Kirkus Reviews *"An accessible philosophy of the internet, taking stock along the way of the faults and dangers resulting from the internet's invasion into people's lives. Whatever one’s preconceptions about the internet, Smith makes a convincing case that the internet is something more than what one might have thought." * Choice *"One of the pleasures of Smith’s philosophical tour is to note how frequently the implementation of ideas and their consequences jump domains. . . . One of the great achievements of Smith’s book is to permit us to honor [Ada Lovelace’s] legacy, ambition, and achievement. . . while buttressing a healthy and necessary skepticism toward the claims of tech transcendence and the uniqueness of our moment."---Eric Banks, 4Columns"Smith wants to show that the internet is not new, it is just a refinement in the gossamer of perceptual probing that our species has woven into the world’s fabric to make near the distant. This arresting thesis is aided by the excellent writing. . . . The book is mostly enchantment."---Graham McAleer, Law & Liberty"Fascinating. . . .The book is an impressive and necessary reality check that situates the Internet in a historical context."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer
£13.29
Stanford University Press Toward the Critique of Violence
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This translation places before English readers for the first time the most comprehensible version yet of Benjamin's compelling and demanding essay."—Kevin McLaughlin, Brown University"Fenves and Ng have assembled the definitive scholarly edition in English of Walter Benjamin's influential 1921 essay "Toward the Critique of Violence"...An indispensable resource for those interested in Benjamin's particular intervention at a place where political theology meets questions of morality, power, and authority. Essential." –G.D. Miller, CHOICE"A new edition of Benjamin's allusive essay helps elucidate what is often enigmatic and esoteric about a text whose author is working towards a more Marxist perspective. It is fully annotated and includes a large and helpful selection of notes and fragments by Benjamin that are closely related to what he was formulating."—Sean Sheehan, The Prisma"In making Benjamin's essay and these various sets of writings easily accessible to a new generation of English-language readers, as well as scholars already conversant with the main text, this critical edition encourages the sort of deep analysis it enables. Readers of Benjamin of all kinds, from undergraduate and graduate students to established scholars, will surely appreciate the book and the manifold resources it has to offer."—Michael Powers, The German Quarterly
£18.89
Stanford University Press The Highest Poverty
Book SynopsisIn this book, Agamben investigates monasticism from its beginnings up through the Franciscan movement in an attempt to find a new form-of-life that escapes from the logic of Western politics as put forth in his Homo Sacer series.Trade Review"The range of primary sources Agamben relies on to make his argument . . . is impressively vast. As his readers have come to expect, Agamben demonstrates an uncanny ability to discover enduring significance in obscure corners of the Western tradition while doing justice to their proper historicity." -- Brian Hamilton * Modern Theology *"The Highest Poverty is Agamben's attempt to define what he calls a 'form-of-life,' a mode of living where life and law enter into a zone of indistinction so that one is not able to discern between living according to the law and applying the law to a pre-existing life . . . The first thing that became quite clear in reading this book is the depth of knowledge and understanding Agamben has of monastic history as well as medieval philosophy and theology. He knows the literature, the languages, and the nuances needed for any depth of understanding . . . This book was not written for the spiritual or theological nourishment of monastics and friars. It was written as a piece of political philosophy concerned about the current all-consuming nature of law and what that does to life. Nevertheless, there is a great deal that monastics and friars can learn from the work of Agamben. He shows us a picture of ourselves from a vantage point that we seldom see. There is more to our form-of-life than immediately meets the eye." -- Eugene Hensell * American Benedictine Review *"At a time when current anthropological debate has turned toward ontology, this book challenges us to return anew to questions of habits and habitus. The Highest Poverty offers a productive . . . lens through which to examine modernity, its antecedents, and its reimagined futures in the global South. Especially salient for anthropologists is the book's attention to theories of practice and a common life not wholly defined by the logics of capital and formal institutions." -- Kerry Chance * Anthropology Southern Africa *"[I]t deepens the insights of Agamben's earlier work and extends them into the theological realm. . . . Recommended." -- A. W. Klink * Choice *"Agamben's work remains a thought-provoking and tightly written tract, and a number of trenchant observations can be found therein. For scholars of monasticism, The Highest Poverty will present old texts in productive new lights, and for scholars of philosophy and other disciplines, it will suggest new methods and tools that can be transposed into different fields of study." -- Joshua Campbell * Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies *"Like much of Agamben's writing, The Highest Poverty mixes historical, philosophical, and philological discourse with impressive skill. Agamben's book provokes insight through juxtaposition, analogy, and acts of theoretical imagination." -- Brian Britt * Journal of Religion *
£16.14
Duke University Press Vulnerability in Resistance
Book SynopsisThis volume recasts the concepts of vulnerability and resistance, moving beyond the assumptions that they are opposites. Focusing on recent events and cultural practices in Turkey, Palestine, France, and the former Yugoslavia, the essays connect vulnerability to resistance by showing how women and other minorities use their own vulnerability as resistance.Trade Review"Interdisciplinary, relevant and rich in content, this collection of essays succeeds in thwarting the vulnerability/resistance dichotomy, and offers us plenty of feminist-inspired reimagined political-philosophical situated vocabularies for the here and now." -- Evelien Geerts * Angelaki *"This is an important volume for those interested in grammars of resistance, protest cultures, and the mobilization of grief as a route into collective political subjectivity. Its crosscultural range enables us to see overlaps in forms of embodied resistance even when these latter are specific to a milieu and political condition." -- Pramod K Nayar * Journal of International and Global Studies *"A timely and deeply insightful contribution that may be of great interest to those engaged in critical international politics.... One of the greatest strengths of the volume lies in the scope of the essays. Throughout the volume understandings and uses of vulnerability change and morph, refusing any dogmatic definition. The range of engagements that the anthology encompasses manages to tie together disparate concepts and contexts around a simple, yet profoundly provocative, premise: that a theoretical embrace of vulnerability can take us to a new understanding of resistance and the resisting subject." -- Jennifer Hobbs * International Feminist Journal of Politics *"For anyone interested in Butler’s work, this volume will be very valuable. Indeed, as a whole, Vulnerability in Resistance is an extremely provocative and valuable contribution to global feminist studies." -- Ladelle McWhorter * Contemporary Political Theory *"Highly recommendable for anyone interested at questions related to social movements, performativity, body politics, precarity, and resistance of the political violence." -- Mikko Joronen * Space and Polity *"A brilliant experiment that brings together a variety of heterogenous reflections." -- Marco Checchi * Ephemera *"The richness of the accounts offered in the book . . . creates a distinctive space at the intersections of feminist, cultural, social and political theory." -- Claudia Lapping * European Journal of Women's Studies *"Offers diverse and insightful opportunities for radical politics today. . . . A valuable contribution to feminist geography." -- Angharad Butler-Rees * Gender, Place & Culture *Table of ContentsIllustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction / Judith Butler, Zeynep Gambetti, and Leticia Sabsay 1 1. Rethinking Vulnerability and Resistance / Judith Butler 12 2. Risking Oneself and One's Identity: Agonism Revisited / Zeynep Gambetti 28 3. Bouncing Back: Vulnerability and Resistance in Times of Resilience / Sarah Bracke 52 4. Vulnerable Times / Marianne Hirsch 76 5. Barricades: Resources and Residues of Resistance / Başak Ertür 97 6. Dreams and the Political Subject / Elena Loizidou 122 7. Vulnerable Corporealities and Precarious Belongings in Mona Hatoum's Art / Elena Tzelepis 146 8. Precarious Politics: The Activism of "Bodies That Count" (Aligning with Those That Don't) in Palestine's Colonial Frontier / Rema Hammami 167 9. When Antigone Is a Man: Feminist "Trouble" in the Late Colony / Nükhet Sirman 191 10. Violence against Women in Turkey: Vulnerability, Sexuality, and Eros / Meltem Ahiska 211 11. Bare Subjectivity: Faces, Veils, and Masks in the Contemporary Allegories of Western Citizenship / Elsa Dorlin 236 12. Nonsovereign Agonism (or, Beyond Affirmation versus Vulnerability) / Athena Athanasiou 256 13. Permeable Bodies: Vulnerability, Affective Powers, Hegemony / Leticia Sabsay 278 Bibliography 303 Contributors 325 Index 329
£21.59
Fordham University Press The Disavowed Community
Book SynopsisOver thirty years after Maurice Blanchot writes The Unavowable Community—a book outlining a critical response to Jean-Luc Nancy’s early proposal for thinking an “inoperative community”—The Disavowed Community offers a close reading of Blanchot’s text.Trade Review"This is a powerful and important book, in several respects: first, because this is Nancy's first public engagement with Maurice Blanchot's 1983 book The Unavowable Community, bringing to focus decades of research on this issue and shedding exciting new light on the relation between the two thinkers. Second, this work provides the latest elaborations by Jean-Luc Nancy on what has been his longstanding research on being-with and community, issues that have occupied him for the past thirty years. Finally, the analyses proposed are some of the most sophisticated that one can find in Nancy's corpus. As such, they represent a significant contribution to philosophical work and research." -- -Francois Raffoul Louisiana State University
£19.94
Duke University Press The End of the Cognitive Empire
Book SynopsisBoaventura de Sousa Santos further develops his concept of the epistemologies of the South, in which he outlines a theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical framework for challenging the dominance of Eurocentric thought while showing how an embrace of the forms of knowledge of marginalized groups can lead to global justice.Trade Review"De Sousa Santos does a commendable job at providing a structured methodological guide for doing research pertaining to the epistemologies of the South and addresses pedagogical challenges anticipated with the advent of the proposed conceptual shift in the thinking of political change." -- Dieunedort Wandji * International Journal of Francophone Studies *“The End of the Cognitive Empire is an outstanding book that takes forward Santos’s previous Epistemologies of the South by providing a more practical guide replete with real-world examples and experiences, many of them firsthand.” -- Sam Halvorsen * Journal of Latin American Geography *“An extraordinary compilation of Sousa Santos’ theoretical and practical contributions, The End of the Cognitive Empire, is an addition to discussions about the epistemic foundations of social struggles across the globe. Divided into three parts, each is a profound reflection on how the knowledges questioning the North are articulated to advance an anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-colonial agenda…. [This book is] off interest to researchers and students in the social sciences, humanities, postcolonial studies, and empirical philosophers of science….” -- Leandro Rodriguez-Medina * Metascience *Table of ContentsPreface vii Introduction: Why the Epistemologies of the South? Artisanal Paths for Artisanal Futures 1 Part I. Postabyssal Epistemologies 1. Pathways toward the Epistemologies of the South 19 2. Preparing the Ground 37 3. Authorship, Writing, and Orality 53 4. What Is Struggle? What Is Experience? 63 5. Bodies, Knowledges, and Corazonar 87 Part II. Postabyssal Methodologies 6. Cognitive Decolonization: An Introduction 107 7. On Nonextractivist Methodologies 143 8. The Deep Experience of the Senses 165 9. Demonumentalizing Written and Archival Knowledge 185 Part III. Postabyssal Pedagogies 10. Gandhi, an Archivist of the Future 209 11. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Participatory Action Research, and Epistemologies of the South 247 12. From University to Pluriversity to Subversity 269 Conclusion: Between Fear and Hope 293 Notes 303 References 337 Index 365
£22.79
Duke University Press Around the Day in Eighty Worlds
Book SynopsisIn Around the Day in Eighty Worlds Martin Savransky calls for a radical politics of the pluriverse amid the ongoing devastation of the present. Responding to an epoch marked by the history of colonialism and ecological devastation, Savransky draws on the pragmatic pluralism of William James to develop what Savransky calls a “pluralistic realism”—an understanding of the world as simultaneously one and many, ongoing and unfinished, underway and yet to be made. Savransky explores the radical multifariousness of reality by weaving key aspects of James''s thought together with divergent worlds and stories: of Magellan''s circumnavigation, sorcery in Mozambique, God''s felt presence among a group of evangelicals in California, visible spirits in Zambia, and ghosts in the wake of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Throughout, he experiments with these storied worlds to dramatize new ways of approaching the politics of radical difference and the possibility of transforming reaTrade Review“Martin Savransky's generative and intense book powerfully relays the living, burning demand at the heart of William James's pragmatism—that we learn to feel and think with a reality in the making of which we participate, whether we will it or not. Experimenting with this risky but transformative demand, Savransky reactivates a William James, calling contemporary thinkers to hold out a trusting hand to the manifold, adventurous commitments of today's activism.” -- Isabelle Stengers, author of * In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism *“With superior scholarship and clarity, Martin Savransky joins recent efforts to displace realist epistemologies and offer alternative analytical practices of the real. This succinct book moves conversations about the so-called ontological turn (and ontological openings) to a thought-ground that philosophically inclined scholars in all disciplines will find attractive to play in.” -- Marisol de la Cadena, author of * Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds *"A succinct book, captivatingly structured, and thoughtfully written, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds is a generative contribution to the study and practice of pluriversal politics." -- David McKeown * European Journal of Social Theory *"Overall, this book offers scholars across disciplines a reconceptualized approach to analyzing social worlds. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." -- R. P. Lorenzo * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii 1. Ongoing and Unfinished 1 2. Runaway Metaphysics 25 3. Trust of a Held-out Hand 49 4. Worldquakes 70 5. Pragmatism in the Wake 91 6. The Insistence of the Pluriverse 113 Notes 133 Bibliography 163 Index 177
£18.99
Cornell University Press Western SelfContempt
Book SynopsisWestern Self-Contempt travels through civilizations since antiquity, examining major political events and the literature of ancient Greece, Rome, France, Britain, and the United States, to study evidence of cultural self-hatred and its cyclical recurrence. Benedict Beckeld explores oikophobia, described by its coiner Sir Roger Scruton as "the felt need to denigrate the customs, culture and institutions that are identifiably 'ours,'" in its political and philosophical applications. Beckeld analyzes the theories behind oikophobia along with their historical sources, revealing why oikophobia is best described as a cultural malaise that befalls civilizations during their declining days. Beckeld gives a framework for why today's society is so fragmented and self-critical. He demonstrates that oikophobia is the antithesis of xenophobia. By this definition, the riots and civil unrest in the summer of 2020 were an expression of oikophobia. Excessive political correctness that attacks tradition and history is an expression of oikophobia. Beckeld argues that if we are to understand these behaviors and attitudes, we must understand oikophobia as a sociohistorical phenomenon. Western Self-Contempt is a systematic analysis of oikophobia, combining political philosophy and history to examine how Western civilizations and cultures evolve from naïve and self-promoting beginnings to states of self-loathing and decline. Concluding with a philosophical portrait of an increasingly interconnected Western civilization, Beckeld reveals how past events and ideologies, both in the US and in Europe, have led to a modern culture of self-questioning and self-rejection.Trade ReviewWestern Self-Contempt gets to the heart of perhaps the most salient cultural and political phenomenon among Western elites in the last half century. * The American Mind *Western Self-Contempt is a seminal study that will have a special appeal to students of European political philosophy and cultural anthropology. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Western Self-Contempt is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Political Theory & Philosophy collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. * The Midwest Book Review *Beckeld dares to write what intelligent Americans think. * Chronicles Magazine *Western Self-Contempt is an encouraging book. Its historical overview of each civilization's rise and fall and its chapters on relativism, positivism, and cyclical and progressive theory have philosophical depth. Interspersed throughout the argument are pithy aphorisms about the contemporary political scene that are a delightful bonus and inspiring alternative to the dismal orthodoxies of the present day. * National Association of Scholars *Western Self-Contempt discusses big picture ideas that often get lost in the abundance of detail one discovers when embarking on a study of the modern cultural revolution. Philosopher Benedict Beckeld examines a curious pattern seen throughout history where prosperous states, at the height of their success, become overwhelmed with self-contempt rooted in a belief that the prosperity and material abundance they enjoy, is merely a result of historical injustice. * Woke Watch Canada *By tracing the idea of intellectuals' self-contempt back to the beginning of Western civilisation, Beckeld shows how the phenomenon recurs cyclically: from ancient Greece and the Roman Empire to early modern France and England, up to today's United States in its role as world hegemon. Beckeld's analysis of oikophobia - and tragic view of history - enables a new foundation on which we can formulate what the intellectual's responsibility is. * The Critic Magazine *Western Self-Contempt is extremely important and timely, has amazing historical detail, and demonstrates an astonishing knowledge of the history of civilizations. * Peter Boghossian *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Oikophobia in Ancient Greece 2. Oikophobia as Relativism 3. Oikophobia in Rome 4. The Role of Religion 5. Oikophobia in France 6. Oikophobia in Britain 7. Oikophobia as Positivism 8. Oikophobia in the United States: The Past 9. Cyclical and Progressive Theory 10. Oikophobia in the United States: The Present 11. The Confluence of the West Epilogue: On Personal Freedom
£23.39
Stanford University Press Jazz As Critique: Adorno and Black Expression
Book SynopsisA sustained engagement with Theodor Adorno, Jazz As Critique looks to jazz for ways of understanding the inadequacies of contemporary life. Adorno's writings on jazz are notoriously dismissive. Nevertheless, Adorno does have faith in the critical potential of some musical traditions. Music, he suggests, can provide insight into the controlling, destructive nature of modern society while offering a glimpse of more empathetic and less violent ways of being together in the world. Taking Adorno down a path he did not go, this book calls attention to an alternative sociality made manifest in jazz. In response to writing that tends to portray it as a mirror of American individualism and democracy, Fumi Okiji makes the case for jazz as a model of "gathering in difference."Noting that this mode of subjectivity emerged in response to the distinctive history of black America, she reveals that the music cannot but call the integrity of the world into question.Trade Review"A lucidly argued, historically grounded, theoretically sophisticated, and timely book, Jazz as Critique redraws our maps of the relationship between black cultures, jazz music, and critical theory." -- Alexander G. Weheliye * Northwestern University *"Fumi Okiji combines a serious understanding of Adorno with a powerful portrayal of the black experience in the United States and melds it all with an encyclopedic knowledge of and respect for the jazz tradition. The world needs a book like this, as much as it needs jazz." -- Martin Shuster * Goucher College *"This important and engagingly written study offers new angles of vision on Adorno's notorious 'jazz critique,' on the nature of the jazz work, and on jazz's utopian promise. Informed both by a judicious reading of Adorno and by considerable jazz literacy, it illuminates the intersections of critical theory, jazz studies, and African American studies." -- Lorenzo C. Simpson * Stony Brook University *"Jazz As Critique serves as an invaluable resource for thinking about the types of listening and conversations that need to take place in order to confront today's outstanding racial injustice and inequalities." -- Alexander K. Rothe, Core Lecturer * Columbia University *"Okiji's book is a rare treat, unexpected in its outcome, and unconventional in its methodological approach." -- James B. Haile III * The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *"At stake in Okiji's text is not whether Adorno could have changed his mind about jazz but rather whether Black expression can, and should, change its mind about Adorno." -- Mark Christian Thompson * Monatshefte *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1Jazz, Individualism, and the Black Modern chapter abstractThis chapter seeks to establish the socio-historical basis of an alternate subjectivity, a gathering in difference in jazz, in contrast to the claims presented by some commentators—shown to relate more closely to the historical trajectory of the bourgeois. The inattention of both Adorno and jazz critics to the significance of a distinctive black American subject is shown to be a crucial oversight. It is argued that the notion of personal sovereignty (and its loss) must be seen as subordinate to fundamental everyday, often passive, battles between black life and how society tends to define it beyond recognition, the sequela of the dehumanization of African captives. This distinction is crucial to appreciating the manner in which jazz and other black expressive forms contribute to a model of a possible praxis. 2Double Consciousness and the Critical Potential of Black Expression chapter abstractAccording to Adorno, autonomous works of art, by virtue of their peculiar attuned-outsider perspective, are ideally positioned to provide a kind of social critique. Although implicated socio-historically in the advance of techno-rationality—in fact, because they are so implicated—musical works are able, in rearticulating available musical material, to expose the poor state of human relations within late capitalist society. It is essential to consider black expression's attuned-outsiderness within the specific historical and material conditions from which it emerged. These provide an alternative vantage to that of radical music of the European tradition. Resting on Nahum Chandler's illuminating interpretation of W.E.B. Du Bois's ideas concerning double consciousness, this chapter draws to the fore the importance of African America's contradictory nature, the critical character of its obligatory retention of conflicting positions. The chapter culminates in a discussion of jazz syncopation as a manifestation of this. 3Black Dwelling, a Refuge for the Homeless chapter abstractThis chapter frames some key turns of the study's central argument within a universalist inclination in black radical thought and expression. The chapter focuses on the opportunity the disjuncture between blackness and the world presents, and how it allows us to speculate on the broad ethical implications of black living in critical reflection on the world. Black wordlessness and homelessness are put into conversation with Adorno's ethics of resistance, particularly the imploration to not be at home in one's home. It is suggested that an embrace of blackness is a way to give up one's place in the world, and the prerequisite to any utopic future. 4Storytelling, Sound, and Silence chapter abstractThis chapter establishes the aesthetic terms of jazz's social character by showing that the tension between wanting to tell communal stories and doing so with distinction permeates jazz work and tradition. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's "The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov," on black thought, and on the music itself, a descriptive formulation of collaborative work in jazz is advanced. Storytelling in jazz scholarship has traditionally been associated with the linearity and coherence of the individual solo, with values modeled closely on those of the modern European tradition. The inadequacy of such approaches is discussed. The chapter shows how the elision between sound and sense (an evasion of designation but also a refusal to relinquish meaning) enabled black music to continue to communicate content of social significance, despite being faced with traumas comparable to those that have robbed Benjamin's storytelling community of its ability to communicate experience. 5Postscript: Some Thoughts on the Inadequacy and Indispensability of Jazz Records chapter abstractThe study concludes with a dialectical riffing on the indispensability and the inadequacy of jazz recording as a representative of the music's principles of structuration. It is suggested that jazz recording is destructive, that it congeals and obscured how jazz work is done and compromises the incompletion, partiality, and imperfection encoded the practice. And yet, jazz records are shown to be of crucial importance to the way the tradition has developed, particularly for how it has democratized study and has facilitated inter-generational collaborations while retaining the features of oral tradition. Introduction chapter abstractThis introductory chapter sketches the broad strokes of the argument that unfolds over the course of the book. A recording of the Charles Mingus Sextet at Cornell University anchors the chapter. In it is heard socio-musical work that appears to instantiate Adorno's ideas of art's potential for providing social theory. It prepares the ground for the extended conversation staged between the critical theorist and black thought and expression.
£18.89
Stanford University Press What Would Be Different: Figures of Possibility
Book SynopsisPossibility is a concept central to both philosophy and social theory. But in what philosophical soil, if any, does the possibility of a better society grow? At the intersection of metaphysics and social theory, What Would Be Different looks to Theodor W. Adorno to reflect on the relationship between the possible and the actual. In repeated allusions to utopia, redemption, and reconciliation, Adorno appears to reference a future that would break decisively with the social injustices that have characterized history. To this end, and though he never explains it in any detail—let alone in the form of a full-blown theory or metaphysics—he also makes extensive technical use of the concept of possibility. Taking Adorno's critical readings of other thinkers, especially Hegel and Heidegger, as his guiding thread, Iain Macdonald reflects on possibility as it relates to Adorno's own writings and offers answers to the question of how we are to articulate such possibilities without lapsing into a vague and naïve utopianism.Trade Review"This exemplary and highly original piece of philosophical scholarship precisely illuminates a central but hitherto unrecognized concern in Adorno's work—his notion of 'real but blocked possibility'—demonstrating how it operates throughout his writing. I know of no study similar to it."—Henry Pickford, Duke University"Macdonald is not only an authority on Adorno but also a deeply skilled philosopher. What Would Be Different deals with some ferociously difficult and abstract conceptual material while remaining lucid, careful, and thorough. Without question, it figures among the most genuinely pathbreaking recent work on Adorno."—Maxim Pensky, Binghamton University, the State University of New York"What is possible? With this question in mind, Macdonald sets out on a breathtaking intellectual journey. In a series of spectacularly powerful and compelling readings of such key thinkers as Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Benjamin, Bloch, and Adorno, he throws new and much needed light on the post-Kantian philosophical tradition while offering resources for responding to our contemporary crisis."—Espen Hammer, Temple University"This much-needed book explores how possibility, for Adorno, can be thought beyond mere contingency or empty utopia. To ask 'what would be different' is as concrete as it is radical—and only radical insofar as it is concrete. Macdonald shows that the possible cannot be defined generally and ontologically but only historically and socially: as a world that could well be realized but that is blocked by the ruling powers."—Christoph Menke, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main"What Would Be Different presents readers with the results of years of fruitful effort....[It] takes an important stand in a debate that matters, not just to armchair academics, but to everybody on the planet."—Deborah Cook, Symposium"What Would Be Different provides us with an essential, long neglected, philosophical and biographical examination of Adorno and Heidegger's complicated relationship....[It offers] a valuable contribution to philosophy in that it provides a clear, non-partisan presentation of famously difficult thinkers from disparate traditions. Macdonald's synthesis and framing of these ideas is admirable."—Matthew Eckel, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Table of Contents1. What Would Be Different 2. Hegel's Fallacy: Possibility and Actuality in Hegel and Adorno 3. Adorno: Nature–History–Possibility 4. Adorno and Heidegger: Possibility Read Backward and Forward 5. Adorno, Benjamin, and What Would Be Different
£23.39
