Verso Books

Book SynopsisThe analysis of May 68 in Paris, Berkeley, and the Western world has been widely reconsidered. But 1968 is not only a year that conjures up images of Paris, Frankfurt, or Milan. It is also the pivotal year for a new anti-colonial and anti-capitalist politics to erupt across the Third World - Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Japan's position - neither in "the West" nor in the "Third World" -provoked a complex and intense round of mass mobilizations through the 1960s and early 70s. The Japanese situation remains remarkably under-examined globally. Beginning in the late 1950s, a New Left, independent of the prewar Japanese communist moment (itself of major historical importance in the 1920s and 30s), came to produce one of the most vibrant decades of political organization, political thought, and political aesthetics in the global twentieth century. In the present volume, major thinkers of the Left in Japan alongside scholars of the 1968 movements reexamine the theoretical sources, historical background, cultural productions, and major organizational problems of the 1968 revolutions in Japan.Trade ReviewPraise for The Sublime Perversion of Capital:"What is capital? What is its relation with the 'world' and with the nation? What is its origin, its limit, and its 'other'? Reading the 'debate on Japanese capitalism' in the 1920s and 1930s against the grain of contemporary concerns, Gavin Walker invites us to a breathtaking intellectual journey. He provides a masterful interpretation of a crucial historical debate and makes a landmark contribution to our understanding of global capitalism and to the forging of a new project of liberation." -- Sandro Mezzadra, coauthor of, Border as Method, or, The Multiplication of LaborPraise for The Sublime Perversion of Capital: "Gavin Walker's superb The Sublime Perversion of Capital is a brilliantly imaginative recovery of Marx's worldly vocation and the original premises of historical materialism dedicated to combining the immediacy of local contemporary circumstances with the global reach of capital. He realizes this singularly vital program by reflecting on the writings of the economist Uno Kozo, especially his thinking on logic and history, as they intervened and culminated in the famous Marxian debate on capitalism in Japan's 1920s and 1930s in a context sparked by a rapidly uneven passage into capitalist modernity and its spillover into imperialism." -- Harry Harootunian, author of, Marx After Marx: History and Time in the Expansion of Capitalism

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Book SynopsisAdorno, Foucault, and the Critique of the West argues that critical theory continues to offer valuable resources for critique and contestation during this turbulent period in our history. To assess these resources, it examines the work of two of the twentieth century's more prominent social theorists: Theodor W. Adorno and Michel Foucault. Although Adorno was situated squarely in the Marxist tradition that Foucault would occasionally challenge, Cook demonstrates that their critiques of our current predicament are complementary in important respects. Among other things, they converge in their focus on the historical conditions-economic in Adorno and political in Foucault-that gave rise to the racist and authoritarian tendencies that continue to blight the West. But this book will also show that as Adorno and Foucault plumb the economic and political forces that have shaped our identities, they offer remarkably similar answers to the perennial question: What is to be done?Trade ReviewDefying conventional wisdom, Deborah Cook makes a compelling case for the complementarity of Adorno and Foucault's critical projects. In so doing, she makes clear that the theoretical legacy of the past century still has much to offer in the struggle to meet the daunting challenges of our own. -- Martin Jay, University of California, BerkeleyFoucault's relation to the Frankfurt School and the work of one of its key theorists was long overdue a critical reappraisal. Neither reducing one thinker to the other nor drawing artificial lines between traditions, this is a bold and thoughtful contribution to this valuable work. It should be required reading and the basis of wide critical engagement. -- Stuart Elden, University of Warwick and author of Foucault: The Birth of Power (2017) and Foucault’s Last Decade (2016)Michel Foucault once observed that had he known earlier in life about Frankfurt School critical theorists such as Adorno, he might have written little more than commentaries on their work, and he might have avoided some mistakes as well. Although Adorno and Foucault were surely dissimilar in many respects, Deborah Cook succeeds admirably in marking out the coordinates for their comparison. Alerting us to shared philosophical themes and emancipatory purposes, she has performed a truly important service by building a bridge between these two titans of modern social thought. -- Peter E. GordonAdorno was never confronted with structuralism and Foucault barely mentioned the Frankfurt School. Nevertheless, their critique of capitalism and Western civilization astonishingly converged. Cannot contemporary radical thought draw inspiration from both Adorno's unmasking of instrumental reason and Foucault's lucid investigation of biopolitical power? Deborah Cook establishes an extremely fruitful posthumous dialogue between these great thinkers. Highly readable and admiringly clear, her compelling essay provides many valuable ammunitions for critical theory in the twenty-first century. -- Enzo Traverso, author of Fire and Blood and The New Faces of FascismPraise for Adorno on Nature:Adorno is one of the most sophisticated and thorough materialists of the last century, and Cook introduces with much precision (and sympathy for those not already familiar with Adorno's work) the diversity and strength of Adorno's approach. Adorno on Nature functions in part, then, as a corrective to recent neglect of Adorno's commitment to Marxist materialism. * Mind *Praise for Adorno on Nature:A useful and persuasive account of Adorno's concept of nature and its relationship with the thought of, above all, Marx, but also Hegel, Kant and, to a lesser extent, Freud. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *Praise for Adorno on Nature:A comprehensive and careful analysis of the crucial and often underestimated role of nature in Adorno, tracing Adorno's conception of 'natural history' from the 1930s to the 1960s and articulating its implications for environmental philosophy and activism. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Praise for Adorno on Nature:Deborah Cook provides an illuminating study of the concept of nature in Adorno and how it emerges and remains a central component of his work, undergirding the key themes of his philosophy. Clearly and lucidly presenting Adorno's complex ideas, Cook provides a work that should be of interest to both students and scholars of Adorno's important work. -- Douglas Kellner, UCLAPraise for The Culture Industry Revisited:Deborah Cook's study of Adorno and mass culture critically engages one of the most important thinkers of our century. An excellent job in presenting Adorno's complex thought applied to a wide range of issues in contemporary social theory and media criticism. -- Douglas Kellner, UCLA; author of Media Culture and Media Spectacle and the Crisis of DemocracyPraise for The Culture Industry Revisited:In sum, the book is a refreshing departure from the frequent tendency to bash and dismiss Adorno without further ado, or the tendency of his followers to simply celebrate him as the greatest theorist of the contemporary moment. Cook's book should thus be of significant use to those interested in Adorno and critical theory, cultural studies and mass communication, and contemporary social theory. Adorno's work itself is transdisciplinary and Cook presents him in a fashion in which he could be of use to a broad transdisciplinary audience. * Journal of Communication *Praise for The Culture Industry Revisited:Adorno's speculative thinking in the service of norms such as freedom, autonomy, and spontaneity serves as a prototype of social and political practice that might overcome the reification and narcissism endemic to contemporary mass culture. * Sociological Abstracts *Praise for Theodor Adorno: Key Concepts:This collection accomplishes its goal to lead us 'through the intricate labyrinth of Adorno's work." It is a reliable guide and will leave readers of Adorno less perplexed. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *

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Book SynopsisAn empathetic, moving account of what drives indigenous peasants to support armed struggle despite severe state repression, including lives lost, and homes and communities destroyedOver the past decade, the heavily forested, mineral-rich region of Bastar in central India has emerged as one of the most militarized sites in the country. The government calls the Maoist insurgency the "biggest security threat" to India. In 2005, a state-sponsored vigilante movement, the Salwa Judum, burned hundreds of villages, driving their inhabitants into state-controlled camps, drawing on counterinsurgency techniques developed in Malaysia, Vietnam and elsewhere. Apart from rapes and killings, hundreds of "surrendered" Maoist sympathizers were conscripted as auxiliaries. The conflict continues to this day, taking a toll on the lives of civilians, security forces and Maoist cadres.In 2007, Sundar and others took the Indian government to the Supreme Court over the human rights violations arising out of the conflict. In a landmark judgment in 2011 the court banned state support for vigilantism. The Burning Forest describes this brutal war in the heart of India, and what it tells us about the courts, media and politics of the country. The result is a fascinating critical account of Indian democracy.Trade Review“A very important and interesting book which should be widely read … A deeply disturbing analysis of the sacrifice of tribal lives and communities caught between the camouflaged barbarity of the security forces and the violent arrogance of a deflected rebellion. The appeal for reasoned humanity cannot be any stronger—or more eloquent—than this.”—Amartya Sen “How does democracy affect the prosecution of civil war? Nandini Sundar explores this question with untold courage and fierce determination in her remarkable extended ethnography of counter-insurgency in Chhattisgarh (India)—a desperate struggle to clear the land for mineral exploitation. Starting from poor adivasi villagers, aided and abetted by Naxalites, Sundar lays out in dispassionate detail the history of escalating violence, spurred on by the atrocities of a state-sponsored vigilante group and special police force. Stung by the lack of interest in the Indian media and parliament, she and two collaborators pursued and finally won a Supreme Court case against the state of Chhattisgarh. But, again, with no obvious effect. By multiplying opportunities to contest state violence, democratic institutions may have moderated but also extended the civil war. A rare and brilliant treatment of a topic few social scientists would dare to touch, let alone examine at such close quarters and for over two decades.”—Michael Burawoy “The Burning Forest is vivid, challenging and informative—an exemplar of engaged sociology and anthropology. It is a stellar account of the tension between villagers, insurgents and the multiple levels of state action and inaction, the intricate complications of the legal system and of course, the politics of it all. Nandini Sundar’s empathy for the people of the forest and their struggles for a dignified life and livelihood is heart-warming.”—Ari Sitas“This meticulous and powerful book not only documents a brutal regime of internal colonialism in the world’s largest democracy. It reveals the insidious ways in which consent to state oppression is manufactured and amplified. Everyone interested in the commingled fate of democracy and capitalism in the postcolonial world should read this book.” —Pankaj Mishra “Nandini Sundar, an extraordinary anthropologist-activist, pulls no punches in describing the greed and cynical violence of state agencies, mining companies, politicians and immigrants. Her account of life in the Maoist rebel zones is graphic, full of empathy but by no means uncritical. This is a story that everyone who cares about India must read.” —Partha Chatterjee “Nandini Sundar is one of India’s most distinguished anthropologists, and the leading academic authority on Bastar. But she is also one of Indian democracy’s most passionate voices. This is a searing critique of the state, and one that Indian democracy needs to hear.” —Pratap Bhanu Mehta “Every thinking Indian, every citizen who is concerned about the present and future of the Republic, should read The Burning Forest. It is an impeccably researched and finely written work of scholarship, redolent with insight, and displaying enormous courage as well.” —Ramachandra Guha, Hindustan Times “If many places are like Bastar, few books are like The Burning Forest. It resonates with classics on frontiers and dispossession.”—Christian Lund, Journal of Agrarian Change “Sundar’s book is an exceptional expose of the scandal of rural governance in India, a chronicle of State excesses, an anthropologist’s view about how conflicts perpetuate themselves and an account of how India’s democracy is degraded when few are watching. Policymakers ought to take away one the key lesson from it that there really are no military solutions to social conflicts.”—Sushil Aaron, Hindustan Times “Sundar’s book is a must-read for those interested in the genesis and the nature of conflict in Bastar.”—Hindu “The work needs to be celebrated for its scholarship, for its independence and for its courage.”—Tribune

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Book SynopsisIn 2011, Myanmar embarked in a democratic transition from a brutal military rule that culminated four years later, when the first free election in decades saw a landslide for the party of celebrated Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Yet, even as the international community was celebrating a new dawn, old wars were raging in the northern borderlands. A crisis was emerging in western Arakan state where the regime intensified its oppression of the vulnerable Muslim Rohingya community. By 2017, the conflict had escalated into a military onslaught against the Rohingya that provoked the most desperate refugee crisis of our times, as over 750,000 of them fled their homes to neighbouring Bangladesh.In The Burmese Labyrinth, journalist Carlos Sardiña Galache gives the in depth story of the country. Burma has always been an uneasy balance between multiple ethnic groups and religions. He examines the deep roots behind the ethnic divisions that go back prior to the colonial period, and so shockingly exploded in recent times. This is a powerful portrait of a nation in perpetual conflict with itself.Trade ReviewAnyone attempting to understand why mass violence against the Rohingya occurred should seek out first this exemplary study by the Spanish journalist Carlos Sardiña Galache. * Mekong Review *

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Book SynopsisA revolutionary practice of production-the knowledge economy-has emerged in our time. It appears in every sector, not just in high-tech industry, but so far only as a series of insular vanguards that exclude the vast majority of workers and businesses. In this book Roberto Mangabeira Unger explores the hidden workings and the transformative potential of the knowledge economy. He describes the radical changes in economic and political institutions, and in ways of thinking, that could bring knowledge-intensive production to the whole economy-and inaugurate a period of accelerated and socially inclusive economic growth.Trade ReviewA restless visionary. * New York Times *A philosophical mind out of the Third World turning the tables, to become a synoptist and seer of the First. -- Perry AndersonOne of the few living philosophers whose thinking has the range of the great philosophers of the past. * Times Higher Education Supplement *Brazil's answer to John Stuart Mill ... a political philosopher extraordinaire. * Chronicle of Higher Education *His work may someday make possible a new national romance, and a hitherto undreamt-of national future. -- Richard RortyThe visionary program this new book sets out for universalizing the knowledge economy is not just a nice-to-have, but necessary. The Knowledge Economy is indispensable as a study of how to remedy the political polarization inequality has brought. -- Martin Sandbu * Financial Times *An intelligent examination of policy ideas which dare to challenge economic norms. -- Ruth F. Hunt * Morning Star *Unger's work can offer progressives key resources for exposing the false necessity of the American liberal status quo and thinking constructively about a different progressive vision for the United States. -- Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins * The Nation *

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Book SynopsisAs we face the compounded crises of late capitalism, environmental catastrophe and technological transformation, who are the thinkers and the ideas who will allow us to understand the world we live in? McKenzie Wark surveys three areas at the cutting edge of current critical thinking: design, environment, technology and introduces us to the thinking of nineteen major writers. Each chapter is a concise account of an individual thinker, providing useful context and connections to the work of the others. The authors include: Sianne Ngai, Kodwo Eshun, Lisa Nakamura, Hito Steyerl, Yves Citton, Randy Martin, Jackie Wang, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Achille Mbembe, Deborah Danowich and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Eyal Weizman, Cory Doctorow, Benjamin Bratton, Tiziana Terranova, Keller Easterling, Jussi Parikka.Wark argues that we are too often told that expertise is obtained by specialisation. Sensoria connects the themes and arguments across intellectual silos. They explore the edges of disciplines to show how we might know the world: through the study of culture, the different notions of how we create such things, and the impact that the machines that we devise have had upon us. The book is a vital and timely introduction to the future both as a warning but also as a road map on how we might find our way out of the current crisis.Trade ReviewA provocative and compelling exploration of our digital world as it crashes towards ecological disaster. Counter-intuitive, insightful, and imaginative, Capital is Dead is a timely reminder that there are things worse than capitalism - and we may just be living through them -- Nick Snricek, co-author of Inventing the Future * [in praise of Capital is Dead] *a playbook for the Anthropocene, a set of moves and strategies extracted from an unexpected canon of texts formed by a mash-up of the Soviet avant-garde and the Californian high-tech imaginary. * Radical Philosophy [in praise of Molecular Red] *A very imaginative, historically smart, politically generative thesis . that I think we urgently need. -- Donna Haraway, author of A Cyborg Manifesto * [in praise of Molecular Red] *A wonderful book . informative and moving . a great recovery of an instructive life and literary effort. The book makes the case for a kind of political vision and action we need to recognize and enact. A true pleasure to read. -- Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Mars Trilogy * [in praise of Molecular Red] *Wark is a fine aphorist ... Playful, angry, depressed, celebratory, this is a book for anyone not convinced that there is no alternative to the way we live now. -- Observer * [In Praise of The Beach Beneath the Streets] *

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable advance of "Corbynism" did not emerge from nowhere. It is the product of developments in socialist and working-class politics over the past forty years and more. The Thatcher era witnessed a wholesale attack on the postwar consensus and welfare state, through a regime of deregulation, attacks on the unions, privatisations, and globalisation. However, at the same time, there existed a persistent resistance to the growing powers of neo-liberalism. This side of the story is rarely told as it was considered to be a history of defeat. Yet out of this struggle emerged a thoroughly modern socialism.This book is essential reading for those who want to know where Corbynism comes from: the policies, personalities and moments of resistance that have produced this new horizon. This includes the story of power struggles within the Labour Party, and the eventual defeat of New Labour. The movements outside it-unions, feminists groups, anti-fascists activists, anti-war protestors-that have driven the policies of the movement forward. And the powerful influence of international groups that have shaped the potential for a global progressive politics.Trade ReviewOf all the analyses of Labour's astonishing 2017 General Election performance, Andrew Murray's provides a detailed explanation of the road the British left has taken to reach touching distance of power. This is a brilliant book - a must read not just for academics but for every party activist. -- Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the UnionAn in-depth examination of how a full-blooded version of socialism moved from the fringes to the centre of British political life. * Choice Magazine *This studious and succinct account of the politics of the left is essential reading for any socialist navigating the dangers of political life as progressive ideas are tested in the real world. * Morning Star *For insights into the Corbyn mindset [this] new book could be invaluable for those unfamiliar with Labour's enduring civil war. . . .The enduring theme is how the left was underestimated. -- Jim Packard * Financial Times *Uniquely insightful in its appraisal of both the prospects and limitations facing the Corbyn project . . .A rich and needed intervention into the mass movement currently pushing for a humane society in Britain.' -- Marcus Barnett * Jacobin *A lucid, perspicuous account of how Thatcherism - and its subsequent enablers under New Labour - broke the progressive left, and how the left returned from the margins of political life, the book is an honest reckoning with both the promises and limitations of socialism -- Gavin Jacobson * New Statesman *Excellent...you should read this book because it is not just charting the history of the recent past, but it also charts the likely course of events in the future * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisThe democratic promise of the 2011 Arab Spring has unraveled in Yemen, triggering a disastrous crisis of civil war, famine, militarization, and governmental collapse with serious implications for the future of the region.Fueled by Arab and Western intervention, the civil war has quickly escalated, resulting in thousands killed and millions close to starvation. Suffering from a collapsed economy, the people of Yemen face a desperate choice between the Huthi rebels on the one side and the internationally recognized government propped up by the Saudi-led coalition and Western arms on the other.In this invaluable analysis, Helen Lackner uncovers the roots of the social and political conflicts that threaten the very survival of the state and its people. With a new preface exploring the U.S.'s central role in the crisis.Trade ReviewComprehensive and in-depth, backed up by statistics and enriched with [Lackner's] own insights into the major political, social and economic transformations of half a century.' * The Jordan Times *An outstanding book that provides answers to all of the questions raised by Yemen's many crises since 2011. Written with compassion and insight, Lackner confirms her standing as the foremost authority on Yemeni politics at work today.' -- Eugene Rogan, University of OxfordAn eminently valuable account of Yemen's modern history and current travails by someone who has made it her life's work to understand the country and its people.' -- Roger Owen, Harvard University'A superb book written by an outstanding author whose knowledge of Yemen is unparalleled. She combines elegant writing with incisive and lucid analysis to reveal the political, economic and social causes of Yemen's instability and the origins of its current crisis. Both specialists and those new to the country will find this book an indispensable guide to understanding Yemen's profound and tragic problems - and what its future holds for its people, the region and internationally.' -- Dr Noel Brehony CMG, former Chairman British-Yemeni Society"A matchless geo-political profile of the country, its history, its economic structures, and above all, its people.. She knows the country better than the gangs in Foggy Bottom and Whitehall, not to mention Mossad operatives or the other spooks of the 'international community' based in Riyadh." -- Tariq Ali * New Left Review *The United States is deeply engaged in this war. We are providing bombs the Saudi-led coalition is using, we are refuelling their planes before they drop those bombs, and we are assisting with intelligence. -- Bernie Sanders * New York Times op-ed *As soon as US-made bombs began exploding in Yemen, it became morally incumbent on Americans to understand what is really happening in this proud Arab nation now on the brink of collapse. Helen Lackner's comprehensive investigation into the history, present, and future of Yemen is the perfect place to begin. Brimming with erudition and rich in analysis, Yemen in Crisis offers invaluable insight to seasoned observers and newcomers to the region alike. -- Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does it Feel to Be a Problem? and This Muslim American LifeHelen Lackner is arguably the best non-Yemeni expert of Yemen, a country where she first sojourned in the 1970s acquiring since then a unique and multifaceted expertise. This book is the best compact presentation of the background and dynamics of the social and political explosion that turned Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis of today's world. -- Gilbert Achcar, author of The People Want and Morbid SymptomsThis timely book analyzes the deep roots of the crisis that gripped Yemen even before the destructive war against it created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Lackner is superbly equipped to trace the causes for the failure and collapse of the Yemeni state, under the inexorable pressures of neo-liberalism and regional and global rivalries. -- Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University

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Book SynopsisDemocracy means rule by the people, but in practice even the most robust democracies delegate most rule making to a political class. The gap between the public and its public officials might seem unbridgeable in the modern world, but Legislature by Lot presents a close examination of an inspiring solution: a legislature chosen through "sortition"-the random selection of lay citizens. It's a concept that has come to the attention of democratic reformers across the globe. Proposals for such bodies are being debated in Australia, Belgium, Iceland, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Sortition promises to reduce corruption and create a truly representative legislature in one fell swoop. In Legislature by Lot, John Gastil and Erik Olin Wright make the case for pairing a sortition body with an elected chamber within a bicameral legislature. Gastil is a leading deliberative democracy scholar, and Wright a distinguished sociologist and series editor of the Real Utopias books, of which this is a part. In this volume, they bring together critics and advocates of sortition who studied ancient Athens, deliberative polling, political theory, social movements, and civic innovation. The constellation of voices in this book lays out a wide variety of ideas for how to implement sortition, without obscuring its limitations, and examine its potential for reshaping modern politics.Legislature by Lot includes sixteen essays that respond to Gastil and Wright's detailed proposal. Essays comparing it to contemporary reforms see it as a dramatic extension of deliberative "minipublics," which gather random samples of citizens to weight public policy dilemmas without being empowered to enact legislation. Another set of essays explores the democratic principles underlying sortition and elections and considers, for example, how a sortition body holds itself accountable to a public that did not elect it. The third set of essays consider alternative paths to democratic reform, which limit the powers of a sortition chamber or more quickly establish a pure sortition body.Trade ReviewPraise for Envisioning Real Utopias by Erik Olin Wright: "[Wright] builds a strong case for an emancipatory social science." - Choice "A benchmark contribution to necessary radical thinking." - G ran Therborn "Encyclopedic in its breadth, daunting in its ambition, this is the culmination of Erik Olin Wright's revamping of Marxism ... Only a thinker of Wright's genius could sustain such a badly needed political imagination without losing analytical clarity and precision." - Michael Burawoy, UC Berkeley "Hugely rich and stimulating ... An incisive diagnosis of the harms done by capitalism; a masterful synthesis of the best work in political sociology and political economy over the past thirty years; and innovative theoretical framework for conceptualizing both the goals of progressive change and the strategies for their achievement; and inspiring survey of actually existing challenges to capitalism that have arisen within capitalism itself; and a compelling essay on the relation between the desirable, the viable and the achievable. Anyone interested in the future of leftist politics has to read this book." - Adam Swift, Balliol College, Oxford "This book is both a manifesto and a guidebook: an argument for taking institutional design seriously, and a guide to how to do that. It's a book that sociologists will want to read, but also, frankly, that everyone in political theory and philosophy should be reading too." - Crooked Timber "A fascinating book." - openDemocracy

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Book SynopsisIn The Notion of Authority, written in the 1940s in Nazi-occupied France, Alexandre Kojève uncovers the conceptual premises of four primary models of authority, examining the practical application of their derivative variations from the Enlightenment to Vichy France. This foundational text, translated here into English for the first time, is the missing piece in any discussion of sovereignty and political authority, worthy of a place alongside the work of Weber, Arendt, Schmitt, Agamben or Dumézil. The Notion of Authority is a short and sophisticated introduction to Kojève's philosophy of right. It captures its author's intellectual interests at a time when he was retiring from the career of a professional philosopher and was about to become one of the pioneers of the Common Market and the idea of the European Union.Trade Review"Kojève was a magician of thought ... undoubtedly, he was the inventor of the last grand narrative of philosophy and history, of which the neo-conservative ideologue Fukuyama was but a mediocre imitator." -- Pierre Macherey"Kojève's lectures made a deep impression on his listeners - to more various and influential effect than probably any others in France this century" -- Perry Anderson"Kojève spoke of Hegel's religious philosophy, the phenomenology of Spirit, master and slave, the struggle for prestige, the in-itself, the for-itself, nothingness, projects, the human essence as revealed in the struggle onto death and in the transformation of error into truth. Strange theses for a world beleaguered by fascism!" -- Louis Althusser"Alexandre Kojève's originality and courage, it must be said, is to have perceived the impossibility of going any further, the necessity, consequently, of renouncing the creation of an original philosophy and, thereby, the interminable starting-over which is the avowal of the vanity of thought." -- Georges Bataille"A brilliant Russian émigré who taught a highly influential series of seminars in Paris. Kojève had a major impact on the intellectual life of the continent. Among his students ranged such future luminaries as Jean-Paul Sartre and Raymond Aron." -- Francis Fukuyama"Alexandre Kojève ... is one of the most notable Russian thinkers of the twentieth century ... the lectures represent an exceedingly important (and tendentious) interpretation of Hegel, if not an independent philosophical view in the guise of a seemingly objective scholarly commentary." -- Jeff Love * Slavic and East European Journal *Bourgeois domination represented the arrival of the bourgeois end of history, in the form of a permanent present. Authority is disconnected from all its temporal support, having nothing left to offer. Kojève thus foresees the inauguration of simulacrum as the justification of authority. Kojève left an open letter that allows for ample discussion. And for as long as a determination of the coming times still has a role to play, a reprise of Kojève's text will remain timely. -- Jorge Varela * Radical Philosophy *In recent decades, Kojève's voluminous manuscripts and papers, held at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, have become available to researchers. Hager Weslati is among a new generation of scholars busily exploiting this material. A gramophone cannot possess authority, nor can a subject under hypnosis be said to respond to it-both examples are Kojève's. Despite its apparent conservatism, there is an underlying revolutionary message. Discussions of Jacques Rousseau's notion of the general will, the division of powers, the problem of tradition, and the impossibility of the political trial will all be stimulating for any political theorist. -- Eric Brandom * German Studies Review *This English translation of Alexander Kojève's The Notion of Authority is an important addition to philosophical studies of authority and an essential text for understanding Kojève's political thought. While Arendt and Marcuse favored a negative definition of authority, Kojève sought a positive definition - one that would be ultimately usable in his political present during WWII. The era of bourgeois domination commences in a fascination with only the present (this is why concerns of food and sex are paramount to the bourgeoisie). However, ultimately this present fails because it does not have a past or a future. -- Daniel Tutt * Philosophy Now *Capably translated from French by Hager Weslati, this relatively short manuscript was written in 1942 in Marseille where Kojève had fled to escape the Nazi occupation. It attempts to answer a singular question that, in Kojève's view, has been strangely neglected: What is authority? Kojève insists time and again that force does not constitute authority. To the contrary, having recourse to force shows a failure of authority. -- Jeff Love * Slavic and East European Journal *Through its pursuit of increasing depoliticization, neoliberalism undermines its own sources of political legitimacy and ultimately reduces human relations to the application of force in the service of individual ends. Kojève's understanding of the nature of authority helps explain the distinctively political aspects of these developments. -- Adam Adatto Sandel and Julius Krein * "Uncivil Society: Hegel, Kojève, and the Crisis of Political Legitimacy" *Bourgeois domination represented the arrival of the bourgeois end of history, in the form of a permanent present. Authority is disconnected from all its temporal support, having nothing left to offer. Kojève thus foresees the inauguration of simulacrum as the justification of authority. Kojève left an open letter that allows for ample discussion. And for as long as a determination of the coming times still has a role to play, a reprise of Kojève's text will remain timely. -- Jorge Varela * Radical Philosophy *In recent decades, Kojève's voluminous manuscripts and papers, held at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, have become available to researchers. Hager Weslati is among a new generation of scholars busily exploiting this material. A gramophone cannot possess authority, nor can a subject under hypnosis be said to respond to it-both examples are Kojève's. Despite its apparent conservatism, there is an underlying revolutionary message. Discussions of Jacques Rousseau's notion of the general will, the division of powers, the problem of tradition, and the impossibility of the political trial will all be stimulating for any political theorist. -- Eric Brandom * German Studies Review *This English translation of Alexander Kojève's The Notion of Authority is an important addition to philosophical studies of authority and an essential text for understanding Kojève's political thought. While Arendt and Marcuse favored a negative definition of authority, Kojève sought a positive definition - one that would be ultimately usable in his political present during WWII. The era of bourgeois domination commences in a fascination with only the present (this is why concerns of food and sex are paramount to the bourgeoisie). However, ultimately this present fails because it does not have a past or a future. -- Daniel Tutt * Philosophy Now *Through its pursuit of increasing depoliticization, neoliberalism undermines its own sources of political legitimacy and ultimately reduces human relations to the application of force in the service of individual ends. Kojève's understanding of the nature of authority helps explain the distinctively political aspects of these developments. -- Adam Adatto Sandel and Julius Krein * Trump and Political Philosophy: Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism, and Civic Virtue, eds Marc Nejamin Sable and Angel Jaramillio Torres *Capably translated from French by Hager Weslati, this relatively short manuscript was written in 1942 in Marseille where Kojève had fled to escape the Nazi occupation. It attempts to answer a singular question that, in Kojève's view, has been strangely neglected: What is authority? Kojève insists time and again that force does not constitute authority. To the contrary, having recourse to force shows a failure of authority. -- Jeff Love * Slavic and East European Journal *

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Book SynopsisThe historic uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd transformed the way Americans and the world think about race and policing. Why did it achieve so little in the way of substantive reforms? After Black Lives Matter argues that the failure to leave an institutional residue was not simply due to the mercurial and reactive character of the protests. Rather, the core of the movement itself failed to locate the central racial injustice that underpins the crisis of policing: socio-economic inequality.For Johnson, the anti-capitalist and downwardly redistributive politics expressed by different Black Lives Matter elements has too often been drowned out in the flood of black wealth creation, fetishism of Jim Crow black entrepreneurship, corporate diversity initiatives, and a quixotic reparations demand. None of these political tendencies addresses the fundamental problem underlying mass incarceration. That is the turn from welfare to domestic warfare as the chief means of regulating the excluded and oppressed. Johnson sees the way forward in building popular democratic power to advance public works and public goods. Rather than abolishing police, After Black Lives Matter argues for abolishing the conditions of alienation and exploitation contemporary policing exists to manage.Trade ReviewA virtuoso performance! Weighing the successes and limitations of Black Lives Matter, Johnson concludes that identity-based mobilization-confusing what people look like with what they need-cannot substitute for majoritarian political coalition-building. -- Barbara J. Fields, Columbia UniversityCedric Johnson delivers that increasingly rare experience in political writing: surprise. Whether telling the story of Louis Armstrong's first hearing of Mack the Knife or reporting on the inequities of Chicago's public transportation system or mounting a mini-memoir of his encounter with crime in Louisiana and Rochester, Johnson invests the drama of Marxist theory with new energy and vital detail. No matter how dark and dreary the landscape may be, it gets lit up wherever Johnson casts his sharp and appraising eye. -- Corey Robin, author of The Enigma of Clarence ThomasA brilliant scholar who is first and foremost concerned with equality and justice. It's those very commitments that lead him, in After Black Lives Matter, to question today's antiracism and its nostrums. -- Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist ManifestoA compelling argument for reinstating a meaningful anticapitalist analysis and politics into the fight to end police violence and the harms of the criminal justice system in the United States. Readers will undoubtedly come away with new perspectives that deepen their understanding of the successes and limitations of Black Lives Matter and its political vision. -- Leslie Kern, author of Feminist CityEssential reading for those weary of platitude-driven texts on race and criminal justice and in the market for an empirically grounded political analysis that points to practicable solutions to one of the biggest problems of our day. -- Touré F. Reed, author of Toward FreedomA provocative and expansive critique from the left of the loose collection of protest actions, organizations, and ideological movements-whether prison abolition or calls to defund the police-that make up what we now call Black Lives Matter...After Black Lives Matter should be commended both for the clarity of its message and the bravery of its convictions. -- Jay Caspian Kang * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisSince 2016, the UK has been in a crisis of its own making: but this is not the fault of Brexit but of a larger problem of our politics. The status of political parties, the mainstream media, public experts and officials have all been disrupted. Along the way, there have been shocking and exhilarating events: the unforeseen 2017 election result, the horrific details of Grenfell Tower and the Windrush scandal, the sudden rise and fall of the Brexit Party.As the 'mainstream' of politics and media has come under attack, the basic norms of public life have been thrown into question.This Is Not Normal takes stock of a historical moment that no longer recognises itself. Davies tells a story of the apparently chaotic and irrational events, and extracts their underlying logic and long-term causes. What we are seeing is the effects of the 2008 financial crash, the failure of the British neoliberal project, the dying of Empire, and the impact of the changes that technology and communications have had on the idea of the public sphere as well as the power of information. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to make sense of this current moment. .Trade ReviewThis book presses pause on the dazzling contingent brightness of the present, and allows the reflections of the evening to gather and turn towards a new day. * Manchester Review of Books *Brilliant ... Davies will be one of the experts to turn to guide us through the coming years. * WIRED *As William Davies brilliantly articulates in his most recent book, This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain, it's hard to convincingly advocate for normality, or indeed for norms in general, if you've spent years openly trashing the very notion. -- Dublin Review of BooksThis Is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain seeks to pore over the deeper roots, expressions and manifestations of four interlocking crises in British politics, addressing some of the most pressing and perplexing questions facing the UK ... as Davies so skillfully shows, it would be foolish to make any firm predictions of what happens next. * LSE Review of Books *This Is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain seeks to pore over the deeper roots, expressions and manifestations of four interlocking crises in British politics ... as Davies so skillfully shows, it would be foolish to make any firm predictions of what happens next. * Brave New Europe *But as an example of what its author calls "real-time sociology," the book harbors more ambition and more value than just a chronicle. Building on theoretical insights developed in his earlier work, Davies undertakes an applied investigation into the intertwined fates of liberalism, democracy, and media in the Anglo-American present, an investigation anchored in the problem of trust. -- Adam Kelly * LA Review of Books *Brilliant . explains how the rhetoric of competition has invaded almost every domain of our existence -- Evgeny Morozov, author of To Save Everything, Click Here * [for The Limits of Neoliberalism] *

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Book SynopsisIn this authoritative, accessible study, historian Suzanne Schneider examines the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Schneider argues that today's jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies. From authoritarian populism to mass shootings, xenophobic nationalism, and the allure of conspiratorial thinking, Schneider argues that modern jihad is not the antithesis of neoliberalism, but rather a dark reflection of its inner logic.The Apocalypse and the End of History is written with the sensibility of a political theorist and based on extensive research into a wide range of sources, from Islamic jurisprudence to popular recruitment videos, contemporary apocalyptic literature and the Islamic State's Arabic-language publications. The book explores modern jihad as an image of a potential dark future already heralded by neoliberal modes of life. Surveying ideas of the state, violence, identity, and political community, Schneider argues that modern jihad and neoliberalism are two versions of a politics of failure: the inability to imagine a better life here on earth.Trade ReviewSchneider demolishes the myth that modern jihadi violence is anything other than a product of modernity. -- Rashid KhalidiBy attributing Islamic militancy neither to immediately political nor distantly theological causes, Suzanne Schneider's wonderfully lucid and convincing argument allows us to see it in anew as something both familiar and frightening in its ubiquity. The links she draws between the violent, apocalyptic, and nihilistic character of ISIS and the colonial origins of neoliberal practices make for a wholly original approach to the subject. -- Faisal Devji, author of Muslim ZionIn her revelatory new book, Suzanne Schneider dismantles all-too-common invocations of jihad as a timeless, essentialized force that defines a monolithic and static version of Islam. Instead, she situates the concept firmly within the context of contemporary geopolitical, economic, and ideological trends. Deftly juxtaposing classical Islamic jurisprudence alongside social media propaganda videos, the polemics of Western politicians alongside the narratives of individual jihadis, the PowerPoint presentations of private military corporations alongside glossy org charts produced by extremist groups, and more, Schneider brilliantly challenges prevailing assumptions about sovereignty, the nation state, the monopoly on violence, and more. Through her erudite analysis, entities like ISIS emerge not as atavistic reincarnations of medieval brutality, but rather as responses to political and economic conditions that implicate and even darkly mirror developments in the imperial core. The result is both a clarifying vision of our contemporary moment and a generative stock of provocative insights into possible futures for the Middle East, the nations that define themselves as making up "the West," and the broader, interconnected world that contains and belies easy distinctions between the two. -- Patrick Blanchfield, author of Gunpower[Schneider's] discussion of the "jihadists," their motivations and rationales most certainly need to be heard by those who would send their military to foreign lands. -- Ron Jacobs * CounterPunch *

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Book SynopsisBack in 1997, New Labour came to power amid much talk of regenerating the inner cities left to rot under successive Conservative governments. Over the next decade, British cities became the laboratories of the new enterprise economy: glowing monuments to finance, property speculation, and the service industry-until the crash.In A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the wreckage-the buildings that epitomized an age of greed and aspiration. From Greenwich to Glasgow, Milton Keynes to Manchester, Hatherley maps the derelict Britain of the 2010s: from riverside apartment complexes, art galleries and amorphous interactive "centers," to shopping malls, call centers and factories turned into expensive lofts. In doing so, he provides a mordant commentary on the urban environment in which we live, work and consume. Scathing, forensic, bleakly humorous, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is a coruscating autopsy of a get-rich-quick, aspirational politics, a brilliant, architectural "state we're in."Trade ReviewAngry, fiercely funny ... . Essential reading for anyone who ever feels their blood start to boil when they hear the word 'regeneration.' -- Hari Kunzru, author of My RevolutionsAn exhilarating book. Owen Hatherley brings to bear a quizzing eye, venomous wit, supple prose, refusal to curry favor, rejection of received ideas, exhaustive knowledge and all-round bolshiness. He travels, self-consciously, in the famous footsteps of J. B. Priestley and Ian Nairn, and there can be no higher praise than to suggest that he proves himself their peer. This book is as much a marker for an era as English Journey and Outrage were. -- Jonathan Meades, author of Incest and Morris DancingHatherley's footloose narrative is driven by a heartfelt anger ... as well as a laudable desire to open people's eyes to the true value of their cities. -- PD Smith * Guardian *A book of finespun rage ... a book that had to be written. Wittily, bitterly, pithily, mostly accurately, Hatherley tells it how it is. -- Rowan Moore * Observer *This surgical evisceration of the cityscapes of Blairism is required reading. -- Hugh Pearman * RIBA Journal *Wonderfully provocative. -- Rupert Christiansen * Daily Telegraph *Hatherley is always entirely clear about his personal standpoint, so his criticisms never seem unjustified ... A rather bleak undercurrent is tempered by Hatherley's often witty observations and easy-going prose style. * PopMatters *This is a different kind of Heritage Britain, the kind that the tourists don't usually get to see ... this is also the real Britain, and Hatherley is the most informed, opinionated and acerbic guide you could wish for. -- Hugh Pearman * Sunday Times *Roomy and intellectually sophisticated.. It is bold and original, and it may change how you see British cities. -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *This is fear and loathing in Lost Albion riffed by a quainter version of Hunter S Thompson. -- Jay Merrick * Independent *Painted with a raging energy that is exhilarating ... [It's] political, sinister, sometimes funny. -- Gwyn Griffiths * Morning Star *A serious left-field attempt to provoke thought and argument ... This is an important book that is entirely worthy of the arguments it sets out to provoke. -- Patrick Wright * Architecture Today *Hatherley deserves to be widely read ... he has brought a welcome freshness and honesty to architectural criticsm. -- Chris Hall * Icon *The latest heir to Ruskin ... Hatherley blasts the architectural style of New Labour Britain. Whatever your pet-hate, Hatherley will probably have some enjoyably cruel words for it. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *

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Book SynopsisBadiou indicts this approach, which reduces politics to a matter of opinion, thus eliminating any of its truly radical and emancipatory possibilities. Against this intellectual tradition, Badiou proposes instead the consideration of politics in terms of the production of truth and the affirmation of equality. He demands that the question of a possible "political truth" be separated from any notion of consensus or public opinion, and that political action be rethought in terms of the complex process that binds discussion to decision. Starting from this analysis, Badiou critically examines the thought of anthropologist and political theorist Sylvain Lazarus, Jacques Ranciere's writings on workers' history and democratic dissensus, the role of the subject in Althusser, as well as the concept of democracy and the link between truth and justice.Trade ReviewA figure like Plato or Hegel walks here among us! -- Slavoj ZizekAn heir to Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser. * New Statesman *One of the most important philosophers writing today. -- Joan Copjec

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Book SynopsisMillions of young people-and increasingly some not-so-young people-now work as interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand magazine offices, legislative backrooms, and Hollywood studios, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, map the human genome, and pick up garbage. Intern Nation is the first exposé of the exploitative world of internships. In this witty, astonishing, and serious investigative work, Ross Perlin profiles fellow interns, talks to academics and professionals about what unleashed this phenomenon, and explains why the intern boom is perverting workplace practices around the world.The hardcover publication of this book precipitated a torrent of media coverage in the US and UK, and Perlin has added an entirely new afterword describing the growing focus on this woefully underreported story. Insightful and humorous, Intern Nation will transform the way we think about the culture of work.Trade Review'Interns built the pyramids,' the great magazine The Baffler once declared. And that was just the beginning of their labors, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this fascinating and overdue exposé of the wage labor without wages, the resumé-building servitude, at the heart of contemporary capitalism. -- Benjamin Kunkel, a founding editor of n+1 and author of the novel IndecisionA book that offers landmark coverage of its topic. -- Andrew Ross * London Review of Books *Perlin contends that most internships are illegal, according to the Fair Labor and Standards Act, stripping people who are employees in all but name of workers' rights. * New Yorker *A portrait of how white-collar work is changing ... thought-provoking and at times jaw-dropping-almost a companion volume to Naomi Klein's celebrated 2000 exposé of modern sweatshops, No Logo. -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *A compelling investigation of a trend that threatens to destroy 'what's left of the ordered world of training, hard work and fair compensation' ... Full of restrained force and wit, this is a valuable book on a subject that demands attention. -- Anna Winter * Observer *[An] eye-opening, welcome exposé. * Sunday Times *This vigorous and persuasive book ... argues that the fundamental issue is the growing contingency of the global workforce. -- Roger D. Hodge * Bookforum *Organizations in America save $2 billion a year by not paying interns a minimum wage, writes Ross Perlin in Intern Nation. * Economist *Well-researched and timely. * Daily Telegraph *[E]ye-opening ... The book tackles a sprawling topic with earnestness and flair. -- Katy Waldman * Washington Post *Perlin ... has an eye for polemical effectiveness. * Times Literary Supplement *A timely book addressing the exploitation of the nation's younger workforce under the guise of the 'internship model.' -- Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2011 * Huffington Post *A serious and extremely well-written text that offers sophisticated historical material about the origins of internship and its impact on the individuals concerned, the firms that use it and the world of work more generally. -- Cary L. Cooper * Times Higher Education *Perlin's attempt to understand internships as a symptom of wider trends in the economy ... makes the book such a fascinating read. * Spectator *When you are competing for jobs during a recession, the only thing worse than being exploited can be not being exploited. Yes, many internships are really crummy, but then some of them do ultimately lead to something ... which is why, when people have no access to internships at all, it makes them invisible. -- Ross Perlin speaking to Kaya Burgess * Times of London *Perlin dissects the employment practices of some of the world's biggest corporations, inc¬luding Disney, which he accuses of replacing "well-trained, decently compensated full-timers" with an army of low-paid interns. But for employers that approach recruitment strategically, internships are typically a cost-albeit one they hope will pay off in better, happier recruits. * Financial Times *[Perlin's] exposé on the internship model initiates a critical conversation on internships ... his thoughtful book is necessary reading for the millions of young people trying to break into the working world through internships. * Publishers Weekly *That fact that it took this long for someone to write this book seems as blatantly wrong as the practice itself. Perlin provides a welcome, long-overdue and much-needed argument. * Kirkus Reviews *Perlin's writing is engaging and the questions he raises are valid ones in an increasingly competitive job market. * Library Journal *[A] blistering, highly entertaining attack on today's internship culture. * Boston Globe *Cloaked in the innocent idea of the intern, aggressive employers are using young people trying to get a foothold to weaken the leverage of existing workers, especially professionals. Ross Perlin gives us an account of another subterranean strategy to undermine working people in the US. -- Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNYAlas, the valuable internship institution is being widely and flagrantly abused, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this eye-opening book. A huge chunk of the American workplace has been distorted in an unhealthy way, and Perlin provides not only the diagnosis but the beginnings of a prescription. -- James Ledbetter, editor in charge of Reuters.com, and author of Unwarranted InfluenceThe world has been waiting for this book. It's lucky that someone as thoughtful and politically aware as Ross Perlin was there to write it. -- Anya Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt and DIY UFew books have been written about the effect of internships, so this short book will be eye-opening for many. Students and parents should add it their reading lists. -- Repps Hudson * St. Louis Post-Dispatch *For critics such as Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation, unpaid labor harms everyone in the labor market. -- Alexandra Alper * Reuters *Intern Nation provides a wide-angle overview of an international system of labor subsidization masked as career opportunity-indeed, as a de rigueur component of baccalaureate and even postgraduate degree work, without which a young person cannot hope to secure a gratifying and adequately remunerative professional career in the twenty-first century. -- Cecelia Tichi * Academe Magazine *[A] scathing look at the internship culture ... * Washingtonian *[Intern Nation] tracks how the explosion of internships in creative fields changed the entry level of many industries. * New York Times Critic's Notebook *

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Book SynopsisEleanor Marx is one of the most tragically overlooked feminist intellectuals in history, usually overshadowed by her father, Karl Marx. But not only did she edit, translate, transcribe and collaborate with her father, she also spent her extraordinary life putting his ideas into practice as a labour organizer, feminist radical, and Marxist theorist.The outstanding exception to the omission of Eleanor Marx from history is Yvonne Kapp's highly acclaimed biography. First published at the height of feminist organizing in the 1970s, Kapp's work brilliantly succeeds in capturing Eleanor's spirit, from a lively child opining on the world's affairs, to the new woman, aspiring to the stage, earning her living as a free intellectual, and helping to lead England's unskilled workers at the height of the new unionism; being always more than, yet at the same time inescapably, Karl Marx's daughter. It is also, inevitably, an unrivalled biography of the Marx household in Victorian London, of the Marx circle, and of Friedrich Engels, the family's extraordinary mentor.During today's resurgence of feminist writing, organizing, and protesting, Kapp's foundational single-volume biography serves as a crucial corrective to a narrative that puts feminists and marxists on opposing sides of radical history.Trade ReviewOne of the few unquestionable masterpieces of 20th-century biography. * Guardian *A work of scholarship but also a work of art. -- Michael FootA work of vitality and of scholarship. -- E P ThompsonDoes full justice to both [public and private]aspects of Eleanor's difficult life. * New York Times *The 1,000 pages of Eleanor Marx rest onexhaustive and flawless research. -- Eric HobsbawmMasterful. -- Tristram Hunt, author of the Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life od Friedrich Engels

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Book SynopsisBest known for his work in literary criticism, Pierre Macherey has, over the past two decades, produced a series of original philosophical works. This first collection of his philosophical writings to be published in English discloses the full range of Macherey's interventions, testifying to his signal status as one of France's leading philosophers. In a Materialist Way ranges over Macherey's writings on philosophy and theory, critiques of the work of major figures in contemporary French thought such as Lacan, Foucoult and Canguilhem, and analyses of the work of Spinoza. It reveals to English-speaking audiences what has long been common knowlege in France: that Pierre Macherey is among the most fertile, imaginative and subtle of contemporary philosophers.Trade ReviewThree decades ago, the work of Pierre Macherey helped to change the face of literary studies. In this volume, he reappears in his more customary persona of philosopher rather than literary theorist, retaining all of his materialist rigour but widening his intellectual range. This fascinating set of encounters with Hegel, Lacan, Foucault, Spinoza and others is the record of a subtle, independent, powerfully demystifying mind, as well as an historic document in the after-life of so-called Althusserian Marxism. -- Terry Eagleton

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