Books

New and forthcoming books

This is a listing of new and interesting books relevant to our concerns on this site. We’ll add and subtract (maybe even categorize) as time goes on. Discussion of books – these and others – will be an important aspect of khukuri, we hope, in the form of reviews, brief notes, arguments and debates.

We welcome reviews or discussions of books appearing here as well as others. And please do tell us of others we’ve overlooked.

Living in the End Times (Hardcover), by Slavoj Zizek (Verso, 2010) 978-1844675982  This is just out.

The Violence of Financial Capitalism by Christian Marazzi; Translated by Kristina Lebedeva MIT Press Distributed for Semiotext(e) (January 2010) 978-1-58435-083-5   A review of this book will be up shortly on the main page.

The Idea of Communism [Paperback], Edited by Slavoj Zizek and Costas Douzinas Verso (October 4, 2010) 978-1844674596 Contributors Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, Antoni Negri, Michael Hardt, Jacques Rancière, Terry Eagleton, Jean-Luc Nancy, Susan Buck-Morss, Bruno Bosteels, Peter Hallward, Alberto Toscano, Wang Hui and others took part in a landmark conference in London on the idea of communism in 2009. This volume brings together their discussions on the philosophical and political import of the communist idea.

The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism, by David Harvey. Oxford University Press, USA (September 10, 2010) 978-0199758715  From Publisher’s Weekly:  “At times of crisis,” notes eminent Marxist geographer Harvey (Spaces of Global Capitalism), “the irrationality of capitalism becomes plain for all to see.” Harvey excels at a revealing and constructive analysis of global capitalism at a moment when its integration–and the attendant widespread susceptibility to its disruptions and downturns–has never been tighter or the post–cold war Western economic model for the world economy more discredited. The narrative delineates with admirable clarity the arcane details of the current financial crisis, while rehearsing the rise of capitalism as a historically specific “process” plagued by fundamental dilemmas. A Marxist perspective comes augmented and nuanced by wide reference to scholarship, close readings of Marx and Engels, and instructive examples of capitalism’s basic tendencies in episodes like Henry Fords notorious Fordlandia venture in the Amazon. While certain to be controversial even on the broad left, Harvey’s analysis joins other recent attempts (such as Raj Patel’s The Value of Nothing) to re-think the current economic and political regime from its roots, while identifying and variously championing ready alternatives already manifesting themselves within it.

Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance (Spectre) [Paperback], by David McNally. PM Press (October 1, 2010) 978-1604863321  From the publisher: Investigating the global financial meltdown as the first systemic crisis of the neoliberal stage of capitalism, this analysis argues that—far from having ended—the crisis has ushered in a period of worldwide economic and political turbulence. This original account of the “financialization” of the world economy during this period explores the intricate connections between international financial markets and new forms of debt and dispossession. Taking a global view of these processes, exposing the damage inflicted on countries in the Global South, as well as the intensification of racism and attacks on migrant workers, this book also traces new patterns of social and political resistance—from housing activism and education struggles, to mass strikes and protests in Martinique, Guadeloupe, France, and Puerto Rico—as indicators of the potential for building anticapitalist opposition to the damage that neoliberal capitalism is inflicting on the lives of millions.  David McNally is is the author of Against the Market, Another World is Possible, and Political Economy and the Rise of Capitalism.

Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea [Hardcover], by Alberto Toscano. Verso (May 4, 2010) 978-1844674244  From the publisher: Fanaticism is usually seen as a deviant or extreme variant of an already irrational set of religious beliefs. Drawing a straight line from the Peasant Wars to Bolshevism, this view of fanaticism is today invoked by the West in order to demonize and psychologize any non-liberal politics. Alberto Toscano’s compelling counter-history explores the critical role fanaticism played in forming modern politics and the liberal state, and undermines the idea that liberalism and fanaticism are irrevocably opposed. Tracing its development from the traumatic Peasants’ War of early sixteenth-century Germany, to contemporary Islamism, Toscano tears apart the sterile opposition of ‘reasonableness’ and fanaticism. Instead, in a radical new interpretation, he places the fanatic at the very heart of politics, arguing that historical and revolutionary transformations require a new understanding of its role. Showing how fanaticism results from the failure to formulate an adequate emancipatory politics, this illuminating history sheds new light on an idea that continues to dominate debates about faith and secularism.

Bonfire of Illusions: The Twin Crises of the Liberal World, by Alex Callinicos (Polity, 2010) 978-0745648767  The publisher says: Something dramatic happened in the late summer and autumn of 2008. The post-Cold War world came to an abrupt end. This was the result of two conjoined crises. First, in its brief war with Georgia in August 2008, Russia asserted its military power to halt the expansion of NATO to its very borders. Secondly, on 15 September 2008 the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. This precipitated a severe financial crash and helped to push the world economy into the worst slump since the 1930s. Both crises marked a severe setback for the global power of the United States, which had driven NATO expansion and forced through the liberalization of financial markets. More broadly they challenged the consensus that had reigned since the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 that a US-orchestrated liberal capitalist order could offer the world peace and prosperity. Already badly damaged by the Iraq debacle, this consensus has now suffered potentially fatal blows. In Bonfire of Illusions Alex Callinicos explores these twin crises and  reviews the prospects for alternatives to capitalism.

Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx, by Chris Harman (Haymarket Books, 2010)  978-1608461042  Due out n September. Chris Harman, who just died last year, was editor of International Socialism and before that for many years editor of Socialist Worker in Britain. The publisher says very little about the book, and it’s unclear what theoretical content it may have.

Social Structure and Forms of Consciousness, Volume 1: The Social Determination of Method (Paperback), by Istvan Meszaros (Monthly Review Press, February 1, 2010) 978-1583672044  From the publisher: The relationship between social structure and forms of consciousness discussed in this volume is multifaceted and profoundly dialectical. It requires the presentation of a great wealth of historical material and the assessment of the relevant philosophical literature, from Descartes through Hegel and the Liberal tradition to the present, together with their connections with political economy and political theory. Miszaros moves beyond both abstract solutions to the surveyed methodological questions and one-sided structuralist evaluation….Above all, in the spirit of the Marxian approach, even the most complicated problems are always analyzed in relation to the major practical concerns of our time. The primary aim of this work is to outline the dialectical intelligibility of historical development toward a viable societal reproductive order. Social Structures and Forms of Consciousness is of the highest importance as both a political and philosophical work, illuminating the place from where we must act, today.

What Would It Mean to Win? by Turbulence Collective, Foreward by John Holloway (PM Press, April 1, 2010) 978-1604861105  From the publisher:  Turbulence Collective is a publishing project with an aim to carve out space where difficult debates and investigations into current political realities can be carried out.  Connecting some of the more remarkable events of the last decade—including the rioting in Oaxaca and in the outskirts of Paris and the modern crises of neoliberalism—this critical analysis suggests new strategies for the progressive Left and that forward-moving change is possible….Global in scope and including writings from Leftist struggles, victories, and defeats, this collection of essays ponders the possibility of a winning movement with lasting change and presents opportunities in all corners of the world.

In and Out of Crisis: The Global Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives (Paperback) by Greg Albo, Sam Gindin, Leo Panitch (PM Press, May 1, 2010) 978-1604862126  The book, says the publisher, illuminates how the era of neoliberal free markets has been, in practice, under-girded by state intervention on a massive scale. Arguing for genuinely transformative alternatives to capitalism, and discussing how to build the collective capacity to realize these goals, this record is a critique of the crisis and an indispensable springboard for a renewed political left.

Totalitarian Capitalism and Beyond (Hardcover) by George Liodakis (Ashgate, January 1, 2010) 978-0754675570  The publisher says: George Liodakis constructs a politico-economic approach on contemporary capitalism from within a classical Marxist framework of political economy. The volume provides a fitting balance between theory and empirical evidence and significantly enriches the existing scholarship on contemporary capitalism and the potential for social change. This is an important contribution to those interested in international political economy, in particular with developing a new political strategy for going beyond capitalism: a ‘reinvention’ of a communist perspective.

Political Economy and Global Capitalism: The 21st Century, Present and Future (Paperback), ed. by Robert Albritton, Bob Jessop, Richard Westra (Anthem Press, January 1, 2010) 978-1843318750  Contains what look to be some valuable articles by writers including Moshe Poistone, Tony Smith, Alfredo Saad Filho, Patrick Bond, and Kees von der Pijl as well as each of the editors and a couple of other folks.

Badiou: A Philosophy of the New, by Ed Pluth (Polity, May 2010) 978-0745642789  The publisher says: This book presents a comprehensive and engaging account of Badiou’s philosophy, including an in-depth discussion of The Theory of the Subject, Being and Event and Logics of Worlds. In a clear and careful analysis, Ed Pluth considers exactly how Badiou’s theoretical “anti-humanism” is linked up to what is, for all intents and purposes, a practical humanism. Central to this is an account of Badiou’s theory of the subject, and his attempt to develop an “ethic of truths”. The role of set theory, Marxism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis in Badiou’s philosophy is also given close attention.

The Structural Crisis of Capital (Paperback), by Istvan Meszaros, foreward by John Bellamy Foster (Monthly Review Press, March 1, 2010) 978-1583672082  A collection of essays and interviews. István Mészáros is a Marxist philosopher, winner of the 2008 Libertador Award for Critical Thought (the Bolivar Prize) and author of Beyond Capital: Toward a Theory of Transition (2000), Marx’s Theory of Alienation (2006), The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time: Socialism in the Twenty-First Century (2008).  Publisher’s description: He argues with great power that the world’s economies are on a social and ecological precipice, and that unless we take decisive action to radically transform our societies we will find ourselves thrust headfirst into barbarism and environmental catastrophe. Mészáros, however, is no pessimist. He believes that the multiple crises of world capitalism will encourage the working class to demand center stage in the construction of a new system of production and distribution designed to meet human needs rather than serve the relentless pursuit of profit—a struggle which is already underway in places such as Venezuela.

Social Structures and Forms of Consciousness (paperback), by Istvan Meszaros (Monthly Review Press, February 1, 2010) 978-1583672044  An exploration (a theory?) of the relationship between social structure and the various forms of consciousness.  Publisher’s description:  The relationship between social structure and forms of consciousness discussed in this volume is multifaceted and profoundly dialectical. It requires the presentation of a great wealth of historical material and the assessment of the relevant philosophical literature, from Descartes through Hegel and the Liberal tradition to the present, together with their connections with political economy and political theory. Istvan Meszarosros moves beyond both abstract solutions to the surveyed methodological questions and one-sided structuralist evaluation of the important substantive issues, bringing the process of our understanding of social structure and consciousness to a level not previously attained.

The Struggle for the World: Liberation Movements for the 21st Century (Paperback) by Charles Lindholm, José Pedro Zúquete (Stanford University Press, March 25, 2010) 978-0804759380  Appears to be written from a conservative standpoint (it doesn’t look like the authors believe that another, better, world is possible), but nevertheless appears to be a quite interesting survey of quite disparate “movements that aim to destroy the modern world and bring a radiant new dawn to humankind” (in the words of the publisher’s description).  Jonathan Friedman (an anthrologist and author of Cultural Identity and Global Process) comments: “From alter-globalization to the New Right to Jihadism, this timely book demonstrates that world-transforming movements, thought to have disappeared after the decline of the Left in the late 70s, have reappeared in different forms. As the first of its kind to assemble major contemporary ‘global’ movements in one place, this book will definitely prove crucial reading for anyone interested in the dynamics of social movements today.”

The Making of a Transnational Capitalist Class: Corporate Power in the 21st Century [Paperback], by William K. Carroll (Zed Books, December 21, 2010)   978-1848134430  Publisher: Using social network analysis, William Carroll maps the changing field of power generated by elite relations among the world’s largest corporations and related political organizations. Carroll provides an in-depth analysis that spans the three decades of the late 20th and early 21st century, when capitalist globalization attained unprecedented momentum, propelled both by the transnationalization of accumulation and by the political paradigm of transnational neoliberalism. These has been an era in which national governments have deregulated capital, international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum have gained prominence, and production and finance have become more fully transnational, increasing the structural power of capital over communities and workers. Within this context of transformation, the book charts the making of a transnational capitalist class, reaching beyond national forms of capitalist class organization into a global field, but facing spirited opposition from below in an ongoing struggle that is also a struggle over alternative global futures.

Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752, by Jonathan I. Israel (Oxford University Press, January 15, 2009) 978-0199541522  From the publisher:  Jonathan Israel presents the first major reassessment of the Western Enlightenment for a generation. Continuing the story he began in the best-selling Radical Enlightenment, and now focusing his attention on the first half of the eighteenth century, he returns to the original sources to offer a groundbreaking new perspective on the nature and development of the most important currents in modern thought. Israel traces many of the core principles of Western modernity to their roots in the social, political, and philosophical ferment of this period: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between on the one hand a generally dominant, anti-democratic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical authority, and on the other a largely repressed democratic, republican, and “materialist” radical fringe.

Jodi Dean, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics (Paperback) Duke University Press (2009) ISBN-13: 978-0822345053   Jodi Dean is the voice at I cite, a valuable political/theoretical blog, and author of Zizek’s Politics.

David Harvey, Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom (The Wellek Library Lectures) (Hardcover) Columbia University Press (July 17, 2009)   978-0231148467

First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, by Slavoj Zizek (Paperback)  Verso 978-1844674282

Philosophy in the Present (Paperback)by Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek. Polity Press (March 1, 2010) ISBN-13: 978-0745640976

Second Manifesto for Philosophy by Alain Badiou  Polity Press (May 1010) 9780745648613

Badiou’s Being and Event: A Reader’s Guide (Reader’s Guides) (Paperback) by Christopher Norris  Continuum (July 24, 2009) 978-0826498298   Although the publisher says that “This book has been written very much with a view to clarifying Badiou’s complex and demanding work for non-specialist readers,” it cannot be recommended. Norris substitutes lengthy handwaving for clear explication, and it is not clear that he understands Badiou very well; certainly, it’s clear, he has not bothered to study the set theory which is so important for Badiou’s theory in this work.

Badiou, Zizek, and Political Transformations: The Cadence of Change (SPEP) (Paperback) by Adrian Johnston Northwestern University Press; (October 28, 2009) 978-0810125704

The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? (Short Circuits) (Hardcover) by Slavoj Zizek, John Milbank, and Creston Davis (Editor) The MIT Press (April 24, 2009) 978-0262012713 Short Circuits series, edited by Slavoj Žižek   From the publisher: “In this corner, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who represents the critical-materialist stance against religion’s illusions; in the other corner, “radical orthodox” theologian John Milbank, an influential and provocative thinker who argues that theology is the only foundation upon which knowledge, politics, and ethics can stand. In The Monstrosity of Christ, Žižek and Milbank go head to head for three rounds, employing an impressive arsenal of moves to advance their positions and press their respective advantages. By the closing bell, they have proven themselves worthy adversaries–and have also shown that faith and reason are not simply and intractably opposed.”

Theory of the Subject (Hardcover) by Alain Badiou Continuum (July 28, 2009) 978-0826496737 English translation of Badious 1981 book.

Pocket Pantheon: Figures of Postwar Philosophy (Hardcover) by Alain Badiou Verso (July 21, 2009) 978-1844673575 From the publisher: “In this pint-sized collection of essays, Alain Badiou takes the reader through a keen yet poignant journey through the pantheon of late twentieth-century philosophy. Through the course of the collection – each essay homage to a figure that helped to shape his own way of thinking – Badiou reveals and engages with his own intellectual roots. Through tributes to his teachers, allies and opponents – Althusser, Sartre, Lacan, Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida, among others – Badiou conveys the richness and depth of this philosophical tradition, a tradition that has largely been lost in our contemporary world of pop-philosophers and political pundits.”

Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (Hardcover) by Judith Butler Verso (May 19, 2009) 978-1844673339

From Marxism to Post-marxism (Hardcover) by Göran Therborn Verso (November 24, 2008) 978-1844671885 From the publisher: “In this succinct and panoramic work—both stimulating for the specialist and accessible to the general reader—one of the world’s leading social theorists, Göran Therborn, tackles the question of the trajectory of Marxism in the twentieth century and its legacy for radical thought in the twenty-first. Addressing the history of critical theory from the contemporary vantage-point characterized by postmodernism, post-Marxism and critiques of Eurocentrism, Therborn probes how the recent theoretical currents—including those of Slavoj Zizek, Antonio Negri, and Alain Badiou—have coped with the changed intellectual as well as political and economic contexts. In the light of these discussions, Therborn then proceeds to a global investigation of the parameters of twenty-first century politics. This will become the essential appraisal of Marxism in the modern age.”

Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy (Posthumanities) (Paperback) by Roberto Esposito; Timothy Campbell (Translator)  Univ Of Minnesota Press (April 17, 2008) 978-0816649907  From the publisher: “Roberto Esposito is one of the most prolific and important exponents of contemporary Italian political theory…. Bíos discusses the origins and meanings of biopolitical discourse, demonstrates why none of the categories of modern political thought is useful for completely grasping the essence of biopolitics, and reconstructs the negative biopolitical core of Nazism. Esposito suggests that the best contemporary response to the current deadly version of biopolitics is to understand what could make up the elements of a positive biopolitics-a politics of life rather than a politics of mastery and negation of life…. A comprehensive, illuminating, and highly original treatment of a critically important topic, Bíos introduces an English-reading public to a philosophy that will critically impact such wide-ranging current debates as stem cell research, euthanasia, and the war on terrorism.”

Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics (Anamnesis) (Paperback) by Graham Harman  re.press (June 25, 2009) 978-0980544060 From the publisher: “Prince of Networks is the first treatment of Bruno Latour specifically as a philosopher. It has been eagerly awaited by readers of both Latour and Harman since their public discussion at the London School of Economics in February 2008. Part One covers four key works that display Latour’s underrated contributions to metaphysics: Irreductions, Science in Action, We Have Never Been Modern, and Pandora’s Hope. Harman contends that Latour is one of the central figures of contemporary philosophy, with a highly original ontology centered in four key concepts: actants, irreduction, translation, and alliance. In Part Two, Harman summarizes Latour’s most important philosophical insights, including his status as the first ‘secular occasionalist.’ The problem of translation between entities is no longer solved by the fiat of God (Malebranche) or habit (Hume), but by local mediators. Working from his own ‘object-oriented’ perspective, Harman also criticizes the Latourian focus on the relational character of actors at the expense of their cryptic autonomous reality. This book forms a remarkable interface between Latour’s Actor-Network Theory and the Speculative Realism of Harman and his confederates. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with the emergence of new trends in the humanities following the long postmodernist interval.”

After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency (Hardcover) by Quentin Meillassoux, Ray Brassier (Translator), Alain Badiou (Introduction) From the publisher: “Quentin Meillassoux, a former student of Alain Badiou, proposes a new alliance between philosophy and science and calls for an unequivocal halt to the creeping return of religiosity in contemporary philosophical discourse.”

Austere Realism: Contextual Semantics Meets Minimal Ontology (paperback) MIT Press (September 2009) By Terence Horgan and Matjaž Potrc 978-0-262-51333-3  From the publisher: “The authors of Austere Realism describe and defend a provocative ontological-cum-semantic position, asserting that the right ontology is minimal or austere, in that it excludes numerous commonsense posits, and that statements employing such posits are nonetheless true, when truth is understood to be semantic correctness under contextually operative semantic standards. Terence Horgan and Matjaž Potrc argue that austere realism emerges naturally from consideration of the deep problems within the naive commonsense approach to truth and ontology…. Under contextual semantics, much ordinary and scientific thought and discourse is true because its truth is indirect correspondence to the world.”

Dialectics for the New Century (Hardcover) by Bertell Ollman, Tony Bagnall Smith  Palgrave Macmillan; illustrated edition edition (April 29, 2008) 978-0230535312  From the publisher: “This anthology contains some of the more important Marxist thinkers now working on dialectics. As a whole the book is an unusual ‘Introduction to Dialectics’, a systematic restatement of what it is and how to use it, a survey of most of the main debates in the field, and a good picture of the current state of the art of dialectics.”

A Leftist Ontology: Beyond Relativism and Identity Politics (pb) by Carsten Strathausen (Editor), William E. Connolly (Foreword) Univ Of Minnesota Press (July 17, 2009) 978-0816650309 Contributors: Bruno Bosteels, Christopher Breu, Nicholas Brown, Sorin Radu Cucu, George Edmondson, Eva Geulen, Philip Goldstein, Klaus Mladek, Alberto Moreiras, Jeffrey T. Nealon, William Rasch, Ben Robinson, Imre Szeman, Roland Vegso.

Philosophy and Real Politics (Hardcover) by Raymond Geuss  Princeton University Press (July 28, 2008) 978-0691137889 From the publisher: “Many contemporary political thinkers are gripped by the belief that their task is to develop an ideal theory of rights or justice for guiding and judging political actions. But in Philosophy and Real Politics, Raymond Geuss argues that philosophers should first try to understand why real political actors behave as they actually do. Far from being applied ethics, politics is a skill that allows people to survive and pursue their goals. To understand politics is to understand the powers, motives, and concepts that people have and that shape how they deal with the problems they face in their particular historical situations. Philosophy and Real Politics both outlines a historically oriented, realistic political philosophy and criticizes liberal political philosophies based on abstract conceptions of rights and justice.”

Trouble with Strangers: A Study of Ethics (Paperback) by Terry Eagleton Wiley-Blackwell (October 13, 2008) 978-1405185721 From the publisher: “In this major new book, Terry Eagleton, one of the world’s greatest cultural theorists, writes with wit, eloquence and clarity on the question of ethics. Providing rare insights into tragedy, politics, literature, morality and religion, Eagleton examines key ethical theories through the framework of Jacques Lacan’s categories of the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real, measuring them against the ‘richer’ ethical resources of socialism and the Judaeo-Christian tradition. [Eagleton] investigates ethical theories from Aristotle to Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek; engages with the whole modern European tradition of thought about ethics; brings together personal and political ethics and makes a passionate case for political love”

Horrorism: Naming Contemporary Violence (New Directions in Critical Theory) (Hardcover) by Adriana Cavarero William McCuaig (Translator) Columbia University Press (November 24, 2008) 978-0231144568  From the publisher: “Words like “terrorism” and “war” no longer encompass the scope of contemporary violence. With this explosive book, Adriana Cavarero, one of the world’s most provocative feminist theorists and political philosophers, effectively renders such terms obsolete. She introduces a new word — “horrorism” — to capture the experience of violence. Unlike terror, horrorism is a form of violation grounded in the offense of disfiguration and massacre….In applying the horroristic paradigm to the current phenomena of suicide bombers, torturers, and hypertechnological warfare, Cavarero integrates Susan Sontag’s views on photography and the eroticization of horror, as well as ideas on violence and the state advanced by Thomas Hobbes and Carl Schmitt.”

Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History (Pitt Illuminations) (Paperback) by Susan Buck-Morss University of Pittsburgh Press (February 28, 2009) ISBN-13: 978-0822959786 Some comments: “Susan Buck-Morss provides a decisive reframing of Hegel in this wonderful book. The supposed idealist becomes a hard-headed realist whose concepts are formed while reading the morning newspapers. The idea of emancipation from slavery is itself emancipated from a model of noblesse oblige to one of struggle, risk, and sacrifice on the part of the slave. This is a thoroughly brilliant scholarly work that turns Hegel upside down in a new way, revealing this time that he was always already standing on his head.” – W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago.  “In a tour-de-force of de-colonial thinking, Susan Buck-Morss shows at once Hegel’s denial of the Haitian Revolution and its consequences in Marx’s and Marxism’s reproduction of Hegel’s denial: the silence around the role of race as racism in the foundation of the modern/colonial (and capitalist) world. Buck-Morss’s argument shows that Hegel’s spirit is tainted with the blood and suffering of enslaved Africans in the European colonies and that his dialectic of the master and the slave is performed on Western memories of Greek society and Western oblivions of slave trade and Western colonies.” – Walter Mignolo, Duke University

The Idea of Justice (Hardcover) by Amartya Sen Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (September 30, 2009) 978-0674036130 From the publisher: “More than a matter of intellectual discourse, the idea of justice plays a real role in how—and how well—people live. And in this book the distinguished scholar Amartya Sen offers a powerful critique of the theory of social justice that, in its grip on social and political thinking, has long left practical realities far behind. The transcendental theory of justice, the subject of Sen’s analysis, flourished in the Enlightenment and has proponents among some of the most distinguished philosophers of our day; it is concerned with identifying perfectly just social arrangements, defining the nature of the perfectly just society. The approach Sen favors, on the other hand, focuses on the comparative judgments of what is “more” or “less” just, and on the comparative merits of the different societies that actually emerge from certain institutions and social interactions.”

Crisis in the Global Economy: Financial Markets, Social Struggles, and New Political Scenarios (Paperback) Edited by Andrea Fumagalli and Sandro Mezzadra Translated by Jason Francis Mc Gimsey; Afterword by Antonio Negri MIT Press Distributed for Semiotext(e)  (March 2010) (PAPER) 978-1-58435-087-3 From the publisher: “Crisis in the Global Economy is the latest and most innovative collective reflection on the state of global capitalism, developed in the mobile “multiversity” of the UniNomade network of international researchers and activists during the months immediately following the first signals of the current financial and economic crisis…. Crisis in the Global Economy begins with the recognition that the current financial crisis is a systemic crisis of the entire capitalistic system as it has been developing since the 1890s. Taking as its premise that today’s financial markets are the pulsing heart of cognitive capitalism, financing the activity of accumulation, Crisis in the Global Economy shows how the flow of capital rewards production that exploits knowledge and controls spaces beyond traditional business. The ineffectiveness of the extraordinary economic measures taken by single nation-states over the past few months demonstrates that this crisis is of a completely different order…. The contributions to Crisis in the Global Economy invite us to consider exit strategies from the current crisis—strategies that may lead us toward a new horizon of constructing the common.”

The Dialectics of Globalization: Economic and Political Conflict in a Transnational World (Paperback) by Jerry Harris Cambridge Scholars Publishing; new edition (January 10, 2008) 978-1847189288 From the publisher: “In an unique historical approach the book examines how the revolution in information technologies and the break-up of the Soviet Union intertwined to present new global opportunities to reorganize capitalism as a unified world system headed by an emerging transnational capitalist class. The book challenges the common view that nation states still define international relations, with the United States as hegemonic leader of the world system. Instead Harris offers a more complex analysis of world affairs that sees the current period as one of transition between nationally based industrial capitalism and a global system based on revolutionary methods of production and new class relationships. He argues this conflict appears in every country as national economies realigned to fit new patterns of world accumulation creating a host of political tensions within and between nations. This analysis is detailed in a distinctive interpretation of the US military/industrial complex, as well as the contemporary class struggles in Germany and the emerging powers of China, India and Brazil. The book concludes by investigating alternative trends which are currently challenging the inequalities of global capitalism, unfolding a fresh approach to the relationship between the state, market and civil society.”

Antagonistics: Capital and Power in an Age of War (Paperback) by Gopal Balakrishnan Verso (May 5, 2009) 978-1844672691 Publisher says: “Antagonistics addresses core political and theoretical questions: How should we conceive the relations between neo-imperial warfare and neoliberalism, American hegemony and capitalist globalization? Reflections…are set within a larger framework, tracing the intertwined evolution of the modern state system and the capitalist mode of production…. Balakrishnan interrogates three key political perspectives—liberalism (Tocqueville), the radical right (Schmitt), and the Marxist left (Althusser)—for their insights on state power and civil society, democracy, and class….”

Imperialism and Global Political Economy (Paperback) by Alex Callinicos Polity (August 3, 2009) 978-0745640464 From the publisher: “In the first part, [Callincos] critically assesses the classical theories of imperialism developed in the era of the First World War by Marxists such as Lenin, Luxemburg, and Bukharin and by the Liberal economist J.A. Hobson. He then outlines a theory of the relationship between capitalism as an economic system and the international state system, carving out a distinctive position compared to other contemporary theorists of empire and imperialism such as Antonio Negri, David Harvey, Giovanni Arrighi, and Ellen Wood. In the second half…he traces the history of capitalist imperialism from the Dutch East India Company to the specific patterns of economic and geopolitical competition in the contemporary era of American decline and Chinese expansion.”

Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis (Historical Materialism Book Series) (Paperback) by Michael A. Lebowitz  Haymarket Books (September 1, 2009) 978-1608460335 Publisher: “In this examination of Marx’s methodology combined with specific applications on topics in political economy such as neo-Ricardian theory, analytical Marxism, the falling rate of profit, crisis-theory, monopoly-capital, advertising, and the capitalist state, this volume argues that the failure to understand (or the explicit rejection of) Marx’s method has led astray many who consider themselves Marxists. Michael A. Lebowitz is professor emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University. His book, Beyond ‘Capital’: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2004. His Build it Now: Socialism for the Twenty-first Century has been republished in several languages.”

Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It (Paperback) by Richard Wolff  Olive Branch Press (October 12, 2009) 978-1566567848 From the publisher: “Step by step, Professor Wolff shows that deep economic structures–the relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income–account for the crisis. The great change in the US economy since the 1970s, as employers stopped the historic rise in US workers’ real wages, set in motion the events that eventually broke the world economy…. As this book shows, we must now ask basic questions about capitalism as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great depressions in 75 years (and countless lesser crises, recession, and cycles in between). The book’s essays engage the long-overdue public discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives needed not only to fix today’s broken economy but to prevent future crises.”

Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space (Paperback) by Neil Smith University of Georgia Press; 3rd edition  December 15, 2008) 978-0820330990 “Smith attempts no less than the integration of nature and space in the Marxian theory of capitalist development. The aim is to link two radical traditions–geographical and political–by theoretically illuminating the reality of uneven development. . . . He improves the clarity even of the arguments made in disagreement with him. His book should be widely read, used, and discussed.” –R. J. Peet, Environment and Planning Neil Smith is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University of New York and serves as director for the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics. He is author or editor of nine books that explore the broad intersection between space, nature, social theory, and history and is co-organizer of the International Critical Geography Group.

Marx’s General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (Hardcover) by Tristram Hunt Metropolitan Books (August 18, 2009) 978-0805080254

Why Not Socialism? (Hardcover) by G. A. Cohen 92 pages Princeton University Press (September 13, 2009) 978-0691143613 Cohen is author of Karl Marx’s Theory of History, If You’re an Egalitarian, How Come You’re So Rich?, and of Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality.

The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time: Socialism in the Twenty-First Century by Istvan Meszaros, John Bellamy Foster Monthly Review Press (August 1, 2008) 978-1583671696

The Left at War (Cultural Front Series) (Hardcover) by Michael Berube NYU Press (November 16, 2009) 978-0814799840 Publisher’s blurb: In a masterful survey of the post-9/11 landscape, renowned scholar Michael Bérubé revisits and reinterprets the major intellectual debates and key players of the last two decades, covering the terrain of left debates in the United States over foreign policy from the Balkans to 9/11 to Iraq, and over domestic policy from the culture wars of the 1990s to the question of what (if anything) is the matter with Kansas….The surprising results of Bérubé’s arguments reveal an American left that is overly fond of a form of “countercultural” politics in which popular success is understood as a sign of political failure and political marginality is understood as a sign of moral virtue. The Left at War insists that, in contrast to American countercultural traditions, the geopolitical history of cultural studies has much to teach us about internationalism—for “in order to think globally, we need to think culturally, and in order to understand cultural conflict, we need to think globally.”

Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War (Hardcover) by Mark Danner Nation Books (October 13, 2009) 978-1568584133 Mark Danner has done important reporting on the torture policies of the Bush administration. According to the publisher, “In Stripping Bare the Body, Danner brings together his best reporting from the world’s most troubled regions—from the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti to the tumultuous rise of Aristide; from the onset of the Balkan Wars to the painful fragmentation of Yugoslavia; and finally to the disastrous invasion of Iraq and the radical, destructive legacy of the Bush administration.”

Torture and the War on Terror (SB-The French List) (Hardcover) by Tzvetan Todorov (Author), Ryan Lobo (Photographer), Gila Walker (Translator)  Seagull Books (August 15, 2009) 978-1906497361 Publisher: “In Torture and the War on Terror, Tzvetan Todorov argues that the use of the terms “war” and “terror” dehumanize the enemy and permit treatment that would otherwise be impermissible. He examines the implications and corrupting impact of the attempt to impose “good” through violence and the attempt to spread democratic values by unethical means…. Invalidating one by one the political and ethical arguments in favor of torture, Todorov likens institutional torture to a cancer that is eroding our society and undermining the very fundamental democratic ideas of justice and right.”

Subprime Nation: American Power, Global Capital, and the Housing Bubble (Cornell Studies in Money) (Paperback) by Herman M. Schwartz Cornell University Press (September 2009) 978-0801475672

Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years (Hardcover) by Vaclav Smil The MIT Press (September 30, 2008) 978-0262195867

Was Mao Really a Monster? (Routledge Contemporary China Series)   (Paperback) by Gregor Benton (Editor), Lin Chun (Editor) Routledge (August 13, 2009) 978-0415493307 From the publisher: “Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday was published in 2005 to a great fanfare. The book portrays Mao as a monster – equal to or worse than Hitler and Stalin – and a fool who won power by native cunning and ruled by terror. It received a rapturous welcome from reviewers in the popular press….Reviews by serious China scholars, however, tended to take a different view. Most were sharply critical, questioning its authority and the authors’ methods , arguing that Chang and Halliday’s book is not a work of balanced scholarship, as it purports to be, but a highly selective and even polemical study that sets out to demonise Mao. This book brings together sixteen reviews of Mao: The Unknown Story – all by internationally well-regarded specialists in modern Chinese history….While agreeing that Mao had many faults and was responsible for some disastrous policies, they conclude that a more balanced picture is needed.”

The Invention of the Jewish People (Hardcover) by Shlomo Sand Verso (October 19, 2009) 978-1844674220   The publisher:  “Shlomo Sand argues that most Jews actually descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered far across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The formation of a Jewish people and then a Jewish nation out of these disparate groups could only take place under the sway of a new historiography, developing in response to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Beneath the biblical back fill of the nineteenth-century historians, and the twentieth-century intellectuals who replaced rabbis as the architects of Jewish identity, The Invention of the Jewish People uncovers a new narrative of Israel’s formation, and proposes a bold analysis of nationalism that accounts for the old myths.  After a long stay on Israel’s bestseller list, and winning the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, The Invention of the Jewish People is finally available in English.”