David Harvey is among the most distinguished and influential Marxist theorists of his generation. For over three decades he has published works of major insight and originality that have challenged and altered dominant intellectual-political frameworks of understanding in urban studies, geography, sociology and beyond. He remains one of the most trenchant contemporary critics of global capitalism and its effects. This book critically interrogates Harvey's work as a geographer, a Marxist and a public intellectual. Comprising a series of newly commissioned essays written by contributors from across the human sciences, it considers the entire range of Harvey's oeuvre, from the nature of urbanism and the role of space in capitalist accumulation to environmental issues and postmodernism. To aid further study and research, the volume also contains a consolidated bibliography of Harvey's writings.
"The debates in David Harvey: A Critical Reader highlightthe importance of thinking about space as something materiallyproduced and in process ... The discussion also leads toconsiderations of the urban as a way of life. The tension betweenthese two strands makes this anthology fertile ground for attemptsat a synthesis."
Radical Philosophy
"David Harvey: A Critical Reader is a landmark assessmentof the work, and diverse influences, of this leadinggeographer-cum-social theorist. No stodgy hagiography, theReader presents a series of punchy, personal, political, andoften profound reflections on four decades of Harvey'scontributions. In locating Harvey and his interlocutors, theReader also suggestively maps out the shifting terrain ofcritical thinking around the spatialities of late capitalism."Jamie Peck, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Few contemporary thinkers have been untouched by David Harvey,even in opposition, as this collection of brilliant essays attests.And, after the critics' scalpels have done their bit of nipand tuck, he comes off still looking rather well for his age."R. A. Walker, University of California, Berkeley
"The Critical Reader offers a set of inspiring andnon-hagiographic reflections on the intellectual legacy of DavidHarvey that will be an invaluable read not only for geographers butfor all social scientists committed to the pursuit of a criticaland transformative understanding of the world."
Ugo Rossi, Universita L'Orientale of Naples, Italy
Radical Philosophy
"David Harvey: A Critical Reader is a landmark assessmentof the work, and diverse influences, of this leadinggeographer-cum-social theorist. No stodgy hagiography, theReader presents a series of punchy, personal, political, andoften profound reflections on four decades of Harvey'scontributions. In locating Harvey and his interlocutors, theReader also suggestively maps out the shifting terrain ofcritical thinking around the spatialities of late capitalism."Jamie Peck, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Few contemporary thinkers have been untouched by David Harvey,even in opposition, as this collection of brilliant essays attests.And, after the critics' scalpels have done their bit of nipand tuck, he comes off still looking rather well for his age."R. A. Walker, University of California, Berkeley
"The Critical Reader offers a set of inspiring andnon-hagiographic reflections on the intellectual legacy of DavidHarvey that will be an invaluable read not only for geographers butfor all social scientists committed to the pursuit of a criticaland transformative understanding of the world."
Ugo Rossi, Universita L'Orientale of Naples, Italy
"An indispensable guide to the life and work of one of the greatest Marxist intellectuals of his generation. The authors provide a far-reaching overview of Harvey's intellectual project and the way it has developed over time, which allows the reader to build a much deeper relationship with Harvey's oeuvre than that they might gain by reading a few key texts from within a specific discipline - much in the same way that Harvey's familiarity with Marx has made his Introduction to Capital the most popular accompaniment to Marx's work."
Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to save the world from financialisation
"I arrived at the Johns Hopkins University in 1997. By 1999 I was co-teaching a graduate seminar with David Harvey on Gramsci and Keynes. I went in there as a recovered Marxist. I came out having recovered my Marxism. That's what Harvey will do to you."
Mark Blyth, Brown University, USA, author of Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea and co-author of Angrynomics
"No living intellectual has done more to reinvigorate Marxism than David Harvey. True to its spirit, he has insisted on the unbreakable link between scientific research and political practice. Here, for the first time, we have a survey of Harvey's entire oeuvre - but not a mere summary or for-dummies: Castree, Charnock and Christophers engage critically with all the issues swirling through his work, down to the question of how to change the world. In wonderfully accessible prose, they catch a genius in motion, always attuned to the latest developments in capitalism. This will be a book to chew on, for Harvey aficionados and newcomers alike, and for everyone grappling with the unbearable contradictions of this world order."
Andreas Malm, Lund University, Sweden, author of Fossil Capital, The Progress of the Storm, and How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to save the world from financialisation
"I arrived at the Johns Hopkins University in 1997. By 1999 I was co-teaching a graduate seminar with David Harvey on Gramsci and Keynes. I went in there as a recovered Marxist. I came out having recovered my Marxism. That's what Harvey will do to you."
Mark Blyth, Brown University, USA, author of Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea and co-author of Angrynomics
"No living intellectual has done more to reinvigorate Marxism than David Harvey. True to its spirit, he has insisted on the unbreakable link between scientific research and political practice. Here, for the first time, we have a survey of Harvey's entire oeuvre - but not a mere summary or for-dummies: Castree, Charnock and Christophers engage critically with all the issues swirling through his work, down to the question of how to change the world. In wonderfully accessible prose, they catch a genius in motion, always attuned to the latest developments in capitalism. This will be a book to chew on, for Harvey aficionados and newcomers alike, and for everyone grappling with the unbearable contradictions of this world order."
Andreas Malm, Lund University, Sweden, author of Fossil Capital, The Progress of the Storm, and How to Blow Up a Pipeline