The dense doses of Marxist theory will be fairly unapproachable to readers not well-versed with the socialist thinker, but...
Harvey (Anthropology and Geography/CUNY Graduate Center; Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, 2014, etc.) employs the theories of Karl Marx to explain the genesis of political and economic problems in nations relying on private markets.
The author pulls together 11 previously published essays and book chapters to illuminate his self-proclaimed revolutionary views about the failures of capitalism. Although some of the pieces date back decades, Harvey offers contemporary commentary at the end of each. In some instances, he discusses the criticisms aimed at him at the time of original publication and why his critics were mistaken. Previously a professor in Baltimore, Harvey turned to Marx's theories after watching the city partially destruct in the aftermath of race-based violence triggered by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He began to wonder why cities such as Baltimore and Detroit seem healthy but then decline, to the detriment of all residents except those who manage the local wealth. Harvey views capitalism as being in constant crisis, with only the geographic locus shifting. His chapters are grounded in abstractions, but the author provides enough specifics to qualify as case studies of a sort. It is necessary, he writes, to devise fresh frameworks for understanding why and how events unfold the way they do in capitalist nations, such as the financial meltdowns of 2007-2008. The formation of urban ghettos, the destruction of the natural environment, and the uneven distribution of wealth within a populace constitute some of the capitalist disruptions addressed by Harvey through his Marxist worldview. Whether the United States and other nations can afford the consequences stemming from a relentless accumulation of capital constitutes the unifying theme of the chapters, which are not obviously linked at first glance.
The dense doses of Marxist theory will be fairly unapproachable to readers not well-versed with the socialist thinker, but Harvey writes clearly, leading to understanding, albeit only with intense concentration and perhaps multiple readings.Pub Date: March 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-19-046944-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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