This book critically interrogates the work of David Harvey, one of the world’s most influential geographers, and one of its best known Marxists.
- Considers the entire range of Harvey’s oeuvre, from the nature of urbanism to environmental issues.
- Written by contributors from across the human sciences, operating with a range of critical theories.
- Focuses on key themes in Harvey’s work.
- Contains a consolidated bibliography of Harvey’s writings.
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.
Noel Castree is a Professor in the School of Environment and Development at Manchester University. His previous publications include Nature: The Adventures of an Idea (2005), Spaces of Work (2004), Social Nature (Blackwell Publishing, 2001) and Remaking Reality (1998).
Derek Gregory is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. His previous publications include The Colonial Present (Blackwell Publishing, 2004) and Geographical Imaginations (Blackwell Publishing, 1995).
"The debates in David Harvey: A Critical Reader highlight the importance of thinking about space as something materially produced and in process ... The discussion also leads to considerations of the urban as a way of life. The tension between these two strands makes this anthology fertile ground for attempts at a synthesis."
Radical Philosophy
"David Harvey: A Critical Reader is a landmark assessment of the work, and diverse influences, of this leading geographer-cum-social theorist. No stodgy hagiography, the Reader presents a series of punchy, personal, political, and often profound reflections on four decades of Harvey’s contributions. In locating Harvey and his interlocutors, the Reader also suggestively maps out the shifting terrain of critical 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 nip and 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 and non-hagiographic reflections on the intellectual legacy of David Harvey that will be an invaluable read not only for geographers but for all social scientists committed to the pursuit of a critical and transformative understanding of the world."
Ugo Rossi, Universita L’Orientale of Naples, Italy
