Book Reviews
Prepublication reviews from Thesis Eleven Journal. You can find the final published versions here
Book Review: A Socialisme ou Barbarie Anthology
Cornelius Castoriadis et al., A Socialisme ou Barbarie Anthology: Autonomy, Critique, and Revolution in the Age of Bureaucratic Capitalism, translated and edited by David Ames Curtis (Eris, 2018)
Reviewed by Chamsy el-Ojeili
Book Review: No, it Can’t! Reading Peter Murphy
Peter Murphy, Stranger Cities. Australian Creation and the Ambidextrous Mind, A Profile of Portal Modernity (Brill, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: The Power and Powerlessness of Component Analysis
Anthony Elliott, Algorithms of Anxiety: Fear in the Digital Age (Polity Press, 2024)
Reviewed by James Smithies
Review: Chengdu Review
Critical Theory: Chengdu Review, Volume One, Edited by Fu Qilin (Sichuan University Press, 2024)
Reviewed by Li Jing
Book Review: Postcritical Management Studies
Ghislain Deslandes, Postcritical Management Studies: Philosophical Investigations (Springer, 2023)
Reviewed by Reviewed by Thomas Klikauer
Book Review: Max Weber’s Sociology of Civilizations
Stephen Kalberg, Max Weber’s Sociology of Civilizations: A Reconstruction (Routledge, 2021)
Reviewed by Sam Whimster
Book Review: Zygmunt Bauman, Theory and Society
Zygmunt Bauman, Theory and Society (Polity, 2024).
Edited by Tom Campbell, Dariusz Brzezinski, Mark Davis and Jack Palmer, with translations by Katarzyna Bartoszynska
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: No Country for Idealists and My Father’s Shadow
Boris Frankel, No Country for Idealists. The making of a family of subversives (Greenmeadows, Melbourne, 2023)
Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo, My Father’s Shadow. A memoir (Monash University Publishing, Melbourne, 2023)
Reviewed by Alastair Davidson
Book Review: Civil Repair
Jeffrey Alexander, Civil Repair (Wiley, 2024)
Reviewed by Celso M. Villegas
Book review: How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold
Philipp Felsch, How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold: Tale of a Redemption (Polity Press, 2024)
Reviewed by John Lechte
Book Review: The Fragility of Concern for Others – Adorno and the Ethics of Care
Estelle Ferrarese, The Fragility of Concern for Others: Adorno and the Ethics of Care (Edinburgh University Press, 2021)
Reviewed by Howard Prosser
Book Review: A World of Empires
The Oxford World History of Empire (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Reviewed by Krishan Kumar
Fathers and Sons: Nikos Papastergiadis on John Berger
I once met Edward Said early on in my Phd candidature. I told him about my research and he extolled the virtues of John Berger, but then added: “Whatever you do, just don’t go to visit him there. There are pigs and shit everywhere.” I said, “it sounds like my father’s village.” It was not…
Book Review: Possessing Marx
Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism, A Selection (Brill/Historical Materialism #294, 2024)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: The Mess of Modernity
Carlo Bordoni, Ethical Violence (Polity Press, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Two Germans Walk Into A Bar …
Andreas Reckwitz, Hartmut Rosa, Late Modernity in Crisis (Polity, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Adorno meets the Algorithm
Jurgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics (Polity, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: UnAustralian Art
Rex Butler and ADS Donaldson, UnAustralian Art: Ten Essays on Transnational Art History (Power, 2022)
Reviewed by Darren Jorgensen
Book Review: Inventing Marxism – More, Please
Christina Morina, The Invention of Marxism – How An Idea Changed Everything (Oxford University Press, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Cannibal Capitalism
Nancy Fraser, Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and What We Can Do about It (Verso, 2022)
Reviewed by Christopher G. Robbins
Book Review: The Photographs of Zygmunt Bauman
The Photographs of Zygmunt Bauman, edited by Peter Beilharz and Janet Wolff (Manchester University Press, 2023)
Reviewed by Eric Ferris
Book Review – Zygmunt Bauman: Messages in Bottles
Zygmunt Bauman, My Life in Fragments, edited by Izabela Wagner (Polity, 2023);
Zygmunt Bauman, History and Politics, edited by Mark Davis, Jack Palmer, Dariusz Brzezinski and Tom Campbell (Polity 2023).
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Review Essay: The Posthumous Bauman
Review Essay: The Posthumous Bauman
By Matt Dawson
2023 saw six new books by, and about Zygmunt Bauman published. 6 years after his death, these texts were part of an emerging body of literature we may call The Posthumous Bauman. I explore the key lessons this literature has offered and suggest there are four…
Review: Chris Finnen Band, Live in Lockdown 2020
Chris Finnen Band, Live in Lockdown 2020 (DVD, self produced, 2021)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Chain’s Toward the Blues
Peter Beilharz, Chain’s Toward the Blues (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023)
Reviewed by Harry Blatterer
Review Essay: Reading Eva Illouz – Modern Love and its Discontents
Eva Illouz is arguably the most prominent sociologist of emotions of all time. This review essay synthesizes and engages with her work on romantic love.
Book Review: Zygmunt Bauman and the West
Jack Palmer, Zygmunt Bauman and the West: a sociology of intellectual exile (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023)
Reviewed by Eric Ferris
Book Review: Jeffrey Alexander and Cultural Sociology
Jean-Francois Cote, Jeffrey Alexander and Cultural Sociology (Polity, 2023)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Making Sense of AI and Algorithmic Intimacy
Anthony Elliott, Making Sense of AI: Our Algorithmic World (Polity Press, 2022)
Anthony Elliott, Algorithmic Intimacy: The Digital Revolution in Personal Relationships (Polity Press, 2023)
Reviewed by Dariusz Brzeziński
Book Review: Double Nation
Ian McLean, Double Nation: A History of Australian Art (Reaktion, 2023)
Reviewed by Darren Jorgensen
Book Review: Capitalism Versus Democracy
Boris Frankel, Capitalism Versus Democracy: Rethinking Politics in the Age of Environmental Crisis (Greenmeadows, 2020)
Reviewed by Eric Ferris (Eastern Michigan University)
Book Review: The Summer of Theory
Philipp Felsch, The Summer of Theory (Polity, 2022)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz (Sichuan University)
Book Review: The sociological Interpretation of Dreams
Bernard Lahire (trans. Helen Morrison), The Sociological Interpretation of Dreams (Wiley, 2020)
Reviewed by John Lechte (Macquarie University)
Review Essay: Singular sociology? On the work of the German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz
Reviewed by Christine Magerski (University of Zagreb)
Book Review: Between Gaia and Ground
E. A. Povinelli, Between Gaia and Ground: Four Axioms of Existence and the Ancestral Catastrophe of Late Liberalism (Duke University Press, 2021)
Reviewed by Angie Sassano (Deakin University)
Book Review: On fascism: 12 lessons from American history
Matthew C. MacWilliams, On fascism: 12 lessons from American history (St Martin’s Publishing Group, 2020)
Reviewed by Zak Kizer (Iowa Lakes Community College)
Book Review: The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanisation of Rural China
Nick R. Smith, The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanisation of Rural China (University of Minnesota Press, 2021)
Reviewed by Brooke Wilmsen (La Trobe University)
Book Review: Enrichment – A Critique of Commodities
Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre, Enrichment – A Critique of Commodities (Polity, 2020)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz (Sichuan University)
Book Review: Beilharz with Bauman, After Bauman
Peter Beilharz, Intimacy in Postmodern Times: A Friendship with Zygmunt Bauman (Manchester University Press, 2020)
Reviewed by Christopher G. Robbins
Book review: Crowdfunding and the Democratization of Finance
Mark Davis and Bruce Davis, Crowdfunding and the Democratization of Finance (Bristol University Press, 2022)
Reviewed by Bill Maurer
Book Review: The Ends of Science
Harry Redner, The Ends of Science: An Essay in Scientific Authority (Westview Press, 1987)
Reviewed by Gernot Böhme (translated by Joachim Redner)
Book Review: Quintessence of Dust
Harry Redner, Quintessence of Dust: The Science of Matter and the Philosophy of Mind (Brill, 2020)
Reviewed by Miguel Candel Sanmartin
Book Review: The Human
John Lechte, The Human: Bare Life and Ways of Life (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Reviewed by Claire Colebrook
Book Review: Declarations of Dependence
Scott Ferguson, Declarations of Dependence: Money, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Care (University of Nebraskra Press, 2018)
Reviewed by Jonathan Ben-Menachem, Columbia
Book Review: These Barbed Wire Barriers
Jenifer Nicholson, These Barbed Wire Barriers: Antonio Gramsci and the Schucht Sisters (BSA Auto/Biography Study Group, 2020)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Critical Theories and the Budapest School
Jonathan Pickle and John Rundell (eds.), Critical Theories and the Budapest School: Politics, Culture, and Modernity (Routledge, 2018)
Reviewed by J.F. Dorahy
Book Review: At the Risk of Thinking
Alice Jardine, At the Risk of Thinking: An Intellectual Biography of Julia Kristeva (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020)
Reviewed by John Lechte, Macquarie University, Australia
Book Review: The End of Illusions
Andreas Reckwitz, The Society of Singularities (Polity 2020)
The End of Illusions (Polity 2021)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz, Sichuan University
Book Review: Culture and Art
Zygmunt Bauman, Culture and Art: Selected Writings Vol.1 (Polity, 2020)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz, Sichuan University
Book Review: Erich Fromm’s Critical Theory: Hope, Humanism, and the Future
Erich Fromm’s Critical Theory: Hope, Humanism, and the Future (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020)
Reviewed by Matheus Capovilla Romanetto
Book Review: The Political Economy of Inequality
Frank Stilwell, The Political Economy of Inequality (Polity Press, 2019)
Reviewed by Henry Paternoster
Book Review: Again, Dangerous Visions
Andrew Milner, Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural Materialism (Haymarket, 2019) Reviewed by Gary Pearce, RMIT University
Book Review: The Jewish Question
Enzo Traverso, The Jewish Question: History of a Marxist Debate (Brill, 2019)
Reviewed by Chamsy el-Ojeili
Book Review: The Distortion of Nature’s Image
Damian Gerber, The Distortion of Nature’s Image: Reification and the Ecological Crisis (SUNY, 2019)
Reviewed by Francisco Gelves-Gomez
Book Review: Revolution Today, The New Authoritarians, Into the Tempest
Chamsy el-Ojeili reviews:
Susan Buck-Morss, Revolution Today (Haymarket Books, 2019)
David Renton The New Authoritarians: Convergence on the Right (Haymarket Books, 2019);
William I. Robinson Into the Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism (Haymarket Books, 2018)
Book Review: Reimagining Nations and Rethinking Futures
Divya Anand Reimagining Nations and Rethinking Futures: Contemporary Eco-Political Controversies in India and Australia (Primus Books, 2019)
Reviewed by Haris Qadeer
Book Review: Debt and Guilt: A Political Philosophy
Elettra Stimilli, Debt and Guilt: A Political Philosophy, Stefania Porcelli (trans.) (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)
Reviewed by Scott Robinson
Book Review: Two For the Road
Zygmunt Bauman, Making the Familiar Unfamiliar – A Conversation with Peter Haffner (Polity, 2020)
Hartmut Rosa, The Uncontrollability of the World (Polity, 2020)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: The Crisis Paradigm
Andrew Simon Gilbert The Crisis Paradigm: Description and Prescription in Social and Political Theory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Reviewed by J.F. Dorahy
Book Review: Foucault’s last Decade and Foucault and the Politics of Rights
Stuart Elden Foucault’s Last Decade (Polity, 2016)
Ben Golder Foucault and the Politics of Rights (Stanford University Press, 2015)
Reviewed by Mitchell Dean
Book Review: The Distance
Ivan Vladislavić The Distance (Umuzi/Penguin Random House, 2019)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Downtown Revitalisation and Delta Blues in Clarksdale Mississippi
John Henshall Downtown Revitalisation and Delta Blues in Clarksdale Mississippi: Lessons for Small Cities and Towns (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)
Reviewed by Melissa Kennedy
Book Review: Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis: Eurasian Explorations
Johann P Arnason and Chris Hann (eds) Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis: Eurasian Explorations, SUNY Press (2018)
Reviewed by Jeremy Smith
Book Review: Antonio Gramsci – Towards an Intellectual Biography
Alastair Davidson Antonio Gramsci – Towards an Intellectual Biography (Brill, Historical Materialism, 2017)
Reviewed by Peter Beilharz
Book Review: Multicultural Politics of Recognition and Postcolonial Citizenship
Rachel Busbridge Multicultural Politics of Recognition and Postcolonial Citizenship (Routledge, 2017)
Reviewed by Nicolas Pirsoul
Book Review: Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right
Walden Bello Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right (Practical Action Publishing, 2019) Reviewed by Erwin Rafael
Book review: National Populism (2018) and The New Populism (2019)
Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy (Pelican Books, 2018); Marco Revelli The New Populism: Democracy Stares Into the Abyss (Verso, 2019) Reviewed by: Chamsy el-Ojeili, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Book Review: Social Theory Now
Book Review: Social Theory Now – Claudio E. Benzecry, Monika Krause and Isaac Ariail Reed (eds.) (The University of Chicago Press, 2017). Reviewed by: Rachel Busbridge
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