Left Hemisphere: Mapping Contemporary Theory

As the crisis of capitalism unfolds, the need for alternatives is felt ever more intensely—the struggle between radical movements and the forces of reaction will be merciless. A crucial battlefield, where the outcome of the crisis will in part be decided, will be that of theory.

Over the last quarter century, radical intellectuals across the world have produced important and innovative ideas. The endeavor to transform the world without falling into the traps of past catastrophic—so-called socialist—experiments has been a common element uniting these new approaches. The works of authors such as Antonio Negri, Slavoj Žižek, Donna Haraway, Alain Badiou, Edward Said, Jacques Ranciere, Judith Butler, Giorgio Agamben, Fredric Jameson, Gayatri Spivak, and Axel Honneth, among many others, show that the critique of capitalism in its various dimensions is alive and well.

This book offers the first global cartography of the expanding intellectual field of critical contemporary thought. More than thirty authors and intellectual currents of every nationality are represented in a clear and succinct manner. A history of critical thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is also provided, helping situate current thinkers in a broader historical and sociological perspective.