politalX Politics Store - Empire
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List Price: £16.95
Our Price: £14.49
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Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 325.3209045
EAN: 9780674006713
ISBN: 0674006712
Label: Harvard University Press
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 478
Publication Date: 2001-08-15
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Studio: Harvard University Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt's Empire has already caused quite a storm. After "anti-capitalist" demonstrations and books such as Naomi Klein's No Logo and George Monbiot's Captive State, a vacuum seemed to exist for an extensive, coherent philosophical take on where our world is going. Empire seeks to fill that gap by asking where globalisation comes from, what it means and whether or not it is a good or bad thing. Negri, a Marxist imprisoned for his beliefs and his involvement with the Italian hard-left, and Michael Hardt, an English literature professor who had previously acted as Negri's translator (and the translator of an important, though philosophically more arcane, precursor to Empire, Giorgio Agamben's The Coming Community) have produced a key post-Marxist text (which builds on many of the arguments in Nick Dyer-Witheford's excellent Cyber-Marx) that views its world through lenses bequeathed to it by the best of the French post-structuralists. Negri and Hardt's accomplishment has been to apply the sometimes difficult work of theorists such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (especially A Thousand Plateaus) and Jacques Derrida to describe a world that has undergone a paradigm switch to a new Empire (in a way not dissimilarly than Thomas Keenan does particularly in his chapter on Marx's rhetoric in the much undervalued Fables of Responsibility). According to Negri and Hardt, this new Empire is the result of the transformation of modern capitalism into a set of power relationships we endlessly replicate that transcend the nation state (so anti-imperialism is out as a progressive politics). Vitally, the authors argue that the multitude, through their many struggles, pushed the world to this point and it is the multitude who can push through to a much better world on the other side of globalisation. This is an optimistic, wide-ranging, defiant challenge of a book and Negri and Hardt should be commended on their erudition as much as their vision. While questions undoubtedly remain after reading the text, these should not stop the interested reader in coming to, and learning from, this profound piece of work. --Mark Thwaite
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A work of genius
Comment: If you want to understand the contemporary world and the forces affecting the paths of history then start here. Negri's intellect is rigorous and first-rate, his depth of insight outstanding. Normally he writes in a very intellectual style, using technical language and thought that is beyond that of the begginner. Here the writing is more disciplined and coherent, but doesn't lose any of its wealth. His use of historical materialism allows him to endows his work with a strong emprical basis which ensures that is statements are factual and to the point and he doesn't make wooly or doubtful assertions. His analysis of capital and its affects on human life is invigorating in its analysis of past events, prescient in its predictions for our present and future times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fierce in its attack, sweeping in its scope
Comment: Negri and Hardt will be remembered for this work. Books of this intelligence are difficult to find. This book should hearten democratic and progressive students of Socialism and Marxism. Although the prose and referencing lends itself to the academic reader, this does not blunten the strength of its attack on the undemocratic nature of modern capitalism. Readers that don't have a background in political thought might best wean themselves onto this book by digesting a few other books on the history of political thought. Also reading Naomi Klein's No Logo prior will help clarify the reader on the current state of neo-liberal capitalism. As I said above it is not an easy read, but in the end very rewarding. There is hope for a more democratic, equitable future and it lies with thinkers and doers such as Sn Negri and Mr Hardt.
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Summary: A parson's egg of a book.
Comment: "Empire" failed to live up to its promise. The prose style was irritating. Brilliantly lucid now, then glib post-modern; did Hardt and Negri take it in turns to write?The substantive issues also recieved uneven attention. The attempt to rehabilitate Marxism really didn't work, and despite some excellent points, the central thesis is flawed, and other avenues remain unexplored. Cooper's take (The Postmodern State) is more coherent and promising.
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Summary: A pompous and unsuccessful effort to explain post capitalism
Comment: This book is beautifully written with carefully crafted sentences, liberally sprinkled with the names of philosophers and economists. However after reading a sentence, a paragraph or a chapter, it is necessary to re-read it to try, unsuccessfully, to discern any rational meaning.
I am writing this as a person with a little education and experience of politics and economics...
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Summary: This book is a scholarly work that is very challenging.
Comment: Empire offers a view of internationalism in the postmodern era and the onset of globalised Imperialism. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding how to combat hidden forms of domination that Negri and Hardt bring to the surface. It's very dense and complicated, but definitely worth it. "Empire" allows readers to recognise current structural powers and where the world economy and foreign powers are headed. Mostly theoretical. Enjoyable.
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