Customer Reviews
Made this postmodernist a Marxist - By: Tom, 11 Feb 2003 
This is a truly excellent critique of postmodernism & more particularly of the socio-economic reshaping of our contemporary culture that shaped it. Harvey does not delve into the more involved subdivisions within postmodernism, do not expect to discover the differences between post structuralism, deconstructionism or any of the other myriad postmodern schools, nor does he mean to. It is indicative that he titles his book as dealing with postmodernity rather postmodernism as such, the one simply being the philosophy of the other. It is with postmodernity, that is the current contemporary formation of capitalism, that Harvey is concerned & it is with that most modernist of theoretical tools, Marxism, that he explores it.
I had always suspected that Marxian analysis still retained more strength than the collapse of Soviet Communism suggested & now I am sure of it. The deliberate employment of a meta-narrative to investigate a movement so opposed to such formations is instructive & Harvey demonstrates how often postmodernists have to fall back on universalsin the end. Harvey's main strength isin detailing how the changein the economic practice of capitalism has changed since 1973 & how that has affected social &in turn cultural currents.
While Professor Harvey runs the full gamut of cultural experiences here; art, philosophy, cinema etc he pays especial attention to architecture. He also pays especial attention to the investigation of the experiences of space & time & how these are affected by economics & how they shape cultural feeling. The latter half of this book isin many ways the most difficult as his models operatein a fairly high level of abstraction. However after the initial difficulties of thinkingin these terms are overcome this proves to be a very rewarding approach to the issue. I'm not going to pretend that I understood everything here but I understood enough.
This is a book that provides the essential analytic tools & models for operatingin a postmodern world even to those for whom the works of Derrida & Foucault hold no appeal at all. Harvey's concerns about the new aestheticin public life, the dangers of charismatic politics & the resurgence of a narrow geopolitical outlook are equally as pressing now as they werein 1990. In order to see beyond the incestuous breeding of imagery to the realities beyond, increased inequality & big power chauvinism, this is precisely the sort of thing that you need to read. And now I'm off to read Das Kapital.
amazing to read - By: , 28 Jun 2001 prof. harvey`s account on the "conditions of postmodernity" is among the best I've ever read about this buzz word of the 80ies/90ies. In comparison with other works on this topic Harvey's book is comparatively accessible even to non-specialistsin philosophy & sociology. The dialectical approach & the discussion of a broad array of topics (arts, architecture, urban planning, economics etc.) is especially amazing. If you once read this book, you will turn to it again & again. Very recommended.
The best materialist analysis of postmodernism - By: Martin Holborn, 16 Dec 2000 This is the only book which provides a convincing materialist analysis of postmodernism. Only Harvey has convincingly uncovered the economic underpinnings of the fragmented cultures & identities of advanced capitalist societies. This is a truly great book, one of the best contributions to understanding the late twentieth century. It deserves to be recognised as a sociological classic.
A foundational text on the analysis of postmodernity - By: pop95mlt@sheffield.ac.uk, 15 Mar 2000 Harvey's book is one of two of the most original analyses of postmodernism (the other being Jameson's Postmodernism). Drawing particularly on the notion of flexible specialisation & a utilisation of the Regulationist approach, Harvey's book contributes to an understanding of the socio-economic foudations of the postmodern condition.
