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From the acclaimed author of How Will Capitalism End? comes an omnibus of critical engagements with leading economists and thinkers. Critical Encounters draws on Wolfgang Streeck's inimitable writing for the London Review of Books and New Left Review, among other outlets, and includes pieces originally published in the German press, translated into English for the first time. It opens with a survey of three of the world's major economies - the US, France, Germany - and two contrasting historical eras, factory capitalism and financialization. A middle section considers the hollowing out of Western democracies, with a review of Yanis Varoufakis's memoirs of the Eurozone crisis. Streeck then delves into the world of ideas, discussing Perry Anderson's The H-Word and Jurgen Habermas's The Lure of Technocracy. Finally he zooms out to compare his home discipline of sociology against natural history, giving a remarkable and non-deterministic reading of Charles Darwin. In the Introduction, Streeck reflects on the art (or craft) of book reviewing and the continuing merits of the book form. The book also includes a coda on Brexit and the future of Europe.
From the acclaimed author of How Will Capitalism End? comes an omnibus of long-form critical essays engaging with leading economists and thinkers. Critical Encounters draws on Wolfgang Streeck’s inimitable writing for the London Review of Books and New Left Review, among other publications. It opens with treatments of two contrasting historical eras—factory capitalism and financialization—and three of the world’s major economies: the United States, France and Germany. A middle section surveys the hollowing out of Western democracies and reviews Yanis Varoufakis’s “strange but indispensable” memoir of the eurozone crisis.
Delving into the world of ideas, Streeck discusses the work of Quinn Slobodian, Mark Blyth, Jürgen Habermas and Perry Anderson. Finally, he zooms out to compare his home discipline of sociology to natural history, giving a remarkable and non-deterministic reading of Charles Darwin.
In the preface, Streeck reflects on the art (or craft) of book reviewing and the continuing merits of the book form. Critical Encounters also includes a series of “Letters from Europe,” penned as the coronavirus descended upon the Continent.
