Introducing Critical Theory

Whatmighta'theoryofeverything'looklike?Isscienceanideology?WhowereAdorno,HorkheimerortheFrankfurtSchool?Thedecadessincethe1960shaveseenanexplosionintheproductionofcriticaltheories.Deconstructionists,poststructuralists,postmodernists,secondwavefeminists,newhistoricists,culturalmaterialists,postcolonialists,blackcriticsandqueertheorists,amongahostofothers,allvieforourattention.StuartSimandBorinVanLoon'sincisivegraphicguideprovidesaroutethroughthetangledjungleofcompetingideasandprovidesanessentialhistoricalcontext,situatingthesetheorieswithintraditionofcriticalanalysisgoingbacktotheriseofMarxism.Theypresenttheessentialmethodsandobjectivesofeachtheoreticalschoolinanincisiveandaccessiblemanner,andpayspecialattentiontorecurrentthemesandconcernsthathavepreoccupiedacenturyofcriticaltheoreticalactivity.