Uneven Development - 3rd Edition by Neil Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

Smith offers the first full theory of uneven geographical development, entwining theories of space and nature with a critique of capitalist development. Featuring pathbreaking analyses of the production of nature and the politics of scale, Smith's work anticipated many of the uneven contours that now mark neoliberal globalization.

Book Synopsis

In Uneven Development, a classic in its field, Neil Smith offers the first full theory of uneven geographical development, entwining theories of space and nature with a critique of capitalist development. Featuring pathbreaking analyses of the production of nature and the politics of scale, Smith's work anticipated many of the uneven contours that now mark neoliberal globalization. This third edition features an afterword updating the analysis for the present day.

Review Quotes

Uneven Development is one of the most important books of specifically geographical social theory to be written in the English language in the last 30 years. As rapid environmental change and attendant political divisions and struggles return to the fore (propelled in no small part by global climate change), this remains one of the few places to turn in social theory for a rigorous and insightful explanation.

--W. Scott Prudham "author of Knock on Wood: Nature as Commodity in Douglas-Fir Country"

This book is a classic. It deals with fundamental issues that simply do not go away, and demonstrates the enduring relevance of Marxist political economy.

--Noel Castree "coauthor of Spaces of Work"

Smith attempts no less than the integration of nature and space in the Marxian theory of capitalist development. The aim is to link two radical traditions--geographical and political--by theoretically illuminating the reality of uneven development. . . . Smith raises the level of the debate on the fundamental question by taking a definite stance. He improves the clarity even of the arguments made in disagreement with him. His book should be widely read, used, and discussed.

--Environment and Planning

Smith provides a brilliant formulation of how the production of a particular kind of nature and space under historical capitalism is essential to the unequal development of a landscape that integrates poverty with wealth, industrial urbanization with agricultural diminishment.

--Edward Said

About the Author

Neil Smith is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University of New York and serves as director for the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics. He is author or editor of nine books that explore the broad intersection between space, nature, social theory, and history and is co-organizer of the International Critical Geography Group.