A Times Higher Education Book of the Week

Judith Butler elucidates the dynamics of public assembly under prevailing economic and political conditions, analyzing what they signify and how.

Understanding assemblies as plural forms of performative action, Butler extends her theory of performativity to argue that precarity-the destruction of the conditions of livability-has been a galvanizing force and theme in today's highly visible protests.

"Butler's book is everything that a book about our planet in the 21st century should be. It does not turn its back on the circumstances of the material world or give any succour to those who wish to view the present (and the future) through the lens of fantasies about the transformative possibilities offered by conventional politics Butler demonstrates a clear engagement with an aspect of the world that is becoming in many political contexts almost illicit to discuss: the idea that capitalism, certainly in its neoliberal form, is failing to provide a liveable life for the majority of human beings."
-Mary Evans, Times Higher Education

"A heady immersion into the thought of one of today's most profound philosophers of action...This is a call for a truly transformative politics, and its relevance to the fraught struggles taking place in today's streets and public spaces around the world cannot be denied."
-Hans Rollman, PopMatters

About the Author
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature and Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley.

Awards
Nominated for Goldsmith Book Prize 2016 and Sidney Hillman Prize for Book Journalism 2016.



Book Information
ISBN 9780674983984
Author Judith Butler
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 363g