Theories of Development: First Edition: Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives, Second Edition

Theories of Development is a thoughtful book in both senses--penetrating and packed with ideas. True to its title, it takes the reader through economic, sociological, marxist, post-ist, feminist, and finally, critical realist theories. It is thorough and well referenced. Although it gives intellectual space for theories from a wide range of persuasions, it is a partisan book--and all the better for that. A good read for everyone, and an eminently recommendable text for undergraduate and graduate-level courses on development and social change. --Piers Blaikie, PhD, Professor of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK

Development, one of the founding beliefs of the modern world, is in desperate need of reinvention. What better way to do this than through a sweeping and constructive review of conventional and critical theories alike. Shifting their analytical gaze from modernization theory to Marxism, from critiques of post-Enlightment thought to poststructuralism, postcolonialism, and postdevelopmentalism, Peet and Hartwick elegantly lay the basis for 'another development.' Their convincing and eloquent approach reweaves the longstanding traditions of critical modernity and socialism and renews the call for the betterment of the human condition. This book's challenge must be taken seriously by all those interested in the fate of what until now has been known as the third world. Offering an excellent survey of development theories and of social theory more generally, it is a valuable text for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in development studies, economics, anthropology, geography, women's studies, and sociology. --Arturo Escobar, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst