The left hemisphere : mapping critical theory today / Razmig Keucheyan ; translated by Gregory Elliott.

Includes index.

The defeat of critical thinking (1977-93) -- A brief history of the 'New Left' (1956-77) -- Contemporary critical intellectuals: a typology -- System. Michael Hardt and Toni Negri, or the 'Joy of Being Communist' ; The revival theories of imperialism : Marxism and imperialism, Leo Panitch, Robert Cox, David Harvey ; The nation-state: persistence or transcendence? : Benedict Arnold and Tom Nairn, Jürgen Habermas and Étienne Balibar, Wang Hui, Giorgio Agamben ; Capitalisms old and new : critique of cognitive capitalism, Robert Brenner, Giovanni Arrighi, Elmar Altvater, Luc Boltanski -- Subjects. Equality as event : Jacques Rancière, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek ; Post-femininities : Donna Haraway, Judith Butler, Gayatri Spivak ; Class against class : E.P. Thompson, David Harvey, Erik Olin Wright, Álvaro García Linera ; Conflictual identities : Nancy Fraser, Axel Honneth, Seyla Benhabib, Achille Mbebe, Ernesto Laclau, Fredric Jameson -- Conclusion : worksites.

As the crisis of capitalism unfolds, the need for alternatives is felt ever more intensely. The struggle between radical movements and the forces of reaction will be merciless. A crucial battlefield, where the outcome of the crisis will in part be decided, is that of theory. Over the last twenty-five years, radical intellectuals across the world have produced important and innovative ideas. The endeavour to transform the world without falling into the catastrophic traps of the past has been a common element uniting these new approaches. -- Publisher description.