Postmodern Theory (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: extreme postmodern theory, most postmodern theory, other postmodern theorists, Frankfurt School, United States, Soviet Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Chosen for Choice's 1998 Outstanding Academic Books list

"Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations is perhaps the most comprehensive introduction to postmodern social theory on the shelves.... This book not only interrogates the past, but more importantly, it demands and inspires the production of new perspectives and solutions to our present social demise." --P.L Harvard Educational Review
-- Review

Offers a significant engagement with many of the leading figures in current philosophical debates about contemporary history, culture, and politics. Postmodern Theory's rigor, insight, and unique focus make it an important work to be reckoned with. It should prove to be an invaluable resource and example for anyone interested in media theory and cultural studies -- Lawrence Grossberg, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The most detailed introduction to postmodern social theory I have yet seen, including valuable critical readings of the major debates -- Fredric Jameson, Duke University

Review

"It's a clear, useful anthology. Excellent for classroom use." --Dr. Paul Swann, Temple University; Course: Postmodern Criticism; Graduate

"Postmodern Theory covers the difficult, sometimes treacherous, and always labyrinthine terrain of modern critical theory about as well as it can be done. This text explores the intricate--and often dense--discourses of writers like Foucault, Baudrillard, Jameson, and Habermas with admirable clarity and insight. If a good deal of postmodern theorizing is opaque and unreadable, this volume is eminently coherent and readable. If postmodernism seems all too often to be engaged in a flight from politics, Best and Kellner manage to bring the theoretical enterprise back to its political moorings. And this is no easy task. This book is highly recommended for any student of social and political theory." --Carl Boggs, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

"The most detailed introduction to postmodern social theory I have yet seen, including valuable critical readings of the major debates.' --Fredric Jameson, Duke University

"Offers a significant engagement with many of the leading figures in current philosophical debates about contemporary history, culture, and politics. Postmodern Theory's rigor, insight, and unique focus make it an important work to be reckoned with. It should prove to be an invaluable resource and example for anyone interested in media theory and cultural studies.' --Lawrence Grossberg, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"In view of the countless many who have lost their way and wits in the dark junglelands of post-modernism, it is bracing to encounter two writers who have been there and back with their critical judgement intact and perhaps even strengthened by the encounter. They have composed a guide through the swamps, around the quicksands, past the piranha beds, in and out of the mazes of Foucault, Derida, Baudrillard, Habermas, Lyotard, and other dangers. They are sure guides, sharp critics, smart readers, enlightened spirits. I would trust them utterly.' --Arthur C. Danto, Columbia University

Chosen for Choice's 1998 Outstanding Academic Books list

"Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations is perhaps the most comprehensive introduction to postmodern social theory on the shelves.... This book not only interrogates the past, but more importantly, it demands and inspires the production of new perspectives and solutions to our present social demise." --P.L Harvard Educational Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (November 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898624185
• ISBN-13: 978-0898624182
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #203,477 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An uncluttered examination of postmodernism, February 6, 2001

By	Michael Y. Lau (Mishawaka, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations (Hardcover)

I agree with one of the other reviewers of this book. If you don't have a knack for sorting out the often convoluted writing styles of postmodern theorists, this book would not be a good introductory text for the novice. That aside, the book successfully, for me, meandered through the postmodern junkpiles of many of the more well known postmodernists of the last 30 years: Lyotard, Jameson, Baudrillard, Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari, and Habermas, to name a few. I liked it that Best and Kellner's politics and goals were always unappolagetically evident. Their effort to systematically conceptualize each theorist's contribution to "postmodernism", and to explore the points at which different theorists cross path, depart in different directions, and/or altogether miss each other, is to hypothesize the possibility and need of a critical postmodernism - one that reflectively grounds and ungrounds itself in the traditions of critical theory and postmodernism. The translucencency of their analysis makes them not so much an objective observer of postmodernist writings, but situatuates them within the debates as participants. I believe that their review and arguments were cogent and progressive. It is a great book for exploring the primary texts you plan to hit.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Introduction to Postmodernism BUT, November 6, 2001

By	Mark Twain (USA) - See all my reviews

I remember my first encounter with postmodernism over 10 years ago when I started college and wished for a more gentle introduction. Pomo authors are notoriously difficult to understand not so much because their work is diffucult, but their texts are seldom self containted. To understand Foucault, you must know something about Nietszche, Heidigger, and to a smaller extent, Satre. In fact, to understand Foucault, you would have to read quite a bit of Foucault's canon because each text in each period of his writing is a collage of a much bigger picture.
I think this is the best introduction to postmodernism on the market. The authors discuss several seminal figures in pomo: Foucault, Baudrillard, Lyotard, etc. Their summaries and analysis are frequently good but at times flawed. This book is a good primer into pomo but I would not end with this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful introduction to some very provocative thinking., July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This is a very useful introduction to some highly provocative thinking. The strengths and weaknesses of each theorist's position are laid out, and there is an extensive list of references at the back to direct further inquiry. A worthwhile read for those interested in the subject.