CRITICAL ENCOUNTERS

From the acclaimed author of How Will Capitalism End comes an omnibus of long form critical essays engaging with leading economists and thinkers Critical Encounters draws on Wolfgang Streeck s inimitable writing for the London Review of Books and New Left Review among other publications It opens with treatments of two contrasting historical eras factory capitalism and financialization and three of the world s major economies the United States France and Germany Delving into the world of ideas Streeck discusses the work of Quinn Slobodian Mark Blyth Jürgen Habermas and Perry Anderson Finally he zooms out to compare his home discipline of sociology to natural history giving a remarkable and non deterministic reading of Charles Darwin In the preface Streeck reflects on the art or craft of book reviewing and the continuing merits of the book form Critical Encounters also includes a series of Letters from Europe penned as the coronavirus descended upon the Continent