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Karl Marx is the most important modern philosopher. His work has radically changed the course of world history, continental philosophy, political theory, literary criticism, and cultural studies. The sheer range of his achievements, and the depth of his critical insights, continue to speak to our present moment. This book places Marx's writings in their historical context, providing a clear guide to his key ideas and intellectual legacy. Written for both students and scholars, it illustrates Marx's ideas with examples drawn from William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Leo Tolstoy, Bertolt Brecht, Theodor Dreiser, Thomas Pynchon, Toni Morrison, Sally Rooney, Claude McKay, Tennessee Williams, Mad Men, and Margin Call. Key ideas discussed in this guide include: Tracing historical contexts and developments in Marx's work over his lifetime; Focusing on Marxism as an interpretative strategy, paying special attention to its impact on literary criticism and cultural studies; Examining recent developments in Marxist theory, such as a stronger focus on the environment, climate crisis, and world ecology; Exploring the continued relevance of Marx and Marxism today. This Routledge Critical Thinkers guide will enable readers to critically assess and interpret Marx's major works, while also introducing his methods of critical analysis. Preparing readers to approach his original texts, this guide ensures that readers of all levels will find Marx accessible, challenging and of continued relevance. Andrew Rowcroft offers a comprehensive introduction to Marx's revolutionary ideas, examining the influence Marx had on literary studies, cultural studies, modernism, and philosophy

This reply set sets out to briefly evaluate the limits of post-Marxism in contemporary culture before turning to Paul Bowman's innovative use of the contributions of Ernesto Laclau for considering globally popular cultural discourses on martial arts. Building upon the critical and creative openings developed by Bowman, the reply focuses on distinctions between the particular and the universal, the concrete and the abstract, in relation to martial arts practices. The focus on these concepts opens up the ability to contemplate new concrete universals.

The recent rediscovery of the American novelist and academic John Williams (1922-1994) has seen an explosion of popular interest around two novels in particular: Stoner (1965) and Butcher's Crossing (1960). This article argues that, in these two works in particular, Williams establishes a distinct pedagogical position – a politics of failure – that proves philosophically pertinent to our contemporary condition. Both Stoner and Butcher's Crossing mark a powerful intervention in modern American fiction, shifting traditional notions of frontier heroism and post-war American triumphalism towards the experience and endurance of individual hardship, personal failure, and collective catastrophe. The article is split between equal treatments of the two narratives, biographical criticism, and reference to Williams' other work.

This article argues Jonathan Lethem's Dissident Gardens (2013) possesses the workings of a critical apprehension set against the more violent ends and commemorative strictures of mourning, loss, and despair. Typically, twentieth-century literary works which actively intervene in the past risk either commemorating political failure and defeat or mourning the trauma of a collective agony that is repeatedly experienced. Instead, I propose twenty-first century fiction produced at a certain historical, cultural, and geographical remove from the centres of state-socialism and communist atrocity articulates an ability to properly trace the political, psychological, and aesthetic contours of left loss in more reparative ways. Specifically, this article is concerned with the ways in which Lethem's text stages a series of cultural practices through which it can express and work through left loss, disappointment, injury and despair. It sets out to juxtapose, and place into dialogue, key thematic strands from Lethem's novel with critical accounts of mourning, memory, and loss by Freud and other psychoanalytic theorists.

Cities depend on a healthy natural environment that continuously provides a range of services or benefits to society and the economy. Managing the urban environment is, however, a complex task. Many urban cities in Africa are struggling to meet their infrastructure needs; maintain or provide adequate service delivery; and upgrade city systems to keep pace with the rate of change, urbanization, and population growth. Identifying what investment is required in urban areas to enable economic activity, and to create livable and vibrant cities in an environmentally sustainable way is the key challenge for decision makers, but also presents significant opportunities. The purpose of this toolkit is to provide an overview of a selected sample of generic policy measures and instruments that specifically address the challenges raised by 'greening' urban development. It focuses on instruments that may be able to help leverage finance (from private sector, national government and donors) to address the range of environmental problems faced by cities in developing countries, including low quality housing, poor access to services, pollution and safety hazards, and to support the implementation of green urban development measures.The toolkit is intended primarily as a resource for urban managers and planners in African cities. As such, the instruments that are included have been specifically selected because they address some of the most pressing environmental challenges faced by rapidly growing African cities while at the same time contributing to the achievement of wider sustainable development goals. The toolkit complements a wide range of other guidelines and manuals covering integrated urban environmental planning, green city development and mainstreaming ecosystem services into municipal functioning. These are valuable volumes in themselves and the reader is encouraged to use these alongside this toolkit.

This article considers the effect of freight discounts and
disposals on the inventory policies of a profit‐maximising firm with
price‐elastic demand and with price as a mark‐up on the acquisition
cost. In addition, the cost of placing an order is in part dependent
upon a freight‐cost structure, sensitive to the size of the order and
upon the possibility of selling unwanted inventory at a lower price. A
numerical example is used to illustrate the resulting inventory
policies.

The EU Habitats Directive requires Member States to assess the potential and desirability of reintroducing species which have been lost, and to look at other Member States' experiences to support such assessments. In light of these requirements, the Lynx UK Trust is proposing to undertake a trial reintroduction programme of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) at several potential sites in the UK. As part of the preparation for any translocation or reintroduction programme, guidelines prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) state that an assessment of the anticipated costs and benefits of a reintroduction should be incorporated into planning for such programmes. On the basis of these guidelines, AECOM have been asked by the Lynx UK Trust to undertake an impartial and independent analysis of the potential economic costs and benefits to the proposed lynx reintroduction scheme in the UK based on a combination of modelling and data collected from European lynx studies. The analysis draws on the guidance for undertaking cost-benefit analysis set out by the UK government. In particular, it follows the framework set out in The Green Book which states that a cost-benefit analysis should quantify as many of the costs and benefits of a proposal in monetary terms as is feasible, including impacts for which the market does not provide a satisfactory measure of economic value. The Green Book further states that in the early stages of identifying and appraising a proposal only summary data is normally required, while at the later stages of an assessment data should be refined to become more specific and accurate. The analysis in this report is therefore proportionate to the resources involved, outcomes at stake, and the time available. As such, the results should be taken as an initial indicative estimate of the potential costs and benefits of the lynx reintroduction scheme. This approach should provide a proportionate study for the purposes of licensing a trial of the effects of the reintroduction of lynx to the UK, with further studies of the economic impact being undertaken if the trial is adopted.

The world has changed dramatically since the emergence of post-Marxism, and a reassessment is needed to determine its significance in the modern world. First published as a special issue of Global Discourse, this book explores the theoretical position of post-Marxism and investigates its significance in recent global political developments such as Brexit, Trump and the rise of the far right. With valuable insights from international contributors across a range of disciplines, the book puts forward a strong case for the continuing relevance of post-Marxism and, particularly, for Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theory of radical democracy