num_pages: 672
description: Winner 2020 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial PrizeA fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecologyTwenty years ago John Bellamy Fosters Marxs Materialism and Nature introduced a new understanding of Karl Marxs revolutionary ecological materialism. More than simply a study of Marx it commenced an intellectual and social history en-compassing thinkers from Epicurus to Darwin who developed materialist and ecological ideas. Now with The Return of Socialism and Ecology Foster continues this narrative. In so doing he uncovers a long history of the efforts to unite questions of social justice and environmental sustainability and helps us comprehend and counter todays unprecedented planetary emergencies.The Return of Nature begins with the deaths of Darwin (1882) and Marx (1883) and moves on until the rise of the ecological age in the 1960s and 1970s. Foster explores how socialist analysts and materialist scientists of various stamps first in Britain then the United States from William Morris and Frederick Engels to Joseph Needham Rachel Carson and Stephen J. Gould sought to develop a dialectical naturalism rooted in a critique of capitalism. In the process he delivers a far-reaching and fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology. Ultimately what this book asks for is nothing short of a long ecological revolution aimed at making peace with the planet while meeting collective human needs.
language: English
title: The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology
publisher: Monthly Review Press