Special Anniversary Issue: Book Review Section

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00905917221138202
• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Date: 01 February 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Review section

https://doi.org/10.1177/00905917221138202

Political Theory

2023, Vol. 51(1) 241 –242

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00905917221138202

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Book Review section

Special Anniversary

Issue: Book Review

Section

Looking Backward to Work Ahead

While most of Political Theory’s fiftieth-anniversary issue looks forward to

an imagined political theory in the future, the Book Review section decided

to do something different. Instead of looking forward, it looks backward to

consider those books and schools of political theory not reviewed on the

pages of the journal.

Rereading previous decades of Political Theory reveals some surprising

changes to the work and organization of the Book Review section. In the first

year of publication (1973), the journal included a list of “all” books published

from 1968–1974, perhaps as a way of constituting an archive of common ref-

erence for its readers. The list was organized by period (History of Political

Thought, Ancient and Medieval, and Modern). The latter was broken down by

region (with sections for British, French, German, and “Modern: Other”) and

interpretive approach (Marxism, Law, Contemporary). By August 1974 the

list had been expanded to include Democratic Theory, “the Isms,” Communism,

Leninism, and Anarchy and Revolution. This list was abandoned in August

1975 after only a few issues. Perhaps readers wrote in with complaints about

the list, or perhaps the index of new books was too onerous to compile (the

work was handled by Ms. Linda Marasco), or perhaps the boundaries of the

subfield were too blurred to be categorized and listed in such a manner. These

sorts of ephemera are inadvertently useful for offering a glimpse into how the

field, or at least the journal editors, understands its work. Likewise, those

books receiving full reviews tell a story. The choice of any book to be reviewed

will always be partial, due to limitations of space and editorial discretion.

Even so, these choices can also be revealing about what the journal, and pos-

sibly the discipline, values and sets into circulation.

This anniversary issue’s Book Review section seeks to review some of

those books that did not receive reviews and attention in the journal initially

but that went on to shape the field, nonetheless. Many others could have been

included. For example, Cedric Robinson’s Black Marxism deserves to be

1138202PTXXXX10.1177/00905917221138202Political TheoryBook Review section

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