Choice Review

The common theme in this wide-ranging and thorough synthesis of research and theoretical writings on economic development and regional growth and decline under capitalism is the essential capriciousness of the processes. The argument is firmly implanted in unstable and spatial forces of production; industrialization is both constantly disequilibrating and inherently geographical. The first two chapters establish these basic tenets. The next three indicate how industrialization produces territorial complexes or productive ensembles, is driven by technological change and its geographical formation, and eventually results in precarious territorial organizations of production. The final three chapters discuss how labor responds to, and is manipulated by, productive ensembles; the impact of ensembles on regional fortunes and urban hierarchies; and the dialectic of class structuration and territorial complexes. Throughout, the authors respect their Marxist leanings while constantly reformulating the Marxist position as capitalism itself changes. The importance of the argument, its depth and clarity, and the integrated critiques of alternative theories generate a serious scholarly endeavor, one highly recommended for the more theoretically astute. This book, however, will very soon suffer the fate of the theories that these authors criticize. No one writing hereafter will ignore--be able to ignore--their argument and their challenge on how to think about capitalist development. Upper-division and graduate collections. -R. A. Beauregard, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus