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Book Reviews by Christopher R Cox

Historical Materialism Blog, 2020

Jason W. Moore has been written off by an influential group of peers, unjustly in my opinion. The... more Jason W. Moore has been written off by an influential group of peers, unjustly in my opinion. Therefore, instead of writing another ruthless critique of Capitalism in the Web of Life, I attempted to show how the book is an important contribution to the ever-expanding world of Marxism. In this light, my review essay was indeed based on a positive reading of the book.1 There are some who believe that the Marxist framework should be reined in, clarified and codified, as opposed to being opened up to a leap into postmodernism, or post-anything. I disagree vehemently with that viewpoint, which is a source of righteous indignation for Alf Hornborg.

Capitalism Nature Socialism, 2020

(Review will be published in the next issue) Pirani, Simon. 2018. Burning Up: A Global History of... more (Review will be published in the next issue)
Pirani, Simon. 2018. Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption. London: Pluto Press, 2018.
255 pp. $27.00/£18.99.

Daggett, Cara New. 2019. The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. $26.95.

Historical Materialism Blog, 2020

[In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore helps to resuscitate the barely-breathing body ... more [In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore helps to resuscitate the barely-breathing body of the dialectic in the so-called Anthropocene. Now four years after its release, this book continues to be relevant and spark extensive debates. As a World-Ecology method book and environmental history of the system of capitalism, it has been maligned by some and heralded by others. In this essay, I attempt to give not just my view of it, but also an overview of some of the major debates that have arisen since its publishing.]

At a time when the destructiveness of human beings, as a crudely unified force of nature, is bull... more At a time when the destructiveness of human beings, as a crudely unified force of nature, is bulldozed across the digital and analog spheres of life on Earth, Imagining Extinction (2016) challenges liberal elitist narrations of the endangerment of 'culturally significant species' (p. 32). Instead of seeking to convince the reader of their moral or ethical duty to care about the potential disappearance of our animal friends, Ursula K. Heise pushes for a critical questioning of how the phenomenon of the 'endangered species' is culturally produced, and even beyond that, how this cultural production is, in many cases, used as a tool for many processes that are in and of themselves technics of further endangerment, such as the wretched uses of 'charismatic megafauna' in the production of commodities (think: coffee cups with polar bears on them). She reminds us that " In both the expert and the nonexpert spheres, then, attention focuses above all on birds and mammals as proxies for understanding the welfare of species at large " (pp. 24-25), while these IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red Lists display little to no bacteria, insect, or other small animal species (Costello et al. 2013). Her analysis of the impact of Red Lists is prescient, for it points to the biopolitical power that rests in lists of this sort that purport to describe disinterestedly all the species that are threatened with extinction, but actually do so much more – they deploy " normative and legal force in a state or country " (p. 68). However, she takes a remarkably empathetic tone in regard to the various ways Red Lists and other such mechanisms of species description and protection can be used in ways that actually foster the agency of non-human beings, echoing Latour's more recent thoughts on the matter (1999 [2004]). Imagining Extinction occupies a similar space on the bookshelf as the writing of Dipesh Chakrabarty and Kathryn Yusoff, in the sense that she seeks to ask questions about humanity that are not limited to the scale of the individual, nor the scale of the undifferentiated, globally abstracted human that is

Environment and Society, 2014, Vol.5, p.147(3)

Papers by Christopher R Cox

In the Productivore’s Dilemma three overarching claims are explored in a manuscript of chapters s... more In the Productivore’s Dilemma three overarching claims are explored in a manuscript of chapters split into two parts: First, that human and more-than-human life is not only threatened by extinction but is more importantly threatened by systemic extermination. Second, utilizing the coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) as an object for analysis, I seek to show that one of the largest known plant species is not only threatened by extinction, but by negative production of space, a concept theorized throughout the manuscript. The coast redwood tree is a remarkable example of the fact that there are important differences between extinction caused by natural processes and extinction caused by Anthropogenic systems. Third, using the analytical apparatus of systemic extermination helps to clarify a long-unfolding and intensifying species-level crisis, which I identify as the Long Extermination, an historical event – highly stretchable in its temporal coordinates. At the center of this critical re-framing of the debate about the so-called sixth mass extinction and its epochal designation the Anthropocene, is what I refer to as the Productivore’s Dilemma: born of the realization that the main difference between the human species and all other species on the planet is not merely that we can consume and use for fuel a wide variety of plants, fibers, and animals, due to our omnivorous nature, but that we can consciously produce our habitats and our food. Hence, we are productivores. A dilemma then arises: are humans destroying the planet or are the systems that direct our productive capacities destroying the planet? If it is the latter, then we are witnessing systemic extermination. If it is the former, we are causing a mass extinction. The answer will please nobody, and thus it is a dilemma. That said, there is an answer. In providing an answer, this manuscript, while broad and synthetic in its structure and scope, takes aim at a set of ideas and historical processes that deserve to be critically interrogated. Critiques of the Anthropocene and the sixth mass extinction move freely between the internal and external, leading to one central counterpoint: That we are not witnessing the sixth mass extinction, but the maturation of a long-term extermination event that is systemic much more than it is species oriented.

Telos 172 (Fall, 2015): 59-81, Sep 14, 2015

The Industrial Revolution' is simultaneously one of the most under-examined and overlysimplified ... more The Industrial Revolution' is simultaneously one of the most under-examined and overlysimplified concepts in all of social science. One of the ways it is highly under-examined is in the arena of the ecological, particularly through the lens of critical world-history.

Historical Materialism Blog, 2020

Jason W. Moore has been written off by an influential group of peers, unjustly in my opinion. The... more Jason W. Moore has been written off by an influential group of peers, unjustly in my opinion. Therefore, instead of writing another ruthless critique of Capitalism in the Web of Life, I attempted to show how the book is an important contribution to the ever-expanding world of Marxism. In this light, my review essay was indeed based on a positive reading of the book.1 There are some who believe that the Marxist framework should be reined in, clarified and codified, as opposed to being opened up to a leap into postmodernism, or post-anything. I disagree vehemently with that viewpoint, which is a source of righteous indignation for Alf Hornborg.

Capitalism Nature Socialism, 2020

(Review will be published in the next issue) Pirani, Simon. 2018. Burning Up: A Global History of... more (Review will be published in the next issue)
Pirani, Simon. 2018. Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption. London: Pluto Press, 2018.
255 pp. $27.00/£18.99.

Daggett, Cara New. 2019. The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. $26.95.

Historical Materialism Blog, 2020

[In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore helps to resuscitate the barely-breathing body ... more [In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore helps to resuscitate the barely-breathing body of the dialectic in the so-called Anthropocene. Now four years after its release, this book continues to be relevant and spark extensive debates. As a World-Ecology method book and environmental history of the system of capitalism, it has been maligned by some and heralded by others. In this essay, I attempt to give not just my view of it, but also an overview of some of the major debates that have arisen since its publishing.]

At a time when the destructiveness of human beings, as a crudely unified force of nature, is bull... more At a time when the destructiveness of human beings, as a crudely unified force of nature, is bulldozed across the digital and analog spheres of life on Earth, Imagining Extinction (2016) challenges liberal elitist narrations of the endangerment of 'culturally significant species' (p. 32). Instead of seeking to convince the reader of their moral or ethical duty to care about the potential disappearance of our animal friends, Ursula K. Heise pushes for a critical questioning of how the phenomenon of the 'endangered species' is culturally produced, and even beyond that, how this cultural production is, in many cases, used as a tool for many processes that are in and of themselves technics of further endangerment, such as the wretched uses of 'charismatic megafauna' in the production of commodities (think: coffee cups with polar bears on them). She reminds us that " In both the expert and the nonexpert spheres, then, attention focuses above all on birds and mammals as proxies for understanding the welfare of species at large " (pp. 24-25), while these IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red Lists display little to no bacteria, insect, or other small animal species (Costello et al. 2013). Her analysis of the impact of Red Lists is prescient, for it points to the biopolitical power that rests in lists of this sort that purport to describe disinterestedly all the species that are threatened with extinction, but actually do so much more – they deploy " normative and legal force in a state or country " (p. 68). However, she takes a remarkably empathetic tone in regard to the various ways Red Lists and other such mechanisms of species description and protection can be used in ways that actually foster the agency of non-human beings, echoing Latour's more recent thoughts on the matter (1999 [2004]). Imagining Extinction occupies a similar space on the bookshelf as the writing of Dipesh Chakrabarty and Kathryn Yusoff, in the sense that she seeks to ask questions about humanity that are not limited to the scale of the individual, nor the scale of the undifferentiated, globally abstracted human that is

Environment and Society, 2014, Vol.5, p.147(3)

In the Productivore’s Dilemma three overarching claims are explored in a manuscript of chapters s... more In the Productivore’s Dilemma three overarching claims are explored in a manuscript of chapters split into two parts: First, that human and more-than-human life is not only threatened by extinction but is more importantly threatened by systemic extermination. Second, utilizing the coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) as an object for analysis, I seek to show that one of the largest known plant species is not only threatened by extinction, but by negative production of space, a concept theorized throughout the manuscript. The coast redwood tree is a remarkable example of the fact that there are important differences between extinction caused by natural processes and extinction caused by Anthropogenic systems. Third, using the analytical apparatus of systemic extermination helps to clarify a long-unfolding and intensifying species-level crisis, which I identify as the Long Extermination, an historical event – highly stretchable in its temporal coordinates. At the center of this critical re-framing of the debate about the so-called sixth mass extinction and its epochal designation the Anthropocene, is what I refer to as the Productivore’s Dilemma: born of the realization that the main difference between the human species and all other species on the planet is not merely that we can consume and use for fuel a wide variety of plants, fibers, and animals, due to our omnivorous nature, but that we can consciously produce our habitats and our food. Hence, we are productivores. A dilemma then arises: are humans destroying the planet or are the systems that direct our productive capacities destroying the planet? If it is the latter, then we are witnessing systemic extermination. If it is the former, we are causing a mass extinction. The answer will please nobody, and thus it is a dilemma. That said, there is an answer. In providing an answer, this manuscript, while broad and synthetic in its structure and scope, takes aim at a set of ideas and historical processes that deserve to be critically interrogated. Critiques of the Anthropocene and the sixth mass extinction move freely between the internal and external, leading to one central counterpoint: That we are not witnessing the sixth mass extinction, but the maturation of a long-term extermination event that is systemic much more than it is species oriented.

Telos 172 (Fall, 2015): 59-81, Sep 14, 2015

The Industrial Revolution' is simultaneously one of the most under-examined and overlysimplified ... more The Industrial Revolution' is simultaneously one of the most under-examined and overlysimplified concepts in all of social science. One of the ways it is highly under-examined is in the arena of the ecological, particularly through the lens of critical world-history.