Metromarxism: A Marxist Tale of the City

This highly accessible account of Marxism and the city covers their relationship from the 1850s to the present through biographical chapters on eight towering figures in the Marxist tradition - Marx, Engels, Walter Benjamin, Henri Lefebvre, Guy Debord, Manuel Castells, David Harvey and Marshall Berman. Each chapter combines interesting biographical anecdotes with a readable analysis of each individual’s contribution to the evolving Marxist theory of the city. Merrifield highlights the dialectical nature of the modern city in both its industrial and post-industrial phases. Cities are the places where capital organizes itself and inequality is most intense, but also where the potential for progressive change is most real.