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A review by matthew4
In Defense of Housing: The Politics of Crisis by Peter Marcuse, David Madden
4.0
A great and easy to read book by Madden and Marcuse, although it is important to note this is more a general introductory book rather than a super in-depth critical analysis. The text argues well against nostalgia towards the welfare-capitalist housing of the past (a nostalgia that seems dominant on the British left) and instead looks forward to what transformative, socialist housing would truly look like. It's discussion on 'non-reformist reforms' also does well to assert the importance of these ideas in the radical housing movement, when thinking about how and why we struggle.
I was very lucky to have had the pleasure of being taught by David Madden a few months after I read this book, and he came across as someone who was genuinely impassioned by encouraging others to organically develop their own critical analysis of housing under capitalism, which gives this book extra points in my eyes.
I was very lucky to have had the pleasure of being taught by David Madden a few months after I read this book, and he came across as someone who was genuinely impassioned by encouraging others to organically develop their own critical analysis of housing under capitalism, which gives this book extra points in my eyes.