Return of Nature, The

Winner, 2020 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize

A fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology

Twenty years ago, John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature introduced a new understanding of Karl Marx’s revolutionary ecological materialism. More than simply a study of Marx, it commenced an intellectual and social history, en-compassing thinkers from Epicurus to Darwin, who developed materialist and ecological ideas.

Now, with The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology, Foster continues this narrative. In so doing, he uncovers a long history of the efforts to unite questions of social justice and environmental sustainability, and helps us comprehend and counter today’s unprecedented planetary emergencies.