Natural Causes

James O'Connor, PhD, is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Capitalism, Nature, Socialism: A Journal of Socialist Ecology, and Director of the Center for Political Ecology in Santa Cruz, California. He is retired from teaching sociology, economics, and environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

• IntroductionI. History and NatureIntroduction to Part I1. Culture, Nature, and the Materialist Conception of History2. What Is Environmental History? Why Environmental History?3. Three Ways to Look at the Ecological History and Cultural Landscapes of Monterey Bay4. The Nature of Construction and the Construction of Nature at Fall Creek, Felton, California, 1860 1990: A Script5. The Sales of Two Cities: Chicago and Los AngelesII. Capitalism and NatureIntroduction to Part II6. Some Observations on Ecological Crisis7. The Conditions of Production and the Production of Conditions8. The Second Contradiction of Capitalism, with an Addendum on the Two Contradictions of Capitalism9. On Capitalist Accumulation and Economic and Ecological Crisis10. Uneven and Combined Development and Ecological Crisis11. Technology and Ecology12. Murder on the Orient Express: The Political Economy of the Gulf War13. British Rule in Shetland14. Is Sustainable Capitalism Possible?III. Socialism and NatureIntroduction to Part III15. Socialism and Ecology16. A Red Green Politics in the United States?17. Flatland Politics18. Think Globally, Act Locally? Toward an International Red-Green Movement19. Ecology Movements and the State20. The New Global Economy and One Alternative21. What Is Ecological Socialism?

James O'Connor's work is distinctive in that it constitutes the first fully developed, concrete analysis of how the undermining of the environment is actually undermining the conditions of production of the global capitalist society in which we live, threatening the very process of capital accumulation that lies at the heart of the modern world economy.... Brilliantly argued, O'Connor's work constitutes the indispensable starting point for a consideration of the interrelationship of socioeconomic and environmental crises in our time, and will be of immense interest to readers coming from a wide variety of perspectives. Readers of this volume will discover a rich body of work delving into a wide range of environmental problems, from environmental justice, to the Gulf War, to 'What is Ecological Socialism?'. This is a treasure-trove of environmental thought by one of the great social theorists of our day. --John Bellamy Foster, Co-Editor, Organization & Environment; author of The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the EnvironmentThe neo-liberal pundits who dance on Marx's grave will hate this book. Whether exposing the hidden logic of the Gulf War or deciphering the relations of production in a new-growth forest, Natural Causes is an intellectual tour de force. James O'Connor, once again, demonstrates that he is America's most original social theorist. --Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Ecology of FearThe good news is that the environmental and socialist movements are beginning to create a dialogue, which can immeasurably strengthen both. James O'Connor has been one of the country's leading intellectual figures in that dialogue, and his new book shows, in a compelling, sophisticated way, how both movements must come together. --Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, University of Kansas - Provocative....The book should help dispel suspicions that the post-1989 green turn of many socialists was opportunistic. Recommended for graduate students and faculty. --Choice, 12/21/1997ƒƒ College-level students of Marxist theory will welcome a coverage which links business and political policies with issues of environmental and social change. Complex and revealing, backed with many source material facts. --The Midwest Book Review, 12/21/1997