PRAISE FOR RECAPTURING DEMOCRACY . Mark Purcell's book provides a vigorously argued account of the implications of the ever-evolving processes of neoliberalization for democracy. More importantly, he makes an erudite and passionate case for the possibilities of alternative theorizing and practicing democracy in order to realize a city for the many and not the few. At a time when such visions are imperiled, this is an important book. - Helga Leitner, University of Minnesota If you are tired of being asphyxiated by sanctimonious invocations of 'empowerment' and 'stakeholding,' then you will enjoy this provocative new study by Mark Purcell. With admirable clarity, he exposes the screaming contradictions between neoliberalism's rhetoric and reality, as well as pointing out the brave (if meager) seeds of authentic democracy in our public life. -- Mike Davis, University of California-Irvine This is a thoughtful, thorough, and persuasive book about neoliberalism and its effects on cities and people. It is also, more importantly, a powerful reminder that cities are made by people and that abstract neoliberalism, theorized to be the source of contemporary urban change, can be and is being effectively challenged.

-- Sallie A. Marston, University of Arizona Mark Purcell's illuminating book reveals how neoliberalism is transforming and corrupting urban spaces today. And for this illness he prescribes democracy as cure, both analyzing what democracy can mean today and demonstrating how people are already constructing democratic attitudes and democratizing movements in our cities to combat neoliberalism. - Michael Hardt, Duke University Reviving Lefebvre's idea of the right to the city and enhancing it with the latest thinking in urban political geography and planning theory, Purcell breaks open a pathway to radical democracy that is comprehensively spatial and urban. His aim is clear: to reclaim democracy from the thieving grips of neoliberal ideologues who equate democracy with free market capitalism. - Edward Soja, University of California, Los Angeles Through a series of macro-theoretical reflections, interventions in political theory and finely grained case studies, Purcell shows that radically democratic alternatives to the neoliberal world of hypercommodification, authoritarian governance, intensifying polarization and everyday violence exist all around us. Purcell's argument that democratization is the key to creating alternative urban futures is of central import not only to urbanists, political theorists, political sociologists and scholars of social movements, but also to planners and activists working at the front lines of contemporary urban transformations. -- Neil Brenner, New York University Mark Purcell is Associate Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington.