ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book develops a social history of the review form of journal publication. It also proposes something of a theoretical framework for interpreting the role that the review journal form plays within the broader field of political criticism. The book continues the focus on the liberal public sphere, because even later radical periodicals appear to trace their ancestry and tradition of criticism to it. It examines the age of the so-called great reviews in Britain and the institutionalization of the review form. The book continues the focus upon the professionalization of criticism, albeit now in academic journals, especially those that claim to be radical or critical. It argues that postmodern themes of anti-statism, deradicalization, and aestheticization of political critique have transformed and perhaps undercut the re-view.
