John Hunt Publishing Ltd

General information

Contemporary culture has eliminated the concept and public figure of the intellectual. A cretinous anti-intellectualism presides, cheerled by hacks in the pay of multinational corporations who reassure their bored readers that there is no need to rouse themselves from their stupor. Zer0 Books knows that another kind of discourse - intellectual without being academic, popular without being populist - is not only possible: it is already flourishing. Zer0 is convinced that in the unthinking, blandly consensual culture in which we live, critical and engaged theoretical reflection is more important than ever before.

"One of the most exciting publishing events of 2009 was the emergence of the new imprint Zero Books. It publishes short, intelligent polemics on politics and culture, packing a lot of punch into about 80 pages and they are masterclasses in how supposedly tough theory can be made accessible and help us to understand society. ..they are must reads." Rowan Wilson, Verso Publishing and ReadySteadyBook blogger, in The Bookseller

"Since its emergence last year, Zer0 Books has swiftly put together an impressive catalogue of concise works which seek to disrupt the phoney frontier between the kinds of political discussion stamped ‘academic’ or ‘theoretical’ and the public sphere. Stating its commitment to ‘the idea of publishing as a making public of the intellectual’, Zer0’s roster of authors have produced a set of arguments which rail iconoclastically against the vision of good living shilled by liberal governments since the end of the Cold War...It will be intriguing to observe the fortunes of this ambitious publishing endeavour as mainstream politics continues to insist on self-serving ‘realism’. Joe Kennedy, 3am magazine