Many things have been written about the phenomenon described in various ways as postmodernity and postmodern culture, architecture, art, and society. In this book, David Harvey seeks to define what we mean by this term in its different contexts and explore how accurate and useful it is as a description of contemporary experience. However, the book contains much more. The author develops the social and semiotic history - from the Enlightenment to the present day - of modernism and its expression in political and social ideas and processes, as well as in art, literature, and architecture. He particularly examines how our meaning and perception of time and space change in time and space and shows how this change affects individual values and fundamental social processes.
The book stands out not only for its clear and critical analysis of the arguments supporting views on modernity and postmodernity, but also for its insightful contribution to the history of ideas and their relationship to social and political change.