Critical theory, which can be a methodology of issue resolution between resignation and utopia, could be applied to a variety of issues in society, including feminism, environmentalism, Marxism, capitalism, and others. Feenberg notes that Marxist critics of the Frankfurt School have asserted that the liberation of humanity and the liberation of nature are connected in the radical reconstruction of the technological base of modern societies, and he notes that none of these critics come close to meeting the demand their work brings to light for a concrete conception of the “new technology” they invoke. Therefore, Feenberg, a philosophy department professor, constructs a new formulation of the critical theory of technology to meet this demand.

The book is timely. It addresses the failures and shortcomings of the implementation of communism in the now-defunct Soviet Union and its satellites and of the implementation of capitalism in the societies of Great Britain and the United States. Feenberg lays the blame on the failure to apply a workable critical theory to civilizational change.

The book is appropriate and recommended reading for managers and bureaucrats. It provides perspective. It offers ideas to consider in attempting to discover alternative directions societies and workplaces could take in this decade to address issues and solve problems.

The book is appropriate for an academic study of technology and society, or for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course on computers and society. The author includes an extensive annotated bibliography. If the book is to be thoroughly understood, the reader must refer to the bibliography and do supplemental research. No exercises are explicitly provided, however. The book does contain a useful index.

The book is also appropriate for workers in technology, although not much material from their perspective is included. Despite the academic treatment, those who persist will find it thought-provoking; it provides some groundwork for understanding what workers are going through (or being driven through, depending on the viewpoint adopted). The chapter on “Postindustrial Discourses” discusses computers, but strictly from the perspective of an observer.

The book serves its purpose as an academic book. Now what is needed are manuals to implement its thought-provoking analysis and design.