Federici is one of the leading US-based academics working in feminism and Marxism, and her writing has that corrosive edge of someone who has had to fight against a systematic hegemony throughout her career. That serrated edge is welcome, and this book exemplifies that voice. Section One has three essays written more than 20 years ago (freshly edited) that focus on the spread of capitalism into eastern Europe and China. The second section contains more recent papers about the role of women in the workforce, framed around the idea of commons (historically) but that focuses more on Marxist theory than on the historical commons.

Some of the essays are tremendously weighted and meticulously researched. Two favourites were the insightful and in-depth "Women's struggle for land and the common good in Latin America" that uses examples from across the continent of women's use of commons as a mode of resistance, and the broad analytical critique of history and politics in "From Crisis to Commons" which covers reproductive work, some of the paradoxes of capitalist-led feminism, and the practice of everyday life. Unfortunately, as with most anthologies, there are good and bad essays. Some of these are either repetitive of other sections in the book, or (particularly with the older essays) make broad claims that are not fully substantiated within the research. There is also a tendency toward the American type of labelling, using broad terms like "Africa" to substitute for a small section of countries covered. This last point, I suspect, is more of an editorial decision than a writer's one.

As a theoretical book by one of the most outspoken feminist theorists of our time, this would be a good introduction to many high-reaching topics. As a more in-depth study on the commons it falls a little short.