"Constructing Community presents a compelling argument about the nature and prospects of urban communities. First, Brian Elliott provides a general account of the self-organization of dissenting, or resisting, localized communities. His approach combines key aspects of "dialogical" (Habermas) and "singular" (Agamben/Nancy) conceptions of social formation. Applying this model to cities like Portland, Oregon, he explains why "New Urbanists" and "postmodern urbanists" run into problems analogous to those faced by theorists of community. He defends a version of dialectical utopianism that is sensitive to both the communicative power of discourse and the exigencies of bare life. Much as Benjamin taught us to think of Paris as the capital of the nineteenth century, Elliott invites us to imagine a dialectically utopian Portland as the capital of the twenty-first." --Andrew Cutrofello, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University, Chicago "Following an exposure of weaknesses that he detects in a variety of post-Habermasian conceptions of the just community, Brian Elliott supports his alternative conception with detailed descriptions of grassroots urban movements demonstrating that traditional liberal rights productive of identity and consensus demand supplementation by a right to a space that is productive of dissent and direct action. His case is presented with cool passion, breadth of vision, and dazzling forensic skill.

" --John Llewelyn, University of Edinburgh.