"Structuralism" and "Poststructuralism" have become buzzwords, bandied about frequently but only rarely understood. The concepts are difficult, especially for someone who doesn't have a background in philosophy, linguistics, or social sciences. To make matters worse, many of the most famous and influential of the Poststructuralist thinkers revel in obscurity, deliberately making their writing as abtruse and convoluted as possible.
This is an excellent introduction to the concepts of Structuralism and Poststructuralism. Palmer studies a few of the most important scholars on the topic -- beginning with Saussure, the father of Structuralism and of modern linguistics and going on to Lacan, Foucault, Barthes, and Levi-Strauss. He touches upon their major contributions to the subject, giving explanations which can be grasped by any bright and interested layman.
If you are interested in studying these thinkers, I would definitely recommend checking out this book first. It will provide you with a good grounding and keep you from feeling utterly mystified as you plumb the murky and obscure depths of modern philosophy.
My only complaints are relatively minor. First, he makes a passing statement that Plato was "hardly bourgeois" ... when in fact Plato was quite clearly a bourgeois, even a reactionary, thinker. Second, the drawings are regrettable: Palmer is much better as a philosopher and writer than as an illustrator. Still, this is one of the best introductory texts available on the subject. Highly recommended.
This series, for the most part, appears to be attempting to fill a niche not covered by "Cliff's Notes" or the "Dummies" series. I had hoped for a reliable, intelligent representation of Structuralism/Post-structuralism along with the levity of humor. I was satisfied on the former account, but not the latter. The cartoons that are interspersed throughout the text are not well-drawn, humorous, or even instructive. Their function appears to be to provide enough blank space to allow the reader to slow down and digest a point before moving ahead to the next page. For the reader who is capable of close, careful, critical reading, any number of introductory texts to the field would serve as well as this. Try also the comprehensive volume, "An Incomplete Education," which gives you far more for the money.
