Theory Matters (Routledge, 2003) provides a historically framed personal account of theory today, focusing on its role in both literary and cultural studies while illustrating the dynamics of postmodern disorganization in its latest accelerated phase. Chapters examine recent theory hits and fashions, assessing new stages of development in key interdisciplinary areas such as globalization studies, subculture research, and critical fashion studies. Theory Matters also offers an insider’s account of editing a Norton anthology, something no other Norton editor has ever done. John Guillory of New York University observes, "Theory Matters is an authoritative and informed assessment of the current state of theory, which Vincent Leitch describes as ‘disaggregated’ or ‘disorganized,’ a condition not of debility but of responsiveness to the cultural and socioeconomic conditions of contemporary society."