About the Author

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) was a German philosopher and cultural critic and one of the most important theorists of the twentieth century. Esther Leslie is professor of political aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of "Hollywood Flatlands: Animation, Critical Theory and the Avant "Garde; "Synthetic Worlds: Nature, Art and the Chemical Industry"; and "Walter Benjamin," the latter two also published by Reaktion Books.