The Vygotsky Reader

This volume aims to provide the reader with an overview of Vygotsky's work based on authoritative translations of the original sources. The volume covers the various areas in which Vygotsky worked, such as education, psychiatry, defectology, paedology and psychology. It also highlights little-known facets of his work (such as his anti-fascist and pro-socialist writings) and provides the reader with material that has never been translated into English before. Each translation is briefly introduced and provided with notes that facilitate reading and explain its historical context. As the volume requires no preparatory reading it can be used both as an independent single-volume introduction to Vygotsky's work and as a companion to the theoretical and historical analysis of Vygotsky's work presented in Van der Veer and Valsiner's "Understanding Vygotsky" (published by Blackwell in 1991 and now available in paperback).