L. S. Vygotsky was an early-twentieth-century Russian social theorist whose writing exerts a significant influence on the development of social theory in the early-twenty-first century. His non-deterministic, non-reductionist account of the formation of mind provides current theoretical developments with a broadly drawn yet very powerful sketch of the ways in which humans shape and are shaped by social, cultural, and historical conditions. This dialectical conception of development insists on the importance of genetic or developmental analysis at several levels. The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky is a comprehensive text that provides students, academics, and practitioners with a critical perspective on Vygotsky and his work.

"The Cambridge Companion to Vygoysky, for many reasons, makes a strong contribution to readers' effort to appropriate an informed Vygotskian perspective. The roster of authors is impressive, representing nine nations and including chapters by a near-predictable who's who of Vygotskian scholars....There's much to be learned from The Cambridge Companion to Vygoysky and much to be constructed in relation to it. For those who are interested in employing a Vygotskian perspective in their own work, this volume ought to provide much more than companinship..."
--Peter Smagorinsky, University of Georgia, Reading Research Quarterly

"The Companion makes a compelling case for the unfinished status of many of Vygotsky's ideas and therefore the value of new Vygotskian scholarship....This book illustrates that Vygotsky's unfinished legacy is a profound platform that permitted these contributors, in dialogue with Vygotsky and each other, to say and do things anew."
--Janet E. Kuebli, PsychCRITIQUES