Table of contents : Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. State Projects of Legibility and Simplification Chapter 1. Nature and Space Chapter 2. Cities, People, and Language Part 2. Transforming Visions Chapter 3. Authoritarian High Modernism Chapter 4. The High-Modernist City: An Experiment and a Critique Chapter 5. The Revolutionary Party: A Plan and a Diagnosis Part 3. The Social Engineering of Rural Settlement and Production Chapter 6. Soviet Collectivization, Capitalist Dreams Chapter 7. Compulsory Villagization in Tanzania: Aesthetics and Miniaturization Chapter 8. Taming Nature: An Agriculture of Legibility and Simplicity Part 4. The Missing Link Chapter 9. Thin Simplifications and Practical Knowledge: Metis Chapter 10. Conclusion Notes Sources for Illustrations Index