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This short book was hard to write. So hard that it needed to be written twice. I am indebted to the many people who helped to transform a loose set of reflections on rent into what is hopefully a useful resource for demystifying capitalism with its rentier inflection.

Many thanks to George Owers and two anonymous readers for sharp and thorough comments on a chaotic first draft. Reader 2, who typically gets a bad rap, gets special mention for a fair and tough appraisal that continues to offer much food for thought. Thanks, also, to Julia Davies for patiently guiding a novice author through the publication process of his first book. Gail Ferguson’s expert copyediting is much appreciated. So, too, is the professionalism of Evie Deavall, Sue Duncan, Neil de Cort and the rest of the Polity crew responsible for producing this book.

Sounding boards that helped shape thinking about rent over years are too many to name but chats with Beck Pearse, Humphrey McQueen, Claire Parfitt, Bruce McFarlane, Emma To, Peter Curtis, Liz Humphrys, Troy Henderson, Adam Morton, Frank Stilwell, Ben Moody, Franklin Obeng-Odoom, Bill Dunn, Chris Fletcher, Mike Beggs, Ryan Jory, Bill Kolios and Gareth Bryant directly informed the chapters below. Thank you, comrades. To the students and colleagues in the political economy movement at Sydney, your influence on the ideas in context explored in this book is immense and treasured.

The invisible work of many hands making and remaking our daily lives is so important and seldom acknowledged. To this end, I am grateful most of all to my family, Kellie, Matilda and Chips, for their unwavering support and encouragement without which this book could not have been written. Kellie, this book is dedicated to you because you more than anyone has helped me grapple with contradiction, class, land and value – the very essence of rent. I love you all and thank you for your patience and understanding during the struggle to finish this thing. Thanks, too, Bill, Amy, Julie, Dave, Kim, Mike, Taylor, Jamie, Jason, Jenny and Jimmy for all the help along the way.

It goes without saying that anything of use in what follows is owed to the collaborative efforts of those listed above while any errors of fact or interpretation are mine alone.