Marxism: For and Against

There have been few major intellectual figures in the past two centuries concerning whom more ink has bee split than Karl Marx. A staggering amount of that writing has been either obtuse or outrageously inaccurate. Today perhaps no word is used as profligately or as inappropriately as "Marxist." Just this past week, for instance, Tom DeLay (admittedly not a model of political enlightenment) proclaimed that Barack Obama... Read Full Review

There have been few major intellectual figures in the past two centuries concerning whom more ink has bee split than Karl Marx. A staggering amount of that writing has been either obtuse or outrageously inaccurate. Today perhaps no word is used as profligately or as inappropriately as "Marxist." Just this past week, for instance, Tom DeLay (admittedly not a model of political enlightenment) proclaimed that Barack Obama... Read Full Review

Heilbroner doesn't mean "for and against" idly. He really stays open-minded as he explores the value of Marxism. He's able to explain well some of the essence of the issues that Marx wrestled with. He doesn't comment abstractly but instead highlights concrete human factors: what Marx means to us. One chapter, "The Socioanalysis of Capitalism" really connected with me. Heilbroner traces Marx's analysis of commodities as containing... Read Full Review

Heilbroner's Marxism: For and Against is an excellent, unbiased introduction to the scholarship of Karl Marx. Disecting it into four themes ((1) dialectical philosophy, (2)historical materialism, (3) socioanalysis of capitalism, and (4) a commitment to socialism), Heilbroner clearly illustrates the nature and logic of Marxism. In contrast to contemporary, mainstream misconceptions of Marxism, Heilbroner lays out the true... Read Full Review