Customer Reviews

Marx in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)

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Overall this work is extremely well written and entertaining stylistically. The author gives a brief but thorough overview of the influences that shaped the young Karl Marx as well as some amusing, if somewhat irrelevant, biographical information on Marx and his companion Engels. The tidbits, for example, about Marx's hygenic habits and his pawning his only pair of pants to buy cigars are especially amusing.

Beyond a basic biographical understanding of Marx and an extremely simplified view of the world he lived and wrote in, this book is useless. The author is an obviously intelligent fellow with a gift for writing both clearly and humorously, so one if left wondering why he leaves glaring omissions and obvious logical fallacies in his work. While he avoids any outright perversions of truth, he is at least dishonest by omission with the reader. For example, he claims that Marxism has been a horrendous failure in almost every place it has been tried and points out that, ironically, Marx's ideas never took root where they were born, i.e. in western Europe. Every major state in western Europe, with the possible exception of Switzerland, has to some degree or other embraced Marx's basic tenets as laid out in Capital. Sweden, for example, is a modern state with a vibrant industrial economy that democratically elected Olaf Palmerson, an avowed Communist, as Prime Minister in the late 1960s. Germany has likewise produced one of the most powerful economies on Earth while also adhering to important demands first laid out in detail by Marx (it was the first state to develop a comprehensive social security system and has universal health care). England and France are large states that have had similar successes with socialist principles in practice, and various smaller states (e.g. Belgium, the Netherlands) have enjoyed even greater prosperity per capita than these. Granted each of these states still relies a great deal on capitalist spirit for their economic growth, but it is no criticism of Marx that the modern West has been built by capitalist enterprise, for he himself did not hesitate to marvel at and point out the achievements of bourgeois society. Yet the author conveniently forgets that his prosperous native England has, for the last half century, been ruled on and off by the Labor Party, a political entity which embraces socialism and consequently a great many Marxist theories on economics.

Stathern also oversimplifies important points about Marx's philosophy, such as his theory of surplus value and the state withering away. He glosses over these points, giving little explanation on them and saving his writing talent and words for critiques of the ideas that stop short of full logical conclusions. A reader who is not already familiar with Marx may not pick out these critical curtailings and omissions yet the purpose of this work is to inform the lay reader who is unfamiliar with subject. A scholar, whether a student of philosophy, history, or economics, would probably rightly dismiss most of Strathern's oversimplified opinings outright. If a work could not rightly be accepted as appropriately fair and thorough by scholars, it is probably not a good introduction to a field for lay readers.

In conclusion, this book provides a good outline of Marx and the philosophers that influenced him, but while Strathern is a talented writer he seems to also have his own biases which he lets color his work but does not openly disclose. A good historian of philosophy, but downright unscholarly in his portrayal of economic and political history in this case. You should probably do more investigating of Marx and his influence on world affairs rather than be lazy and allow this book to be your sole source of information on Marxism.

I wanted some quick information on Marx, oddly enough I found this book in the public library and thought I would give it a shot. It is a small book, but very informative and easy to read. It does leave thirsty for more. I too have, as the reviewer below, have tried to read all of Paul Strathern's ... in 90 minutes series.

I have made a point of reading each book in Paul Strathern's "--in 90 Minutes" series on philosphers and thinkers as they have been published. His slender volume on Karl Marx represents Strathern at his ironically informed best. Solid information presented with insight and humor. I cannot imagine a better starting point for an introduction to Marx and Marxism. Highly readable.

Loved this book. It gives a concise, unbiased view of Marx and Marxism, including details about Karl Marx's life, the times he lived in, and what shaped his beliefs. Includes a timeline and various quotations. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to Marxism. It's actually a fun read, and under 80 pages.

In American society, the ideas of Karl Marx are generally dismissed with prejudice, although the vast majority of people that do so really have no idea what he believed. In so many ways he was right, the industrial workers of the world were being exploited by the capitalist overseers and existed in a form of wage slavery. However, Marx could not have foreseen the changing social structure that led to the universal education of children, abolition of child labor, social security and welfare programs. Ironically, some of these programs were the consequences of intelligent capitalism at work, for example the universal education of children was needed to provide the work force the skills needed to function in the modern factories. Even more ironic is the current call by modern capitalists for more universal education, as most believe that the working class is currently woefully uneducated.
This book is an excellent resource to provide an outline of the life of Karl Marx and his views on capitalism as he experienced it. Marx was a visionary for his times, fortunately they did change and while the revolutions in the Western countries he envisioned were bloody, they were not as destructive as he thought. While that cannot be said for the revolutions in other countries that were horrific, it is most unlikely that Marx would have recognized his ideas when put forward as the justification for what was done in his name.

This is an excellent book to read if you want to get a basic understanding of Marx; how he lived and his ideas. Even though Marxism is a failure, a certain percentage of the population will always believe in his idea of a Utopian society. One that would not need a central government, money, etc. Marx believed you could reach such a state in three stages, but Marxism couldn't make it past stage one. Strathern does an excellent job in giving you an overview of Karl Marx life. Highly recommened.

This small excellently written study of Marx makes one major omission. It forgets to point out the tremendously disastrous effect of Marx's ideas upon mankind. It is here of course possible to say that Marx is not responsible for what the Soviet Union did in his name, or how Lenin and Stalin misused his ideas to enslave and murder millions of people. But as Strathern points out Marx was the philosopher who first said that the' purpose of the world is not to understand it, but to change it." And the way he changed it is what William James would call the ' cash value' of his ideas. And these ideas helped produce untold suffering to Mankind.
Strathern also says nothing about Marx's anti- Semitism, and other detestable anti- human elements in his thought.
He too writes of Marx's family life in a way which is far more sympathetic than properly deserved. While he was saving the world and living off his friend Engels' remittances his children were often hungry for bread.
Thus the familiar story Strathern tells about the evils of the Industrial Age as witnessed by Engels and Marx, the writing of the masterly work, 'The Communist Manifesto' the production of the unreadable economic masterpiece 'Capitol' , the life devoted to the class struggle, the overthrowing of Capitalism, the bringing into being of ' the dictatorship of the proletariat' as part of the Utopian vision of ' from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs' does not cancel the bottom line conclusion of the ' value ' of Marx's work.
A disaster for Mankind is the result of the work of this particular 'genius'.