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Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order

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This collection is certainly 'diverse'. There are a number of interesting essays here, a number of mediocre ones, and a number which could fall into the 'relevant' category if they happen to be your thing. Overall a good introduction to the influence of what was then called 'postmodernism' on academic Marxism in the USA. 'Postmodernism' may have worn out its welcome by now but that by no means signifies a victory for complacent 'modernist' Marxists such as Eagleton, but rather might signal the end of Marxism's relevance in academic work and its relegation to political movements in Nepal, Chiapas, etc.
The one stand-out essay here is Warren Montag's paper on Louis Althusser's autobiography. Surely essential reading for anyone reading 'The Future lasts Forever'. You can probably photocopy that brief piece from the local library, however.

Marxism in the Postmodern Age provides, perhaps, one of the most comprehensive reviews of current Marxist thought and action available today. Featuring over 50 essays by prominent theorists, artists, and educators dedicated to the progressive cause, this volume manages to cover nearly every aspect of Marxist theory in our society, from politics and economics to art and pop culture. While there are many standard pieces covering topics such as the global state of the anti-capitalist cause in the wake of the Soviet collapse, there are also more practical and lighter topics such as "Waiting for the Revolution, or How to Smash Capitalism in Your Spare Time" and chapters with specific focus on Marxism in popular culture. It is this diversity which is really this works greatest strength. By bringing together both "academic Marxists" and active radicals, reformers and revolutionaries, political commentators and protestors, this work provides a more comprehensive view of the current state of the struggle than most other sources. This book is an excellent reference source, most people won't be interested in every article in this compendium, and a significant number require at least a comfortable grasp of complex economic and political theorems, but the book does provide information on both common and rare topics of interest to most progressives and radicals. The one true drawback to this volume is its publication date; the book was originally published in 1995, and many of the articles date back to the 1992 conference on "Marxism in the New World Order" held at UMass Amherst. In a rapidly changing socio-political climate, this is a significant time period, and many issues, which are now at the forefront of the fight against capitalism, are mentioned only briefly or not at all. For example, the World Trade Organization, currently perhaps the organization against which there is, perhaps, the most domestic Marxist protest (as demonstrated in Seattle) isn't even mentioned. This, however, is not a crippling drawback, and the scope of the text easily makes up for it. This is an essential for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of Marxism not as a theory, but as an ideology, and as a possibility for the future.

Insulated, tenured academic Marxists like Callari didn't lose their rudder after the cold war, they lost their keel. These essays are illuminating not because the subject matter is something we haven't heard before, but because they reveal the grumpy, cantankerous nature of self-indulgent authors who are bobbing around the ocean willing to say anything to get noticed.