Customer Reviews

Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact (9th Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I keep going back to this book in all my political readings. It succinctly categorizes the major ideologies, gives brief histories, and places them in the larger picture to make the whole of political ideology more digestible. In the process, it clarifies left/right labels and dispels many of the myths that the general public has, infected by spin machines and AM radio.

I personally didn't see a pro-Marxist tilt in the book. Yet many of us who have grown up in Cold War McCarthyite America may reflexively call any book that vaguely mentions Karl Marx without dismissing him right off as "pro-Marxist."

Baradat is at his best when he steps back and shows each ideology as being part of the ebb and flow of history, of revolution and counter-revolution.

"Political Ideologies" works well as a board to dive into heavier works.

This book is a great introduction to a large spectrum of our most basic political ideologies. It will help you make sense of the political debates of the day so you really understand what everyone is mouthing about. My sense of why this book seems liberal is that because when you view Conservatism in light of many other ideologies it's not the loveliest of them all.

It is clearly written and easy to read. I used the 3rd edition in college (my god has it been that long?)And by the way, if you are expecting a Social Security check during your retirement, you are a socialist!

"Using a chronological organization, this text explains the evolution of political thought over the past three centuries and describes political ideologies in the context of the social, economic, and political circumstances in which they developed. It provides students with a complete understanding of political ideologies and how these concepts relate to their own lives"...and it does it well!!! Really well organized and easy to read....If you want to know about the political spectrum..this is a great book to learn....I learned alot about my postion on the spectrum..I think most readers will do the same as well

I'm actually thinking about taking his class next year and i'm going to keep this book for reference. Well written.

while admittedly the writer has a particularly left wing stance the book is very well written and easy to pick up. the chapters are well organized and most topics are written very nonpartisan.

it is taking forever for you guys to send this book. I need it as soon as possible for school..

As an introduction to the topic, I think that this book is excellently written. The only problem is that the author gives his opinion in so many places. I think it is good for an author to state his opinion and explain it to people, but not in a book that is an introduction to a topic. In introductions it would be better to let the reader just know about the topic since it is too early for him/her to have an opinion about it. However, the author did explain most ideologies and he was fair in treating them. He did not attack ideologies that were not his own. The book clearly explains most ideologies and the author brings into the discussion economic, political and philosophical issues in a coherent way. Had he not been so opinionated I would have given this book five stars.

I have several problems with this book. There are factual and logical inaccuracies in it--stuff that's just wrong. The logic of the left-right spectrum and where the status quo line should be placed is almost incomprehensible. Apparently the author spent a whole 15 days touring Cuba, which qualifies him to make all sorts of general statements about Cuban government, history, and daily life, but does not qualify him to spell correctly such Spanish words as "campesino" and "Raul". Which brings me to my biggest peave: there are tons of typos! Many really important ones! I am now reading a section that is actually entitled "Imperalism"--two i's instead of the required three! Within the section the word is randomly spelled correctly about half the time. Does that really pass as good enough? How can we insist on good writing skills from students when books that have had 9 previous bites at the apple still can't get it right?

My daughter has to answer some questions based on parts of this book and I was wondering why she was complaining. All you have to do is read part of it and you see that it's inaccurate and wrong. In a vacuum, I can see how people would fall for this stuff, but with so much more information around us, the book is obviously indoctrination for kindergarteners - it's that simplistic.

I suggest you watch this talk by Evan Sayet. Evan used to write for Bill Maher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c
Evan is talking about the newer strain of liberals - which he calls Modern Liberals - as opposed to the more traditional ones that are aligned with our Founding beliefs. You can see the patterns of Modern Liberalism in all sorts of things. Evan explains why Modern Liberals want the US (and Western Civilization) to lose in Iraq, why they fight increasing the supply of oil (which will help poor people), why they support the Iranian President's verbal attacks on Israel and the US while ignoring the human rights record and his attacks on gays, why mediocre (socialized) healthcare is better than good healthcare, etc, etc, etc.

Please watch the video.

As for my daughter's work, it comes down to answering correctly or according to what the teacher wants.