Why Read Marx Today? [Hardcover]

Jonathan Wolff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0192803352 | ISBN-13: 978-0192803351 | Publication Date: November 1, 2002

The fall of the Berlin Wall had enormous symbolic resonance, marking the collapse of Marxist politics and economics. Indeed, Marxist regimes have failed miserably, and with them, it seems, all reason to take the writings of Karl Marx seriously.
Jonathan Wolff argues that if we detach Marx the critic of current society from Marx the prophet of some never-to-be-realized worker's paradise, he remains the most impressive critic we have of liberal, capitalist, bourgeois society. The author shows how Marx's main ideas still shed light on wider concerns about culture and society and he guides the reader through Marx's notoriously difficult writings. Wolff also argues that the value of a great thinker does not depend on his or her views being true, but on other features such as originality, insight, and systematic vision. From this perspective, Marx still richly deserves to be read.
Why Read Marx Today? reinstates Marx as an important critic of current society, and not just a figure of historical interest.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An engaging read. The author...is a particularly skillful elucidator of political philosophy. In his book, he argues that Marx was misunderstood and that the great man was right about far more than he is given credit for."--The Economist

About the Author

Jonathan Wolff is Professor of Philosophy at University College London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192803352
• ISBN-13: 978-0192803351
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #965,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great primer on the timeless philosophy of Karl Marx, February 4, 2004

By 

N. Tsafos (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why Read Marx Today? (Hardcover)

This seems like a very fair question-why should anyone bother to wrestle through the endless volumes of Karl Marx's prolific work? After all, communism died with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union; and, there are few economies today who would abandon the market and mimic the Soviet Union's state-planning.

In this short volume, Jonathan Wolff, of University College London, tries to convince us that studying Marx is worth the time and effort. He does this by analyzing in-depth Marx's entire range of philosophical pursuit-from his thoughts on religion to the "Jewish Question" to the more familiar writings of "The Capital" and the "Communist Manifesto."

This intellectual trip is elegant, well-written, and surprisingly dense. It will certainly appeal to those with little or no background on Karl Marx; it will also likely fascinate veterans of Marxist thinking since Mr. Wolff's reconstruction and assessment of Marx's writings is both trenchant and comprehensive.

What, in the end, of the central question? The case for reading Marx is partly historic since his influence over the twentieth century is towering. But at a more fundamental level, Marx's philosophy is not about communism; in fact, Marx devotes little time analyzing why or how communism would come about and work. Marx's writings are a critique of capitalism and its salient features based on his account of human nature and history. So communism might have died in 1989, but Marx's ideas live on.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marx for Beginners, February 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Why Read Marx Today? (Hardcover)

One nice thing about the end of the Cold War was the relaxation of pressures to demonize (or deify) Karl Marx, the 19th century economist, philosopher, and activist. This short, readable book is a good introduction to Marx's social and economic theories, written at a level appropriate for college freshmen or intelligent high school students. Author Wolff rejects as unproven Marx's grand theories of historical materialism and surplus value, but he finds much of value in Marx's critique of capitalist culture and its tendency to warp humane values. All in all, Wolff gives a balanced, intelligent assessment.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars strong overview, February 3, 2005

By 

A Reader (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Why Read Marx Today? (Hardcover)

This is a nicely written book that gives a strong over-view of Marx and makes a reasonable case for his continuing importance. It neither deifies nor makes a monster of Marx, and does a good job of showing what's useful and what's not in his thinking. I give it only four stars only because it does not really break new ground, but rather does a fine job of summing up the strongest readings of Marx.