Product Description

Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx's thought, enabling us to grasp Marx's views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. In plain English, he explains alienation, historical materialism, the economic theory of Capital, and Marx's ideas of communism, and concludes with an assessment of Marx's legacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32763 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780192854056
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review

"I always recommend that undergraduates should read Singer's book to get an overview. I find it a very useful introduction: succinct and sophisticated."--Professor Diana Coole, University of California, Irvine
"[An] excellent brief presentation of Marx and his teachings, written with clarity and conciseness; up-to-date in its sources, dispassionate in its approach to [Marx] and balanced in its assessment."--Peter McConville, University of San Francisco
"Clear, concise, insightful, and even-handed."--Susan Armstrong-Buck, Humboldt State University

About the Author
Peter Singer is Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is best known for his books Animal Liberation and his other books include Practical Ethics, Rethinking Life and Death, and How are we to Live?.

Customer Reviews

An almost ideal introduction to the subject.
Peter Singer's "Marx: A Very Short Introduction" is a superbly lucid and concise introduction to the subject of Marx and Marxism. Assuming the reader has no background in Marx's thought, Singer covers most of the important issues of Marxism and then assesses Marx's achievements and shortcomings in a refreshingly balanced manner.

What makes this book such a valuable introduction is Singer's clear understanding of what lies at the heart of Marxism: the issue of human freedom. Too many works on Marxism reduce it to a merely economic philosophy, which has the destruction of capitalism (and subsequent liberation of the world's workers) as its end. This is a gross misrepresentation of Marx's thought. Marx saw the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of a classless society as means toward the true end which he sought: the liberation of humanity from oppression and exploitation and a return to our true nature as creative, self-actualizing beings rather than mere laboring appendages to an economic machine. Marx envisioned a world in which humanity toiled with its individual and universal fulfillment as the goal, rather than a world in which a few grow rich while the many dig ditches or work in Asian sweatshops for Nike. Freedom, true freedom, was the purpose behind Marx's work and also his life.

I highly recommend this book as a serious, thorough, and fair introduction to this complex subject. Apart from Terry Eagleton's "Marx," there is no better guide than this.

Indispensible - Unlike Marxism
Marx is a highly complex character, whether studied historically, politically, sociologically or (as I had to) all at once. This brief but concise guide to the life and works of Marx is one I have found frankly indispensable. Working chronologically through his life, listing events and ideas, it both explains difficult concepts with clarity and provides context, which makes some of Marx's abstract works spring to life. Singer is almost totally non-judgmental about Marx and his ideas and this adds to the crucial nature this book holds amongst my key reference works.

An easy to follow introduction
I am doing an MA in political science and my professor screwed his nose up a bit when I showed him this, because Singer is not a name that one associates with Marxism. I bought it because I liked his anthology on Ethics so much. I must say that I don't agree with some of the conclusions that Singer draws in his assessment of Marxism at the end of the book, but his strength is his ability to write at a level that is easy to understand. He avoids jargon where possible and that in itself takes a lot of the mystery out of this stuff. I recommend this book as a good place to start when looking at Marx.