Far-left political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisThis fresh and timely book argues that we can detach Marx the critic of current society from Marx the prophet of future society, and that he remains the most impressive critic we have of liberal, capitalist, bourgeois society. Wolff also shows that the value of the 'great thinkers' does not depend on their views being true, but on other features such as their originality, insight, and systematic vision. For these reasons, and more, Wolff shows us why Marx stillrichly deserves to be read.Trade ReviewAll too often, Karl Marx has been regarded as a demon or a deity - or a busted flush. This fresh, provocative, and hugely enjoyable book explains why, for all his shortcomings, his critique of modern society remains forcefully relevant even in the twenty-first century. * Francis Wheen, author of Karl Marx *an engaging read * Economist *This is an important and timely book, that deserves to be widely read, not just by philosophers, economists and political theorists, but by journalists, politicians, and anyone who wants to understand the world we live in today. The scholarship on which the book is based is impeccable, yet the presentation is accessible and engaging throughout. Wolff is clear and candid about where Marx was wrong, and direct and persuasive about where he was right and still important today. This may be the most important book on Marx in the last two decades, one that will mark a turning point in the public and intellectual reception of Marx's philosophy. * Brian Leiter, University of Texas at Austin *In splendidly lucid prose, Jonathan Wolff explores the continuing appeal of Marx today. Deftly sifting the living from the dead in Marx's thought, Wolff shows how his criticisms of capitalism and liberalism have lost none of their urgency, even if his communist solutions prove unconvincing. * Professor Richard Bellamy, University of Reading *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; 1: EARLY WRITINGS; 2: CLASS, HISTORY, AND CAPITAL; 3: ASSESSMENT; GUIDE TO REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING; INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the 1930s many Western intellectuals looked with hope and admiration at the great `Soviet experiment'', the planned transformation of the economy that was supposed to lay the foundation for the world''s first socialist society. Later, with the onset of the Cold War, the image of the `Evil Empire'' predominated in the mind of Westerners. Yet what was it really like to be a citizen of Soviet Russia during this period? Everyday Stalinism is a pioneering history of everyday life in Soviet Russia. Rather than consider the history of the period from the perspective of the Soviet Party and its leaders, Sheila Fitzpatrick considers what life was like for ordinary people. A highly accessible study, Everyday Stalinism shows the ways of life, behaviours, and skills developed by citizens in order to cope with the extraordinary social and political change that Stalinism brought, ranging from scarcity of consumer goods, to the condemnation of religion, to bureaucratic red tape and state regulation of education, jobs, and career advancement.Trade ReviewOf the two, Fitzpatrick is incomparably the finer historian . . . . There is no doubt abou the quality of Fitzpatrick's research . . . * THES, 12/04/2002 *"A fine work--engrossing, well written, superbly documented, and much needed to boot....[The book's sources] make absolutely fascinating reading....An assiduous scholar, Professor Fitzpatrick seems to have scrutinized every relevant scrap of paper. Her explication is a model of balance and judiciousness....Individual memoirs apart, most histories of this period were written from the top--that is, showing how the policies were shaped and implemented, rather than how they were perceived and experienced by their subjects. It is the latter...that constitutes the major distinction of Fitzpatrick's book."--Abraham Brumberg, The Nation"The author's rich materials challenge readers to build their own model of Stalin's people, their complicity and resistance."--Wilson Quarterly"A most welcome addition to the literature on Stalin's Russia....Fitzpatrick has used the entire range of sources available, from familiar memoirs and postwar interview material to contemporary research and an array of archival information....The book is a major contribution to understanding this extraordinary period. Its lucid prose and the inherent interest of its subject matter should make it accessible to undergraduates, as well as to more specialized readers."--Choice"One of the most influential historians of the Soviet period describes what it was like to live under Stalin in the 1930s--the frantic, heroic, tragic decade of collectivization, forced-draft industrialization, and purges, when ordinary Russians struggled to a find a wearable pair of shoes and lined up in subzero weather at two o'clock in the morning in the hope of getting 16 grams of bread....They were years of unimaginable hardship and brutality but also of idealism, a surreal melange that [Fitzpatrick] captures with admirable matter-of-factness."--Foreign Affairs"A fine crossover book for both upperlevel and introductory courses....Well written."--Roger W. Haughey, Georgetown University"Everyday Stalinism should prove invaluable for any course on Soviet history. Knowing how a nation's people actually lived, thought, and felt is essential to any real understanding of the past. On this, Fitzpatrick--who has done more than any other scholar to make the complexities of the social history of the Stalin years come alive--delivers as no one else can."--John McCannon, Norwich UniversityReview from previous edition "Fitzpatrick makes subtle use of the press and of police reports that assist in giving us one of the most comprhensive accounts of what it meant to live in Stalin's Russia in the 1930's" * Kirkus Reviews *Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS; INTRODUCTION; CONCLUSION; NOTES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe end of global communism has erased from memory the prior influence of communist ideology outside of the communist bloc. Many western musicians were involved in communist movements and organisations which often had a decisive impact upon their music. This book recalls the meeting of music and communism in societies outside of a communist state.Table of ContentsI. MUSICIANS' PERSPECTIVES; II. TO 1960; III. FROM 1960

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive account of the structure, conduct, and performance of the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, the USSR, Communist China and the Marxist LDCs, looking at 26 nations in all.The author focuses on reform, perhaps the most important issue facing countries such as the USSR, Poland, Hungary, and China. Bureaucracy, soft budget constraints, markets, and the nature of the socialist state are the central issues that arise in the course of reforming a socialist economy.The first half of the book deals with ''classical socialism'' and provides a theoretical summary of the main features of a now closed period of history. The second half deals with the processes of reform and concludes that the reform of classical socialist systems is doomed to failure as they are unable to renew themselves internally.Trade Review`This is truly a remarkable achievement. Kornai's book can be read with much profit by citizens of both east and west, by economists and by whoever is interested in politics, by specialists in the affairs of communist-run countries and by student beginners. It is well organised, shows a mastery of the material and is a model of clarity of exposition ... What he does do is to describe with consummate skill the essential features of the system as it was, and why attempts to reform it have been so conspicuously unsuccessful. For this he deserves our gratitude and a large readership' Alec Nove, New Statesman & Society`This is the most comprehensive analysis of socialist economics ever written. It is lucid and well-structured, rendering it an ideal textbook for a broad range of students on the socialist economic system. This might be the definitive work on socialist economics. The greatest student of socialist economics has produced his grand oeuvre.' Ander Aslund, Director, Stockholm Institute of Soviet and East European Economics`Janos Kornai has long been the world's most perceptive analyst and critic of communism. The momentous changes of the last few years have generated plenty of heat. This book, destined to become a classic, sheds great light on communism - why it endured, why it eventually failed, and how it should and will evolve.' Lawrence H Summers, World Bank`Janos Kornai's analysis of the political economy of socialism is the right book at the right time by the right author ... a scholarly, realistic, insightful analysis of both the early successes and the gradual breakdown of socialist systems.' Stanley Fischer, Professor of Economics, MIT`Written by a leading scholar on comparative economic systems, the book is a masterly contribution.' Padma Desai, Professor of Economics, Columbia`Hungarian economist Janos Kornai gives a detailed but untechnical overview of socialist economies.' Morning Star'His book deserves to be read ... because of the sheer scholarship which has gone into producing it, and because of the insight into Stalinism and its legacy which it undoubtedly provides.' Ian Kearns, University of Sheffield, International Affairs, April 1993`Janos Kornai's The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism is definitely one of the best (if not the best) books ever written by such "synthesizers". It is the first comprehensive and systematic exposition of the political economy of state socialism. The author offers an intricate, nuanced, logical, and highly readable panorama of not just the Communist economy but the whole socioeconomic, political-cultural formation, known as state socialism.' Studies in Comparative International Development`presents a detailed and exhaustive description of the general characteristics of the classical system, defined as the stalinist or maoist phase, and of the reform system that followed it ... any serious students specialising in comparative economic systems surely ought to become acquainted with the book' Europe-Asia Studies`This book will appeal to a wide audience. It combines a coherent political model with a detailed economic critique. It also shows that socialist economics were not as homogenous as traditionally assumed by commentators. The book also provides valuable insights into what new economic forms are likely to replace the erstwhile socialist economies.' Political StudiesGreat merit ... Kornai has been in his career deeply involved in the workings of the system he describes, so is an outstanding expert on it and sheds light on many of its aspects people who have not lived in communist societies cannot easily understand ... The book is a great achievement ... A comprehensive content, references, authors and subject indexes makes the book a very convenient research tool. * Kyklos *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Cold War has been researched in minute detail and written about at great length but it remains one of the most elusive and enigmatic conflicts of modern times. With the ending of the Cold War, it is now possible to review the entire post-war period, to examine the Cold War as history.Trade ReviewA sensible reprise of history ... a welcome addition to undergraduate reading lists both as an introduction to regional politics and as an overture to the re-evaluation of the Cold War. * International Affairs *...stimulating...here is a collection of highly informative articles by leading experts who adopt an unusual, refreshing though highly controversial approach. - Ahron Bregman. The Times Higher Education Supplement. 15/5/1998Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Middle East, the Great Powers, and the Cold War ; 2. Egypt ; 3. Syria ; 4. Lebanon ; 5. Jordan ; 6. The Palestinians ; 7. Israel ; 8. Iraq ; 9. Iran ; 10. Turkey ; Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book extends the theme of Raymond Williams''s earlier work in literary and cultural analysis. He analyses previous contributions to a Marxist theory of literature from Marx himself to Lukacs, Althusser, and Goldmann, and develops his own approach by outlining a theory of `cultural materialism'' which integrates Marxist theories of language with Marxist theories of literature. Williams moves from a review of the growth of the concepts of literature and idealogy to a redefinition of `determinism'' and `hegemony''. His incisive discussion of the ''social material process'' of cultural activity culminates in a re-examination of the problems of alignment and commitment and of the creative practice in individual authors and wider social groups.Trade Review`Williams has brought his authority and experience, established by his immense critical achievement, into the Marxist tradition.' Anthony Barnett, New SocietyThe exploration and integrations which this book makes will bring a major pressure to bear on academic literary criticism and its institutions. * John Sutherland, New Statesman *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe end of the Cold War makes it possible, for the first time, to begin writing its history from a truly international perspective, one reflecting Soviet, East European, and Chinese as well as American and West European viewpoints. In a major departure from his earlier scholarship, John Lewis Gaddis, the pre-eminent American authority on the United States and the Cold War, has written a comprehensive comparative history of that conflict from its origins through to its most dangerous moment, the Cuban missile crisis. We Now Know is packed with new information drawn from previously unavailable sources; it also reflects the findings of a new generation of Cold War historians. It contains striking new insights into the role of ideology, democracy, economics, alliances, and nuclear weapons, as well as major reinterpretations of Stalin, Truman, Khrushchev, Mao, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. It suggests solutions to long-standing puzzles: Did the Soviet Union want world revolution? Why was GermanyTrade Review'A masterly review of the early phases of the conflict between the United States, Russia, China and their respective allies...it is clear, thorough and judicious; in short, magnificent.' * The Economist Review *'A new narrative of the first half of the Cold War up to the Cuban missile crisis...We Know Now is an important book. It deserves a wide readership.' * Taylor Downing, The Observer *Table of Contents1. Dividing the World ; 2. Cold War Empires: Europe ; 3. Cold War Empires: Asia ; 4. Nuclear Weapons and the Early Cold War ; 5. The German Question ; 6. The Third World ; 7. Economics, Ideology, and Alliance Solidarity ; 8. Nuclear Weapons and the Escalation of the Cold War ; 9. The Cuban Missile Crisis ; 10. The New Cold War History: First Impressions ; Notes, Bibliography, Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis second edition of McLellan''s comprehensive selection of Marx''s writings includes carefully selected extracts from the whole range of Marx''s political, philosophical and economic thought. Each section of the book deals with a different period of Marx''s life with the sections arranged in chronological order, thus allowing the reader to trace the development of Marx''s thought, from his early years as a student and political journalist in Germany right through to his final letters of the early 1880s. The inclusion of extracts from some of Marx''s less well-known works alongside selections from classic texts such as The Communist Manifesto and Capital provides the reader with an unparalleled overview of Marx''s thinking, whilst Professor McLellan''s fully updated and revised introduction and bibliographical notes accompanying each extract put Marx''s writings into biographical and historical context. This edition also includes a general bibliography and a full index of names and iTable of ContentsPART ONE: THE EARLY WRITINGS 1837-1844; PART TWO: THE MATERIALIST CONCEPTION OF HISTORY 1844-1847; PART THREE: 1848 AND AFTER; PART FOUR: THE 'ECONOMICS' 1857-1867; PART FIVE: LATER POLITICAL WRITINGS 1864-1882

Read more less

Book SynopsisBetween the winter of 1936 and the autumn of 1938, approximately three quarters of a million Soviet citizens were subject to summary execution. More than a million others were sentenced to lengthy terms in labour camps. Commonly known as ''Stalin''s Great Terror'', it is also among the most misunderstood moments in the history of the twentieth century. The Terror gutted the ranks of factory directors and engineers after three years in which all major plan targets were met. It raged through the armed forces on the eve of the Nazi invasion. The wholesale slaughter of party and state officials was in danger of making the Soviet state ungovernable. The majority of these victims of state repression in this period were accused of participating in counter-revolutionary conspiracies. Almost without exception, there was no substance to the claims and no material evidence to support them. By the time the terror was brought to a close, most of its victims were ordinary Soviet citizens for whom ''Trade ReviewHarris does an admirable job of bringing the major fears and concerns of the Soviet leadership into focus, from the rise of Nazi Germany to Japan's incursions deep into China to resentment of the regime among peasants. * Robert W. Thurston, Journal of Modern History *One can only applaud him [Harris] for tackling the most vexing and morally charged issues in Soviet history, and for doing so in a crisply, succinctly written volume ... A brief review such as this cannot do justice to Harris's nuanced argument and careful use of sources. The volume is not only a valuable contribution to the literature but also a book that, because of its coverage and readability, will work well in undergraduate classes. * William J. Chase, The Russian Review *[a] well-researched and tightly argued study ... [Harris] has produced the most important book we have on the origins of the great purges. But in the process he has done more than that. The chapters tracing the story up to the perfect storm of 1937 are in themselves a very attractive general survey of the first two decades of Soviet history. This clearly written book will be required reading for specialists in the field; general readers will find it useful as a compact survey of the state of the field. * Arch Getty, History *The Great Fear presents a nuanced reading of history drawing on a number of primary sources; its strength is to see the Great Terror in the context of world and Russian events which contribute to the structure of society and mindset of the people in power, rather than as the result of one's man's paranoia or capriciousness ... for those with a keen interest in Soviet history, this excellent book is a must for the light it throws on a dramatic and appalling period of the regime's history. * Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings blog *sparkles with learning * Andre van Loon, The Australian *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Fear and Violence 2: Peace and Insecurity 3: The Uncertain Dictatorship 4: The Great Break 5: Relaxation? 6: Tensions Mount 7: The Perfect Storm Conclusion Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow did one man''s critique of capitalism guide the course of modern history?When he died in 1883, Karl Marx left behind an intellectual legacy of formidable proportions and revolutionary potential, yet one that exerted limited actual political, social, or economic influence. The full force of his ideas did not come into play for another generation, and only after they had been appropriated and applied by some of Marxism''s earliest proponents. The history of Marxism, in other words, is the story of those who brought Marx''s ideas into play, transforming a sweeping but fractious and occasionally abstruse view of historical and social forces into a coherent plan of action. Christina Morina''s illuminating book focuses on the first generation of Marxists who turned the work and ideas of one social theorist, one among many, into one of the most powerful transnational political movements in modern history.The Invention Of Marxism is therefore a group portrait, featuring such figures as Rosa Luxemburg, Max Adler, Jean Jaurès, Eduard Bernstein, Karl Kautsky, and Vladimir Lenin German, French, Russian, Czech whose lives became dedicated to interpreting and applying Marxist thought. They were the vehicles by which his ideas were read, debated, and gradually adopted in socialist movements across Europe. Morina''s fascinating book therefore reconstructs the beginnings of Marxism through the individual politicization of a group of intellectuals who made it their purpose in life to solve the ''social question'', exploring the nexus between their intellectual constructs and social and political reality. The Invention of Marxism shows how what started as a theory of capitalism grew into a fully-fledged political philosophy and platform, one that shaped the century that followed Marx''s death. In short, it reveals how an idea first conquered these individuals and then the world.Trade ReviewMorinas pen-portraits - fine-grained, deftly interlinked - are superb. Forgotten figures, such as Adler and Struve, are coaxed back into the sunlight, famous ones - Lenin, Kautsky, Luxemburg - reimagined * Madoc Cairns, Times Literary Supplement *Morina's pen-portraits - fine-grained, deftly interlinked are superb. * Madoc Cairns, Editor at Plough Quarterly , TLS *The Invention of Marxism provides rich biographical portraits of the first generation of Marx's most ardent followers. * Choice *Table of ContentsPROLOGUE: Marxism as a Generational Project I SOCIALIZATION Born in the Nineteenth Century: Family Influences Adolescence and Its Discontents: Emerging Worldviews Beating the Drum: Literary Influences II POLITICIZATION Paths to Marxism I: London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna (1878-1888) Translating Marxism: Guesde and Jaurès Star Students: Bernstein and Kautsky Theory and Practice: Adler's Belated Marxism Paths to Marxism II: Geneva, Warsaw, St. Petersburg (1885-1903) The Social Question as a Political Question: Plekhanov's Turn toward Marx The Social Question as a Question of Power: Struve and Lenin Engagement as Science: Luxemburg III ENGAGEMENT On Misery, or the First Commandment: The Radical Study of Reality Miserable Living: Depicting Proletarians and Peasants Miserable Labor: The Proletarian World of Work On Revolution, or the Second Commandment: Philosophy as Practice Revolutionary Expectations Revolution at Last? Dress Rehearsal in St. Petersburg, 1905/06 CONCLUSION: From Marx to Marxism: Fieldworkers, Bookworms, and Adventurers

Read more less

Book SynopsisAndrei Lankov has gone where few outsiders have ever been. A native of the former Soviet Union, he lived as an exchange student in North Korea in the 1980s. He has studied it for his entire career, using his fluency in Korean and personal contacts to build a rich, nuanced understanding. In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. After providing an accessible history of the nation, he turns his focus to what North Korea is, what its leadership thinks, and how its people cope with living in such an oppressive and poor place. He argues that North Korea is not irrational, and nothing shows this better than its continuing survival against all odds. A living political fossil, it clings to existence in the face of limited resources and a zombie economy, manipulating great powers despite its weakness. Its leaders are not ideological zealots or madmen, but perhaps the best practitioners of Machiavellian politics that can be found in the modern world. Even though they preside over a failed state, they have successfully used diplomacy-including nuclear threats-to extract support from other nations. But while the people in charge have been ruthless and successful in holding on to power, Lankov goes on to argue that this cannot continue forever, since the old system is slowly falling apart. In the long run, with or without reform, the regime is unsustainable. Lankov contends that reforms, if attempted, will trigger a dramatic implosion of the regime. They will not prolong its existence.Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive.Trade ReviewIn his accessible and refreshingly fair-minded new book, Andrei Lankov does a fine job of making sense of the worlds most inscrutable state. ... Fizzing with anecdotes and insights, many of them provided by Lankovs countless contacts, it is a commanding overview of the countrys politics and society, and a significant contribution to policy debates in the United States and South Korea. * Francis Grove-White, International Affairs *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction ; Transcription ; CHAPTER 1 The Society Kim Il Sung Built and How He Did It ; Captain Kim Returns Home ; The War and What came after ; Between Moscow and Beijing: The Foreign Policy of Kim Il Sung's North Korea ; Dealing with the South ; The Command Society ; A Country of Camps ; The World According to Kim Il Sung ; The Silver Lining in a Social Disaster ; The Birth of Juche, the Rise of the Son, and the Slow-Motion Demise of a Hyper-Stalinist Economy ; CHAPTER 2 Two Decades of Crisis ; And Then the World Changed ; Capitalism Reborn ; The State Withers Away ; Taking the Exit Option: Not an Exodus Yet, But ... ; Arrival in Paradise, aka Capitalist Hell ; Changing Worldviews ; CHAPTER 3 The Logic of Survival (Domestically) ; Reform as Collective Political Suicide ; Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle: (Not-So-Successful) Crackdowns on Market Activity ; A Disaster That Almost Happened: The Currency Reform of 2009 ; Still Poor and Malnourished, but Starving No More ; CHAPTER 4 The Supreme Leader And His Era ; The Belated Emergence of a <"Young General>" ; The Sudden Dawn of a New Era ; Collapse of the old guard ; The New Policy ; The New Logic ; Tensions with the South ; CHAPTER 5 Survival Diplomacy ; Playing the Nuclear Card ; Aid-Maximizing Diplomacy ; Meanwhile, in South Korea ... (the Rise of 386ers and Its Consequences) ; A Decade of Sunshine ; The Sun Sets ; The Entry of China ; Interlude The Contours of a Future: What Might Happen to North Korea in the Next Two Decades ; CHAPTER 6 What to Do about the North? ; Why Sticks Are Not Big Enough ; Why the Carrots Are Not Sweet Enough (and Why <"Strategic Patience>" Is Not a Great Idea, Either) ; Thinking Long Term ; The Hidden Benefits of Engagement ; Reaching the People ; Why They Matter: Working with the Refugees in South Korea ; CHAPTER 7 Being Ready for What We Wish For ; A Perfect Storm ; A Provisional Confederation as the Least Unacceptable Solution ; Something about Painkillers ... ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Condition of the Working Class in England is the best known work of Engels, and still in many ways the best study of the working class in Victorian England. It was the first book written by Engels during his stay in Manchester from 1842 to 1844. Manchester was then at the very heart of the Industrial Revolution, and Engels compiled his study from his own observations and detailed contemporary reports. The fluency of his writing, the personal nature of his insights, and his talent for mordant satire combine to make this account of the lives of the victims of early industrial change into a classic - a historical study that parallels and complements the fictional works of the time by such writers as Gaskell and Dickens. What Cobbett had done for agricultural poverty in his Rural Rides, Engels did - and more - in this work on the plight of industrial workers in England in the 1840s. This edition includes the prefaces to the English and American editions, and a map of Manchester c.1845Table of ContentsIntroduction; Note on the text; Select bibliography; A chronology of Friedrich Engels; Map of Manchester c.1845; The Condition of the Working Class in England; Appendix; The Labour movement in America; Preface to the American edition; Preface to the English edition; Explanatory notes; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisReligion in China survived the most radical suppression in human history--a total ban of any religion during and after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1979). All churches, temples, and mosques were closed down, converted for secular uses, or turned to museums for the purpose of atheist education. China remains under Communist rule. But in the last three decades, religion has revived and thrived. Christianity has been the fastest growing religion for decades. Many Buddhist and Daoist temples have been restored. The state even sponsors large Buddhist gatherings and ceremonies to venerate Confucius and the legendary ancestors of the Chinese people. Traditional Chinese temples have sprung up in some areas. On the other hand, quasi-religious qigong practices, once ubiquitous in public parks throughout the country, are now rare. All the while, the authorities have carried out waves of atheist propaganda, anti-superstition campaigns, severe crackdowns on the underground Christian churches and vTrade ReviewYang's book Religion in China has brilliant chapters, some controversial but all provacative and worth considering. * The New York Review of Books *Table of ContentsPreface ; Chapter One: Explaining Religious Vitality ; Chapter Two: A Definition of Religion for the Social Scientific Study of Religion ; Chapter Three: Chinese Marxist Atheism and Its Policy Implications ; Chapter Four: Regulating Religion under Communism ; Chapter Five: The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion ; Chapter Six: The Shortage Economy of Religion under Communism ; Chapter Seven: Oligopoly Dynamics: China and Beyond

Read more less

Book SynopsisCommunism Unwrapped is a collection of essays that unwraps the complex world of consumption under communism in postwar Eastern Europe, featuring new work by both American and European scholars writing from variety of disciplinary perspectives. The result is a fresh look at everyday life under communism that explores the ways people shopped, ate, drank, smoked, cooked, acquired, exchanged and assessed goods. These phenomena, the editors argue, were central to the way that communism was lived and experienced in its widely varied contexts in the region. Consumption pervaded everyday life far more than most other political and social phenomena. From design, to production, to retail sales and black market exchange, Communism Unwrapped follows communist goods from producer to consumer, tracing their circuitous routes. In the communist world this journey was rife with its own meanings, shaped by the special political and social circumstances of these societies. In examining consumption behindTrade ReviewThe essays are consistently readable and insightful, and the editors' introductions to each section help guide readers along the contours of the book's major themes. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *This rich collection of essays offers a unique look at post-1945 Eastern Europe. Departing from the Cold War narrative of endemic shortages and the gloominess of daily life under communism, the essays highlight the everyday creativity and agency of ordinary people. We follow Eastern Europeans to hard-currency stores and gated communities. We see them cross borders to shop in better-supplied neighboring countries and navigate complex social networks to obtain goods and favors. Situating these stories in the context of transnational modernity rather than a totalizing party state, the book offers a rare combination of new research and a compelling theoretical insight. * Malgorzata Fidelis, University of Illinois at Chicago *Consumerism in Eastern Europe has become a fertile field for exploring the dreams and delusions of state socialist politics, as well as the agency and resourcefulness of its citizens. Bren and Neuburger's pioneering volume brings together a range of rich and surprising case studies from across the whole region, significantly enriching our understanding of Eastern European social history during the Cold War. * Paul Betts, University of Sussex *[Bren and Neuburger] provide a valuable and detailed backdrop to a history of places where sausage stands for abundance and bulldozed parmesan symbolises crushed hopes for freedom. * Contemporary European History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Contributors ; Introduction- Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger ; I. Living Large: Introduction ; 1 Tuzex and the Hustler: Living It Up in Czechoslovakia- Paulina Bren ; 2 Utopia Gone Terribly Right: Plutonium's "Gated Communities" in the Soviet Union and the United States- Kate Brown ; 3 "Knife in the Water": Competitive Consumption in Urbanizing Poland- Kacper Poblocki ; II. Quality Control: Introduction ; 4 The Taste of Smoke: Bulgartabak and the Manufacturing of Cigarettes and Satisfaction- Mary Neuburger ; 5 Risky Business: What Was Really Being Sold in the Department Stores of Socialist Eastern Europe?- Patrick Hyder Patterson ; 6 Material Harmony: The Quest for Quality in Socialist Bulgaria, 1960s-1980s- Rossitza Guentcheva ; III. Kitchen Talk: Introduction ; 7 Eating Up Yugoslavia: Cookbooks and Consumption in Socialist Yugoslavia- Wendy Bracewell ; 8 Grounds for Discontent? Coffee from the Black Market to the Kaffeeklatsch in the GDR- Katherine Pence ; 9 From Black Caviar to Blackouts: Gender, Consumption, and Lifestyle in Ceausescu's Romania- Jill Massino ; IV. To Market, To Market... : Introduction ; 10 The "Socialist Bourse": Alcohol, Reputation, and Gender in Romania's Second Economy during the 1980s- Narcis Tulbure ; 11 The Extraordinary Career of Feketevago Ur: Wood Theft, Pig-killing, and Entrepreneurship in Communist Hungary, 1948-1956- Karl Brown ; 12 Keeping It Close to Home: Resourcefulness and Scarcity in Late Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland- Malgorzata Mazurek ; V. Constructive Criticism : Introduction ; 13 Kids, Cars, or Cashews?: Debating and Remembering Consumption in Socialist Hungary- Tamas Dombos and Lena Pellandini-Simanyi ; 14 The House that Socialism Built: Reform, Consumption and Inequality in Postwar Yugoslavia- Brigitte Le Normand ; 15 Shop Around the Bloc: Trader Tourism and its Discontents on the East German-Polish Border- Mark Keck-Szajbel ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the early 20th century, Marxist theory was enriched and rejuvenated by adopting the concept of reification, introduced by the Hungarian theorist Georg Lukács to identify and denounce the transformation of historical processes into ahistorical entities, human actions into things that seemed part of an immutable second nature. For a variety of reasons, both theoretical and practical, the hopes placed in de-reification as a tool of revolutionary emancipation proved vain. In these original and imaginative essays, delivered as the Tanner Lectures at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005, the distinguished third-generation Frankfurt School philosopher Axel Honneth attempts to rescue the concept of reification by recasting it in terms of the philosophy of recognition he has been developing over the past two decades. Three distinguished political and social theorists: Judith Butler, Raymond Geuss, and Jonathan Lear, respond with hard questions about the central anthropological premTrade ReviewThese lectures are continually engaging, thought provoking, and - rare blessing - a pleasure to read. Without doubt they will stimulate lively discussion of these important issues * Sean Sayers, Mind *Table of ContentsIntroduction, Martin Jay ; Reification and Recognition: A New Look at an Old Idea, Axel Honneth ; Comments: ; Judith Butler ; Raymond Geuss ; Jonathan Lear ; Rejoinder ; Axel Honneth ; Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisRockmore rescues Marx from Marxism, treating the man's ideas separately from what was later made of them and bringing a refreshingly balanced approach to both.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntense debates in recent decades have provoked major new directions in Marxist theory. Earlier reductionist notions of knowledge, dialectics, contradiction, class, and capitalism have been challenged and profoundly transformed.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe definitive evaluation of the ethical arguments of Marx and Marxism.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Morality: bourgeois and 'truly' human 2. The origin and development of moral ideas 3. Ambiguity in the Marxist interpretation of good, evil right and wrong 4. Man: his nature and values 5. Moral standards: bourgeois and communist 6. The pursuit of self-interest and altruism 7. Rights and Duties 8. Virtues, moral evils and justice 9. Ends and means in the struggle for a classless society 10. Religion, science and ethics Conclusion Select bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA long-overdue historical account of Maoist public health initiatives, detailing the ways they were experienced and their global impact.Trade Review"Zhou Xun is to be commended. The People's Health is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the often-unforeseeable consequences of political planning and social engineering." Paul U. Unschuld, Charité, Medical University Berlin and author of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Heritage and Adaptation“Zhou’s richly evidenced work enhances our understanding of the intricate relationship between medicine, society and the state and thereby our understanding of contemporary China. Scholars and readers interested in modern Chinese history and public health in China would find this book particularly helpful.” Europe-Asia Studies

Read more less

Book SynopsisA long-overdue historical account of Maoist public health initiatives, detailing the ways they were experienced and their global impact.Trade Review"Zhou Xun is to be commended. The People's Health is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the often-unforeseeable consequences of political planning and social engineering." Paul U. Unschuld, Charité, Medical University Berlin and author of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Heritage and Adaptation“Zhou’s richly evidenced work enhances our understanding of the intricate relationship between medicine, society and the state and thereby our understanding of contemporary China. Scholars and readers interested in modern Chinese history and public health in China would find this book particularly helpful.” Europe-Asia Studies

Read more less

Book SynopsisA scholarly exploration of Marx's thought without any favorable or critical ideological agendas, this book opposes the compartmentalization of Marx's thought into various competing doctrines, such as historical materialism, dialectical materialism, and different forms of economic determinism.Trade Review'...this is a much needed contribution to the debate about Marx and human nature. Its value lies not only in Tabak's account of human nature, but also in the way he resolves various problems in academic Marxism. Even those readers not interested in Marx's theory of human nature, but in Marx's theory of the state or morality, will find fresh material in Tabak's book.' - Marx & Philosophy Review of BooksTable of ContentsMarx's Conception of Human Nature: 'Is there no human nature just as there is a universal nature of plants and stars?' Historical Materialism: General Theory of History Dialectics and Historical Materialism: Determinants of the Structure Alienation: Marx's Critical Explanation and Evaluation of the Internal Structure of Bourgeois Society The State in Bourgeois Society and the Bourgeois State Justice, Rights and Alienation Marx's Critique of Ideology, Moral Positivism and Moralizing Criticism: Introduction to Critical-Revolutionary Dialectic

Read more less

Book SynopsisHua Guofeng succeeded Mao in 1976, emerging almost out of nowhere following an unexceptional career in Shanxi and Hunan. In just over two years, Hua had been eclipsed by Deng Xiaoping, a more politically shrewd, progressive and charismatic figure. If Hua's rise to power was remarkable, then this fall was even more so.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction The Young Revolutionary: Hua in Shanxi (1921-49) Towards Rural Reform: Hua in Hunan (1949-57) The Great Leap Forward and the Post-Leap Recovery Period: Hua in Hunan (1958-65) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Hua in Hunan (1966-70) Entering the Centre: Hua in Beijing (1971-76) The Return of Deng Xiaoping: Hua in Decline (1977-1980) Conclusion Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisTwo prominent Soviet dissidents portray Khrushchev in power as a shrewd, complex, decisive, and impetuous innovator, impatient to remedy defects in the Soviet system but carried away by initial successes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefacePrison Notebooks Notebook 6 (1930–1932)Notebook 7 (1930–1931)Notebook 8 (1930–1932)Notes Notebook 6: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextNotebook 7: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextNotebook 8: Description of the Manuscript and Notes to the TextSequence of Notes by Title or Opening Phrase

Read more less

Book SynopsisBorn in 1941, Tubten Khetsun is a nephew of the Gyatso Tashi Khendrung, one of the senior government officials taken prisoner after the Tibetan peoples' uprising of March 10, 1959. This autobiography talks of his prison experiences as well as the state of civil society following his release.Trade ReviewDemonstrates in full detail the human tragedy of Maoist rule in a land whose tradition it despised and tried to destroy. Kirkus Reviews A welcome and informative addition on this little-understood and highly polemicized subject. -- George Fitzherbert Times Literary Supplement This book provides an important piece of the puzzle for those seeking to understand the experience of ordinary Tibetans since 1959. -- Rick Carew Far Eastern Economic Review evocatively written and beautifully translated China Review International A powerful indictment of the physical and psychological exploitation of the Tibetan people and natural environment in the service of building a "new" China. -- Benno Ryan Weiner The Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsTranslator's Introduction Preface 1. The Story of My Family 2. My Childhood 3. The March 10th Uprising 4. The Chinese Fan the Flames of War 5. Imprisoned at the Tibet Military District Headquarters 6. Imprisoned at the Norbu Lingka Barracks 7. At the Nga-chen Power Station Construction Site 8. In Tering Prison 9. In Drapchi Prison 10. The Trong-nying Prison Farm 11. Back Home from Prison 12. The Agitation by the Muslims of Woba-ling 13. The Fall of the Panchen Lama 14. The Misuse of Education 15. The Establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region 16. The Onset of the Cultural Revolution 17. The June 7th Massacre 18. A Disastrous New Year 19. Old Tsampa in Old Meru 20. The Sino-Soviet War Brings Increased Oppression 21. The "One Smash and Three Antis" Campaign 22. The "Great Massacre" 23. PLA Soldiers Destroy the Fruits of the People's Labor in the Marshes 24. The Systematic Destruction of Ganden Monastery 25. Sent to Kongpo for the Second Time 26. The Xichao Dachang Timber Yard 27. The Tolung Power Station Construction Camp 28. The Lin Biao Affair 29. The Defamation Campaign 30. "Socialist Transformation" 31. The Banak-shol Production Cooperative 32. The Farmer's Life 33. The Death of Mao Zedong and Subsequent Developments 34. The Rewards of My Hard Work 35. Working in the Potala Palace 36. At the Tibet Academy of Social Science Epilogue: Leaving Tibet Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisUncovering the melancholic tradition of the global left.Trade ReviewLeft-Wing Melancholia is well-written, timely and original. -- Eli Zaretsky, The New School for Social Research Left-Wing Melancholia is a path breaking work that combines history and political theory with a concise, richly analytical, exciting narrative. Enzo Traverso redefines our understanding of the current regimes of temporality-a sorrowful transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century-and challenges historians and critical theorists alike to think beyond the standard binaries between history and memory, revolution and defeat, and melancholy and politics. In other words, this book is a gem. -- Federico Finchelstein, The New School for Social Research Marvelously learned and gorgeously poetic, Left-Wing Melancholia is a transcendent masterpiece of the Marxist imagination. Each engrossing chapter provides a tour-de-force of trenchant observations and lucid argumentation about the melancholic landscape of socialist memory. Intricately constructed with acrobatic prose, electric compressions, and magisterial assuredness, Traverso's scholarly milestone synthesizes an ambitious spectrum of interventions into the revolutionary aspirations and defeats of the twentieth century that is historically engaging, eminently readable, and pressingly pertinent. -- Alan Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor of English Literature and American Culture, University of Michigan According to Freud, mourning is differentiated from melancholia in its working through grief by acknowledging the irreparable loss of a love object. If so, should the contemporary Left finally concede the failure of its dreams of revolutionary redemption? Or, and this is the gamble of Enzo Traverso's provocative new book, is it better to remain defiantly melancholic in the hope that those dreams may still be realized? Drawing on a lifetime of immersion in the history of modern European culture and politics, he provides future progressive movements a glimmer of hope that the dialectic of defeat may not yet be history's final word. -- Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley With Left-Wing Melancholia, Enzo Traverso provides us with a timely and learned meditation on the politics of grief, mourning, and historical loss. Yet, in the tradition of Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch, Traverso also instructs us on how the experience of loss can simultaneously generate heretofore untapped repositories of social hope. Left-Wing Melancholia is both an exhilarating work of intellectual synthesis as well as a pathbreaking study in cultural history. -- Richard Wolin, author of Walter Benjamin: An Aesthetic of Redemption In this wide-ranging, conceptually rich, nuanced and thoughtful meditation, Enzo Traverso takes stock of the current historical moment as marking a fundamental historical and cultural crisis for the Left. The overarching trajectory of struggles oriented toward an emancipatory future that characterized and motivated movements in the past two centuries has been fundamentally broken, resulting in a profound melancholia. Taking inspiration from heterodox critical responses to the darkness enveloping Europe in 1940, Traverso seeks to uncover trace elements of a new utopian imaginary, as a leap without guarantees, a melancholy wager. -- Moishe Postone, University of ChicagoTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Haunting Pasts Without Utopias 1. The Culture of Defeat 2. Marxism and Memory 3. Melancholy Images 4. Bohemia: Between Melancholy and Revolution 5. Marxism and the West 6. Adorno and Benjamin: Letters at Midnight in the Century 7. Synchronic Times: Walter Benjamin and Daniel Bensaid Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThomas Doherty tells the story of the 1947 hearings into alleged Communist subversion in the movie industry. Show Trial is a character-driven inquiry into how the HUAC hearings ignited the Hollywood blacklist, providing a gripping new history of one of the most influential events of the postwar era.Trade ReviewThomas Doherty’s fans, of whom I am one, know he is a first-rate film historian with a sharp eye for political theater as well as a stylish writer with a knack for turning a phrase. Show Trial gives a thorough, well-contextualized, clear-eyed, and witty account of the 1947 HUAC “Hollywood Ten” hearings, full of pithy characterizations and choice bits of business. -- J. Hoberman, author of An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold WarThomas Doherty’s Show Trial is a uniquely pragmatic history of the Hollywood Blacklist—a big book on a big topic that ruthlessly defies and confounds orthodoxy at every turn. No book in print provides a fuller accounting of the hearings themselves. And no author to date gives his readers so much room to appreciate and understand who said what and why. -- Jon Lewis, author of Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los AngelesDoherty is one of the best, if not the best, writers in the American studies world today, and has produced an excellent book that will command a great deal of attention. Show Trial sheds new light on the story of the Hollywood Ten and HUAC and does it in fresh and exciting ways. One of the book’s greatest strengths is that it stays away from familiar academic debates that focus heavily on politics and instead tells a character-driven story using quotes from a wide variety of contemporaneous participants. Doherty places the personalities of the era—left and right—on center stage. This is easily the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of HUAC and the Hollywood Ten to date, and I predict it will become the book to read on this topic. -- Steven Ross, author of Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and AmericaIlluminating. . . . With accessible prose and astute academic insight, Doherty shows us that both the studios and the Hollywood Ten were victims of HUAC. His Show Trial is likely to become the standard authority on the genesis of the Hollywood blacklist. -- Christopher Yogerst * The Washington Post *Deeply absorbing, expertly researched, and thoroughly entertaining. -- Noah Isenberg * The New Republic *[Doherty] brings fresh scepticism to the many self-serving myths that have encrusted the tale. . . . It is impossible to read Show Trial without thinking about its relevance to the current situation in America. The country is again faced with a resurgence of nativism, racism and isolationism (ironically, it is now progressives who are warning about nefarious Russian influence) and a culture of believing figures in the public eye to be guilty until proven innocent. One can only hope for another pendulum swing, such as the one Thomas Doherty, in this engaging study, demonstrates happened over the Hollywood blacklist. -- Phillip Lopate * Times Literary Supplement *A thorough and lively chronicle of a shameful episode in American political and entertainment history. * Kirkus Reviews *A riveting, exhaustive look at the 1947 House Un-American Activities Committee investigation into Communists in the film industry. . . . In the current era of legislative upheaval, Doherty’s vital, impressive history feels both relevant and urgent. * Publishers Weekly *Written with breathtaking concision and all the intrigue of a spy novel, Doherty’s account of the 1947 House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) hearing frames the alleged subversion of Hollywood by Communists as the mirror image of the Moscow Trials. -- Carrie Rickey * Film Quarterly *A shameful interlude in American history highly relevant to today’s political divisions. * Booklist *The historian Thomas Doherty explains in yet another expertly crafted book on American movie history, that the combination of Hollywood and communism has always made for a great show. * Journal of American History *Engrossing. . . . The world suffers no shortage of books about the blacklist, but Show Trial stands out for telling its story without grinding axes. -- Jesse Walker * Reason *Doherty thoroughly chronicles the HUAC circus, with its parade of well-known stars—both defiant (screenwriters Dalton Trumbo) and reluctant (Humphrey Bogart)—and accusers, such as Rep. J. Parnell Thomas. . . . For readers who appreciate both Hollywood's golden age and the postwar politics that animated it. * Library Journal *Doherty proves there are still a few surprises, even after recent revisionist accounts exposed deeper ties than previously known between the Hollywood Ten and their Soviet controllers. In his fascinating Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist, Doherty doesn’t romanticize the Ten or try to justify the excesses of HUAC. Instead, he highlights a lesser-known aspect of the hearings: the dilemma of Hollywood centrists and liberals squeezed between the extremists on both sides. Like anti-Trump conservatives today, anti-Communist liberals in late 1940s Hollywood found that the middle could be a very lonely place. -- Mark Horowitz * Commentary *A lively and highly readable account. . . . Show Trial provides a vivid picture of an episode in US history that, for a barely credible mixture of political ugliness and downright farce, has rarely been equalled. Or at least, not until recently. -- Philip Kemp * Sight & Sound *Show Trial is a solid piece of reportage on a specific event that had shattering results. . . . We’ve all read accounts of this fateful showdown between Washington and Hollywood, but never in such depth or with such well-informed commentary. -- Leonard MaltinA difficult book to summarize, Show Trial reflects a lot of hard work and has interesting content almost page by page. The fresh research is fascinating, much of it from recently released HUAC documents revealing (partly) what went on backstage of the extravaganza. -- Patrick McGilligan * Cineaste *Show Trial may not be the final word on HUAC and Hollywood but it will be the must-cite source wherever academic research encounters the HUAC and Hollywood nexus, especially concerning the year of 1947. -- Michael Kitson * Senses of Cinema *Doherty's numerous biographical asides enhance the readability of his work while providing much-needed nuance regarding a complicated period of American history. * Choice *General readers will enjoy the rich anecdotal material and the bright and breezy style of Doherty's work. Scholars will also find in the narrative and the sources the raw materials of future work. * Historian *An excellent introduction to the topic for a younger generation who may not have known that the Trump era is not the first in U.S. history to play fast and loose with the Constitution. -- Jan-Christopher Horak * Archival Spaces: Memory, Images, History *Table of ContentsProgram NotesThanks and AcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsPart I. Backstories1. How the Popular Front Became Unpopular2. Hollywood’s War Record3. The Preservation of American Ideals4. The Magic of a Hollywood Dateline5. Smearing Hollywood with the Brush of CommunismPart II. On Location in Washington6. Showtime7. Lovefest8. Friendlies, Cooperative and Uncooperative9. Hollywood’s Finest10. Doldrums11. Crashing Page 112. Contempt13. $64 Questions and No Answers14. Jewish Questions15. The Curtain DropsPart III. Backfire16. The Waldorf and Other Declarations17. Blacklists and Casualty Lists18. Not Only VictimsA Bibliographical NoteNotesIndex

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The greatest history of an event I know'' - C.L.R. JamesRegarded by many as among the most powerful works of history ever written, The History of the Russian Revolution offers an unparalleled account of one of the most pivotal and hotly debated events in world history. This book presents, from the perspective of one of its central actors, the profound liberating character of the early Russian Revolution.Originally published in three parts, Trotsky''s masterpiece is collected here in a single volume. It is still the most vital and inspiring record of the Russian Revolution ever published.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac'' Washington Post''It''s true; Marxists just wanna have fun... a revolutionary bestseller'' GuardianAt the age of twenty-three, Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado set out from their native Argentina to explore their continent, with only a single 1939 Norton motorcycle to carry them, nicknamed La Poderosa (''the powerful one''). They travelled not to visit the usual tourist attractions, but to meet ordinary people and understand Latin American life. In amidst the tales of youthful adventures - of women, wine, thrilling escapes and the power of friendship - the young Che also learns first-hand about poverty, philosophy and philosophy and forms himself into the man who would become the world''s most famous and admired revolutionary and freedom fighter. ''For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future'' TimeTrade ReviewIt's true; Marxists just wanna have fun...A revolutionary bestseller * Guardian *For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future * Time *The vision of the noble loner, whether freedom-fighter or biker...gives hope to world-weary revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries alike. * Telegraph *A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac * Washington Post *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewArrogant, affectionate, and dogmatic, Guevara is intimately revealed in this compilation of personal letters sent over the latter half of his extraordinary life... a thrilling, eyewitness account of battles whose repercussions still reverberate today * Publisher's Weekly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe humane yet devastating critique of how modern society is organized with the brutal few clinging onto their wealth and privileges at the expense of the manyPeter Kropotkin's anarchist texts had a fundamental impact on 19th and 20th century radicals of all kinds. These essays from The Conquest of Bread are bravura examples of his optimistic and angry vision of a world in which the just actions of the many can destroy the grip of the few.Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives--and upended them. Now Penguin brings you a new set of the acclaimed Great Ideas, a curated library of selections from the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA FINANCIAL TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW YORKER AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023''An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read ... It''s a privilege to read books like these'' Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big Numbers''A powerful reminder of the ways in which China''s future depends on who controls the past'' Peter HesslerA documentary filmmaker who spent years uncovering a Mao-era death camp; an independent journalist who gave voice to the millions who suffered through Covid; a magazine publisher who dodges the secret police: these are some of the people who make up Sparks: China''s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future, a vital account of how some of China''s most important writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground - its monopoly on history.In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a modern gloss, describing history as an unstoppable force heading toward Communism''s triumph. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and justify its rule.But in recent years, critical thinkers from across the land have begun to challenge this state-led disremembering. Using digital technologies to bypass China''s legendary surveillance state, their samizdat journals, guerilla media posts, and underground films document a pattern of disasters: from past famines and purges to the ethnic clashes and virus outbreaks of the present.Based on years of research in Xi Jinping''s China, Sparks challenges stereotypes of a China where the state has quashed all free thought, revealing instead a country engaged in one of humanity''s great struggles of memory against forgetting - a battle that will shape the China that emerges in the mid-21st century.Trade ReviewIan Johnson is one of the most experienced and thoughtful Western journalists writing about China. Now he has turned his attention to one of the most important battles in contemporary China: the struggle to control history ... Moving and full of human character and detail. It's a compelling read, beautifully written, and the product of deep research carried out in China over many years ... an exemplary tribute. -- Rana Mitter * Literary Review *Sparks is a work of scholarship, investigative journalism of a kind that rarely happens in the age of slashed budgets, with eyewitness accounts of brutality that will chill your blood ... Johnson’s stories bring these numbers, and this history, chillingly alive. -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times *A skilful exploration… Johnson’s skill lies in demonstrating the philosophical links between China’s geography and its political and cultural landscape ... It is deeply satisfying to read a book about China that could only have been written after decades of serious engagement with the country. -- Amy Hawkins * The Guardian *A striking account ... This immersive survey combines interviews, firsthand reportage, and historical research to paint a moving group portrait of China’s political dissidents. * Publishers Weekly *Mr Johnson’s ability to evade controls and gain the trust of his subjects is evident in his compellingly written work. The result is a rare insight into the extraordinary risks that some Chinese take to illuminate the darkest corners of communism. -- James Miles * The Economist *An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read, Sparks is alive with the voices of the countless Chinese who fiercely, improbably, refuse to let their histories be forgotten. It's a privilege to read books like these. -- Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big NumbersA revelation: this historian from overseas spent years penetrating the world of underground Chinese historians, becoming in his own right a recorder of pioneers such as Hu Jie, Ai Xiaoming, and Jiang Xue, who use text and video to record China's lost history. -- Liao Yiwu, author of The Corpse Walker, God is Red and For a Song and a Hundred SongsThis compelling and highly enjoyable book will greatly enhance the general reader's understanding of the subtle counter-currents of resistance at work in Chinese society below the smooth surface of control and compliance. -- Sebastian Veg, author of Minjian: The Rise of China's Grassroots IntellectualsA powerful narrative of how the human spirit has survived the cruel repression of Maoist totalitarianism and is still doing the same against Xi Jinping's determined efforts to impose a new form of digital totalitarianism ... A must read for anyone interested in the Chinese and China. -- Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African StudiesIan Johnson has conducted some of the most important grassroots research of any foreign journalist in China. With Sparks, he turns his attention to history - not the sanctioned, censored, and selective history promoted by the Communist Party, but the independent histories that are being written and filmed by brave individuals across the country. This book is a powerful reminder of the ways in which China's future depends on who controls the past. -- Peter Hessler

Read more less

Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2019 ''An ice-cold skewering of patriarchy, humanity and the darkness of 20th century Europe'' The Times_________________________________ ''It''s like this, Saul Adler.'' ''No, it''s like this, Jennifer Moreau.'' In 1988, Saul Adler is hit by a car on the Abbey Road. Apparently fine, he gets up and poses for a photograph taken by his girlfriend, Jennifer Moreau. He carries this photo with him to East Berlin: a fragment of the present, an anchor to the West. But in the GDR he finds himself troubled by time - stalked by the spectres of history, slipping in and out of a future that does not yet exist. Until, in 2016, Saul attempts to cross the Abbey Road again . . . _________________________________''A time-bending, location-hopping tale of love, truth and the power of seeing. Thoroughly gripping'' Sunday Telegraph ''Writing so beautiful it stops the reader on the page'' Independent ''Levy splices time in artfully believable, mesmerizing strokes'' Lambda Literary ''Skewering totalitarianism - from the state, to the family, to the strictures of the male gaze - Levy explodes conventional narrative to explore the individual''s place and culpability within history'' Guardian ''An utterly beguiling fever dream'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewAn utterly beguiling fever dream of a novel... Its sheer technical bravura places it head and shoulder above pretty much everything else on the [Booker] longlist * Daily Telegraph *Writing so beautiful it stops the reader on the page * Independent *A time-bending, location-hopping tale of love, truth and the power of seeing... Increasingly surreal and thoroughly gripping * Sunday Telegraph *Exquisite... A brilliant Booker nominee... Ultimately, Levy is concerned with power – the forms it takes in our lives, the extent to which it is something we both possess and are subjected to * Guardian *One of the big stories in English fiction this decade has been the return and triumph of Deborah Levy... You would call her example inspiring if it weren't clearly impossible to emulate * New Statesman *An ice-cold skewering of patriarchy, humanity and the darkness of the 20th century Europe * The Times *In one short and sly book after another, she writes about characters navigating swerves of history and sexuality, and the social and personal rootlessness that accompanies both * The Atlantic *Charged with themes spanning memory and mortality, beauty and time, it's as electrifying as it is mysterious * Mail on Sunday *Intelligent and supple...a dizzying tale of life across time and borders * Financial Times *It's clever, raw and doesn't play by any rules * Evening Standard *Superbly crafted, enigmatic, tantalizing... Levy defies gravity in a daring, time-bending new novel... Head-spinning and playful, her writing offers sophistication and delightful artistry * Kirkus (Starred review) *One of the best books I have ever read -- Katherine Angel via Twitterplayful, consistently surprising...Levy brilliantly plumbs the divide between the self and others * Publishers Weekly Best Books 2019 *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAssesses the relevance of Marxism in the information age. This book maps the dynamics of modern capitalism, showing how capital depends for its operations not just on exploitation in the immediate workplace, but on the continuous integration of a whole series of social sites and activities.Trade Review"An outstanding survey of various forms of electronic and political activism that have challenged and even successfully subverted existing technologies; this information is worthy of a volume of its own. This book is a welcome antidote to the dominant voices of business and government, which claim that virtually every aspect of life must succumb to market forces. Dyer-Witheford succeeds in making complex ideas understandable without oversimplification. Required reading for anyone interested in the implications of new information technologies for capitalism and work." - Choice "An excellent introduction to the political theory of the 'antiglobalization' protests... The book's bibliography is quite exhaustive... [It's] clarity of presentation makes it quite useful for academic classes in the social and cultural studies of information and communication, in classes on the political economy of information, for classes in knowledge management, critical management studies, history of information and history of communication." -- Ron Day, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology ADVANCE PRAISE "An excellent study... Those interested in understanding the vast changes we are undergoing and how we can use technologies to create a better future should find Dyer-Witheford's work extremely useful."-Douglas Kellner, author of Television and the Crisis of Democracy

Read more less

Book SynopsisA fascinating read on the power of youth protest, Children of Communism shows what life was like for the first generation to have been born under communism and how one evening spent grieving rock and roll under a tree forever changed lives.Trade ReviewRelying on oral histories and other primary sources, Horváth explores how the Communist regime manipulated state-sponsored tabloid media during the trial to legitimize its own role as guardians of public safety and to portray the youth as social deviants who were instruments of Western-style decadence. . . . Highly recommended. -- C. P. Vesei * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. The Hippie Stroll2. The Trial: Casting3. How Hooligans Are Made4. Youth Protection5. The Police and Uses of the Urban Space6. The Socialist Tabloid Press7. Protest in a Diary8. Girl in the Gang9. MemoryConclusionBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSkinner's survey of Beethoven reception in Russia from the 1790s through 2010 is constructed from an astonishing compendium of details compiled over decades of research and reflection. The adoption of the heroic Beethoven for revolutionary and communist purposes—an adoption the West believes to be a perversion—makes sense not as abuse but as a logical outgrowth of the Romantic idealization of the composer. Ultimately, Skinner provokes us into re-examining our own 'Beethovens.' -- William Meredith, emeritus director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San José State UniversityTable of ContentsYouTube PlaylistPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPrelude: Music in the Tsar's GulagPart I: RUSSIA BEFORE 19171. Encountering Beethoven: Salon and Concert Hall2. Engaging Beethoven: Writer and Critic3. Evaluating Beethoven: From Freude to Freiheit4. Embracing Beethoven: Concert Hall and RiverbankPart II: RUSSIA AFTER 19175. Beethoven as Revolutionary: Red Star Rising6. Beethoven as Icon: Cult and Canon7. Beethoven as Beethoven: The End of IdeologyPostlude: Project Gulag 2010TablesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSkinner's survey of Beethoven reception in Russia from the 1790s through 2010 is constructed from an astonishing compendium of details compiled over decades of research and reflection. The adoption of the heroic Beethoven for revolutionary and communist purposes—an adoption the West believes to be a perversion—makes sense not as abuse but as a logical outgrowth of the Romantic idealization of the composer. Ultimately, Skinner provokes us into re-examining our own 'Beethovens.' -- William Meredith, emeritus director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San José State UniversityTable of ContentsYouTube PlaylistPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPrelude: Music in the Tsar's GulagPart I: RUSSIA BEFORE 19171. Encountering Beethoven: Salon and Concert Hall2. Engaging Beethoven: Writer and Critic3. Evaluating Beethoven: From Freude to Freiheit4. Embracing Beethoven: Concert Hall and RiverbankPart II: RUSSIA AFTER 19175. Beethoven as Revolutionary: Red Star Rising6. Beethoven as Icon: Cult and Canon7. Beethoven as Beethoven: The End of IdeologyPostlude: Project Gulag 2010TablesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow the communist revolution failed, presented in a series of catastrophes.The communist project in the twentieth century grew out of utopian desires to oppose oppression and abolish class structures, to give individual lives collective meaning. The attempts to realize these ideals became a series of colossal failures. In Yesterday's Tomorrow, Bini Adamczak examines these catastrophes, proceeding in reverse chronological order from 1939 to 1917: the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the Great Terror of 1937, the failure of the European Left to prevent National Socialism, Stalin's rise to power, and the bloody rebellion at Kronstadt. In the process, she seeks a future that never happened.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Looking Forward, Marifeli Perez-Stable and her colleagues imagine Cuba''s future after the poof momentJorge I. Domínguez''s vivid phrasewhen the current regime will no longer exist. Written in an accessible style that will appeal to all interested readers, this volume does not try to predict how and when the Castro regime will end, but instead considers the possible consequences of change. Each chapterprepared by an expert in the fieldtakes up a basic issue: politics, the military, the legal system, civil society, gender, race, economic transition strategies, social policy and social welfare, corruption, the diaspora, memory, ideology and culture, and U.S.-Cuba relations. The author of each chapter considers three questions: How have other new democracies handled the basic issue in question? How might Cuba''s unique conditions affect this area in transition? What are the likely outcomes and alternatives for a Cuba in transition? Designed with students, policy-makersTrade Review“This is a collection of articles on post-Castro Cuba that ranges from classical transition studies . . . to issues closer to the microphysics of power. . . . All of these are essential to understanding a regime that made a vast symbolic investment to consolidate its power.” —Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment“Informed by the experiences of socialist transitions in eastern Europe and East Asia, leading experts on Cuba offer stimulating speculations on post-Castro scenarios . . . [and] includes a number of outstanding chapters. Carmelo Mesa-Lago suggests plausible ways that a post-Castro Cuba could achieve greater economic efficiency without sacrificing social equity, and Daniel Erikson offers striking insights on how to escape the corruption curse. And the always eloquent William LeoGrande provocatively suggests that Miami's hard-line Cuba lobby may prove to be a paper tiger when the moment for normalization finally arrives.” —Foreign Affairs“Contributing experts address particular issues, which include politics, the military, the legal system, civil society, gender, race, economic transition strategies, social policy/social welfare, corruption, the diaspora, memory, ideology and culture, and relations between the United States and Cuba.” —Hispanic Link Weekly Report“Writings that speculate on Cuba's economic, political, and social transition after Fidel Castro's death.” —The Chronicle of Higher Education“Perez-Stable presents 12 essays that explore the possible paths of a post-Castro Cuba with reference to the extent literature on democratic transition. . . . The topics addressed include political institutions, civil-military relations, constitutional change, civil society, gender equality, race and cultural politics, economic transition, social policy and social welfare, corruption, the émigré community, ideology and memory, and relations with the United States.” —Research Book News“This book focuses on what the authors believe to be the inevitable transition to a democratic regime in Cuba after Fidel and places their estimates of what that transition might be in a comparative framework, making particular reference to the transitions to democracy in Latin America and to the transitions from authoritarian socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, China, and Vietnam. All in all this is an excellent collection and it should be on the reading list of anyone interested in Cuba.” —The Americas“The essays are surprisingly far from theoretical but essentially practical and highly accessible. Early in the revolution, Castro liked to say that Cuba represented socialism with a human face. Well, that is so with the essays in this volume. Whatever happens to the island, this book will serve as a guide to readers trying to understand social developments and political transformation in post-Castro Cuba.” —Multicultural Review“This is the most important book about Cuba to appear in a generation. A group of ‘not-your-usual-émigrés’ and other experts who have taught us most of what we already know about contemporary Cuba have performed an extraordinary service to the policy and academic communities—and their patria—in imagining Cuba's future after Fidel. Building on their diverse expertise in politics, economic reform, civil-military relations, social policy, race, gender, and cultural relations, and drawing from models around the world of regime transitions gone wrong and right, their compelling essays project Cuba's recent past onto its immediate future and lay a blueprint for a free, democratic, and just society. There is quite simply no book like it.” —Frances Hagopian, Michael Grace II Associate Professor of Latin American Studies, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame“There are few if any serious, balanced, and comprehensive appraisals of the various futures open to Cuba upon the death of Fidel Castro. For those interested in these matters, this book is a treasure trove of data, analysis, and innovative thinking about Cuba’s precarious future. Its originality lies first in the fact that each chapter offers detailed descriptions of processes and lessons from other Latin American and socialist contexts that shed light on what is likely to happen in Cuba. At the same time, these chapters manage to give credit to the unique and exceptional nature of Cuban history, nationalism, and socialism so that lessons are not applied blindly with no eye to their applicability in the Cuban context.” —Ted Henken, Baruch College“When Fidel Castro is gone, Cuba will change. Whether change is peaceful or violent —or for good or ill—willl depend on whether we take the lessons offered in Perez-Stable´s collection of essays from the very best experts on Cuba. If there is to be a happy ending, then Looking Forward offers the best map yet on how to get there.“ —Ambassador (retired) Vicki J. Huddleston, former Principal Officer of the United States Interests Section in Havana, Cuba 1999–2002

Read more less