Marx, Dead and Alive: Reading "Capital" in Precarious Times

Karl Marx saw the ruling class as a sorcerer, and today's society is governed by collusions and conspiracies, fake news, and endless sleights of the economic and political hand. Andy Merrifield's book "Marx, Dead and Alive" makes a spirited case for a critical thinker who can offer people a route toward personal and social authenticity, bolstering his argument with fascinating examples of literature and history. Our value-system is undergoing a core "post-truth" meltdown.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 01 January 2021
Publisher: Monthly Review Press,U.S.

Karl Marx viewed the ruling class as a sorcerer, no longer capable of controlling the dark forces it had summoned from the underworld. In today's age, characterized by the emergence of figures like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, our society has never been governed by such a multitude of conjuring tricks, involving collusions, conspiracies, fake news, and endless sleights of economic and political hand. However, argues Andy Merrifield, as our modern lives become increasingly enveloped in mist, the works of Marx can help us break through the fog. In his book, Marx, Dead and Alive, Merrifield makes a spirited case for a critical thinker who can still offer people a path toward personal and social authenticity. He bolsters his argument with fascinating examples of literature and history, ranging from Shakespeare and Beckett to the Luddites and the Black Panthers, demonstrating how Marx can reveal our individual lives within a collective perspective and within a historical continuum. Who we are now hinges on who we once were and who we might become, particularly in the context of our value-system experiencing a profound "post-truth" meltdown.

Weight: 206g
Dimension: 126 x 190 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781583678794