This edited volume on the concepts and interpretations of Karl Marx is a timely collection that appeals to at least three overlapping audiences. The first are those who have a working knowledge of Marx’s concepts and can benefit from a collection of essays that put his many writings into conversation with each other. The second audience includes those who need an introduction to Marx’s ideas beyond how people typically read Marx—brief snippets from The Communist Manifesto (1848). The chapters are not summaries, however, as the authors state their own position in Marxian debates, for instance regarding the extent to which Marx theorized the state. A third audience includes those interested in reading about how broad topics such as democracy or ecology can be usefully understood from a leftist and Marxian perspective. Some topics, like education, would typically require reading across Marx’s many letters and newspaper articles. The chapters are well written, even exciting; Musto’s chapter on communism, for example, is written as though he has much to say and is running out of time—a nice reflection of the global recession of 2008 and the current pandemic economy.
Marcello
Musto
