Karl Marx: Selected Writings

Book Description

This 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 ideas as well as a new general introduction for each section of the book by Professor McLellan. As with the first edition, this comprehensive and clearly structured selection of Marx's writings will be essential reading for all those interested in the political thought of this perennially important figure in Western political philosophy.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent collection.......2006-02-02

This is a brilliant collection of some of the very best writings of Karl Marx. A must read for anyone with interest in Marx's early writings (non-Marxist period), letters, essays, his Doctoral thesis, and then later on his political writings forming the `theory of historical materialism', commonly referred to as Marxism. Personally, his `Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 1844' is really a very nice reading because it renders a very attractive insight into Marx's early intellectual and psychological fight against Hegel's Phenomenology to form the basis of his theory later on. Also included is: Critique of Hegel's works and A Poverty of Philosophy (critique of Proudhon) which are excellent readings. Recommended to everyone; quintessentially to anyone trying to get an insight into one of the greatest intellectual minds of all time.

Subhasish Ghosh

St. Cross College
University of Oxford

Wonderful Anthology Of Marx's Theories and Ideas.......2004-02-27

When one considers the incredible influence that Marxism has had in the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

Included here is everything from the Communist Manifesto all the way to Volume One of Das Capital. One can gain a better appreciation for his ideas regarding the way in which the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressors provides the motive force for history, and how all history is the history of such class struggles between the owners of the means of production, on the one hand, and the workers, who have nothing to barter with but their considerable capacity to accomplish labor. If one want to gain a better appreciation for the nuances regarding how alienation is created buy the organization of work, or the origin of property, or even the ways in which all of the aspects of a particualr society's culture are manifestations of the values of the ruling class, then a careful reading of the material found here will serve you well. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

A Great Anthology.......2000-09-16

This is the best Marx anthology available. Aside from selections taken from all of Marx's major works, it contains lesser-known selections on a variety of topics. The whole presents a steady stream of selections through Marx's life. Consequently, it gives the length and breadth of Marx's writing without burying you in a life-time of reading. Short explanatory introductions help place the selections in Marx's development and in broader history.

A good follow up is Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski (3 volumes). Unfortunately those books are out of print in America, but they can still be found in good libraries and in the used-book market.

Excellent Selection of Marx's Writings........1999-07-05

This is an excellent selection of the writings of Karl Marx. This includes many writings which do not make it into the usual Marx/Engels Readers; Writings including Marx's Letters, his criticism of Bakunin, more writings on economics than in the usual Reader, and so on. One flaw of it, though, is that it does not contain the later writings of Engels writen after Marx's death. I suppose this is to be expected; It is after all *Marx's* writings, not Engels. However, the loss does not affect it much, and the book is still one of the most valuable tomes of Marxism I've bought. I'd recommend anyone interested in the thought of Karl Marx to get this book; If one is interested in both the writings of Marx and Engels, I'd recommend they get this book and the Marx/Engels Reader to supplement it. I have both, and both are fascinating.

Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches

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A Classical Regnery Anthology of a Conservative Luminary
conservatism's bard
One of the 25 most important conservative books

Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches
Edmund Burke
Manufacturer: Gateway Editions
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0895264072

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By any reasonable judgment, Burke has to be considered one of the world's outstanding thinkers on politics.-- Peter J. Stanlis, from his Preface

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A Classical Regnery Anthology of a Conservative Luminary.......2005-02-02

~Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches~ is a great anthology of conservative luminary Edmund Burke's political and social writings. Burke is considered by many to be the godfather of conservatism. The Irish-born British conservative entered Trinity College at Dublin in 1744 and later moved to London in 1750. In 1770, in his tract entitled the 'Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents,' he scolded George III for his efforts at undoing the hard-won liberties that were thought to have been secured by the Glorious Revolution. Burke was a champion of the rule of law, and surmised that prerogatives of the king may not usurp that law, and that even the magistrates are to be constrained by the law. He defended the constraining hand of Parliament against the king's usurpations and cronyism in political appointments. He supported principled, calm, deliberative criticism of royal prerogatives by Parliamentarians, which he held to be a vital link in the preservation of the British constitution and ordered liberty.

Burke was an Old Whig, and on the Right side of the political spectrum and had no rosy delusions about human nature. His contemporaries on the Left like Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a positive and a optimistic view of human nature, and in his eyes humanity merely needed to be liberated from the decadent enslaving institutions of civil society. On the other hand, Burke recognized man's sinful nature and innate depravity and incorporated the Augustinian-Christian doctrine of original sin into his political philosophy. "Whatever disunites man from God, also disunites man from man," declares Burke. What is more, Burke does not see equality as self-evident, but he astutely observes that inequality is part of the natural order of things. The ideal equality to strive for was equality before the law, not equality of condition or even opportunity. Burke recognized that the illusive search for equality was in fact destructive of the liberty that was to accompany it because egalitarian ideology was fundamentally at odds with human nature. For this reason, Burke was opposed to the French Revolution and scolded the Jacobin rebellion for its barbarity, its egalitarian tyranny, and the unattainable antinomy of absolute freedom that was sought after. He likewise abhorred the initial English enthusiasm for the events across the sea in France and lamented that such an upheaval would never afflict England. Yet Burke, an Old Whig was a champion of the Rights of the Englishmen, and spoke out on behalf of the American, Irish and the Indian colonials. "Good order is the foundation of all things," quipped Burke in his Reflections on the French Revolution. Burke offered much prescriptive wisdom about reforming and bettering civil society while conserving the vital remnants and traditions so vitally requisite to the continuity of civil society. He yielded his acquiescence of support to the American Cause of 1776 and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Burke assailed the abuses perpetrated against American colonials in exploitative taxation, arbitrary suspension of the rights of colonials and an overall condescending attitude of contempt that pervaded the attitude of government towards the colonial subjects therein. Burke worked tirelessly for conciliation between British and American colonials, though the Tories prevailed and their efforts to spite and to subjugate the colonials only led to the American colonials' victorious secession by force of arms. Furthermore, Burke was opposed to the aggrandizing of power and the corruption of the law, and recognized that ordered liberty must be upheld. Burke observed, "Bad law is the worst sort of tyranny." He was practical and pragmatic to the extent needed without discarding first principles, as he accepted that, "All government-indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act-is founded on compromise and barter." Yet Burke was mistrustful of concentrated power and observed, "Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief."

The reductionism and sophistry of modern critics casts conservatives as knaves who nostalgically seek preservation of the status quo irrespective of whatever tyrannies and social pathologies afflict the people. However, Burke above all shows that classical conservatism is not quixotic sentimentalism about tradition but rather a desire to conserve those vital remnants so necessary to continuation of ordered liberty while improving civil society through patient, contemplative, informed and calmly deliberative political dialogue. Sometimes standing up to sheer tyranny through resistance and civil disobedience is in order. Though, "Our patience will achieve more than our force," avowed Burke. Burke justly condemned the barbarity of the French Revolution and no doubt considers the interposition of the lesser magistrates as requisite in combating the usurpations of higher magistrates, ministers, and leaders.

All things considered, this brilliant anthology of Burke's more renowned works is certainly a great introduction to the perennial conservative.

conservatism's bard.......2000-10-22

What a heady time were the late 1700's. For hundreds, even thousands, of years, Western man had been saddled with monarchy; kings who were said to rule by divine right. But by the end of the 18th century, Martin Luther, John Locke and Adam Smith had propounded the essential framework for modern liberal capitalist democracy and the Revolution in America had launched a grand experiment based on those ideas. Then came the French Revolution and it was blithely assumed that here again Liberty was on the march. When suddenly, rising to meet the tide of history, came Edmund Burke to excoriate the Jacobins and denounce the Revolution. In so doing, he not only did mankind a great service, by sounding the alarms against unchecked liberty, he also basically gave birth to modern Conservatism. Today, after a long period in the wilderness, particularly during the Cold War, Edmund Burke has come roaring back into fashion. In a sense, he has finally won his argument with the defenders of the French Revolution, two hundred years after the fact, and is reaping the spoils.

For two centuries a controversy has raged over Burke's political philosophy, in particular whether the great defender of American, Irish and Indian rights was inconsistent in opposing the French Revolution. The very existence and the stubborn persistence of this controversy seem to demonstrate either a complete misunderstanding or a willful misrepresentation of Burke's basic arguments. One suspects it's a bit of both. The greatness of Burke lies in the fact that he was among the first, and certainly the most eloquent, defenders of democracy to recognize the dangers it entails; that power in the hands of the masses is just as great a threat to liberty as when it lies in the hand of a dictator or king. This point had been amply demonstrated in France, where the revolutionists had quickly abandoned any concern for personal freedom and had moved on to a bloody demand for equality--freedom's enemy.

It is here that we arrive at the key point that divides the modern Left and Right. The Left believes (a la Rousseau) that man is by nature "good" and all men are born with equal abilities, but that environmental factors and corrupt institutions warp individuals, making some evil and keeping others from realizing their full potentials; which if realized would make them equal to other men. The goal of the Left is therefore to remove, by any means necessary, these environmental and institutional impediments and return to an imagined state of nature where all men are good and are equally able; where Man will be governed by pure reason.

The Right, on the other hand, recognizes that man is inately "evil"; that is, evil in the sense that he is self centered and will generally act in his own interest not the interest of others. Moreover, men are inherently unequal; in the state of nature, the able will tyrannize the less able. It is for these reasons that men form governments in the first place; to protect themselves from one another. The goal of the Right is to provide each individual with the greatest personal freedom and utmost opportunity to realize his potential, consistent with the basic safety concerns that gave birth to the state in the first instance. Conservatives realize that pure reason will not lead men to treat each other with justice, by nature, men will always seek advantage over one another. The State and other institutions safeguard us against this eventuality.

This fundamental difference can not be overstated. Prior to the 18th century, the Left would have included all democrats, while the Right would have been made up of monarchists and supporters of aristocracy. But beginning with the French Revolution, this fissure separated the regnant liberal forces into two competing camps, setting the stage for the two century long contest that ended in the early 1990's with the fall of the Soviet Union. Both sides would produce great men, original theorists, brilliant writers and magnificent orators, but none of them would ever surpass Burke and his mastery of all these fields. Rare are the men who so clearly perceive the fundamental issues that confront mankind. They seem at times to be travelers from the future, come to warn us about what horrors the years to come will hold unless we obey their counsel. Rarer still are the occasions when we heed them. We can only imagine the millions of lives that would have been saved had people followed Burke's vision rather that that of Rousseau and Jefferson and Marx.

Happily, here in America, James Madison's Constitution embodies many of the same ideas and protects against many of the concerns which Burke expressed. The adoption of representative, rather than direct, democracy; the bicameral legislature and tripartite government; the careful system of checks and balances; the protection of basic rights from government interference: these are all, though we seldom discuss them in these terms, intended to protect the individual from the potentially tyrannical effects of democracy. When commentators speak of the genius of the American system, whether they realize it or not, it is to this central fact that they refer. So while critics have struggled to understand a false dichotomy in Burke's thought, we (and to a lesser extent the Brits) have enjoyed the fruits of a political system which assumes that his critique of democracy is less theory than received wisdom. For whatever reason, it took two hundred years and countless millions of lives before the rest of the world recognized what Burke (the bard) and Madison (the draftsman) had known all along; two centuries that proved them indisputably correct.

GRADE: A+

One of the 25 most important conservative books.......2000-08-05

If Ronald Reagan is the great communicator, Burke must be the extraordinary communicator. Someone once said that pages of Burke are like sheets of fire.

During the time he lived, in the 18th century, most political leaders were hereditary aristocrats, but Burke, like Cicero, did not descend from generations of prominent leaders. He earned his leadership in British politics through the power of his mind, by studying political principles and applying them to real circumstances. A superficial look at Burke's career might tempt one to dismiss him as a failure. Most of the causes to which he devoted himself were not successful in his lifetime.

Prior to the American Revolution, he wrote brilliantly on behalf of conciliation between Britain and the American colonies. He argued for fair treatment of India by Britain. He argued for fair treatment of the Irish by the British and for Catholic emancipation in England. In time these positions won acceptance, but the acceptance came after Burke's death.

Fortunately, he did live long enough to see the triumph of the greatest work of his life: his effort to awaken his country to the fundamentally destructive but superficially attractive nature of the French Revolution. His thorough and, I believe, inspired condemnation of the French Revolution swept British majority opinion. To Burke, more than any other politician of his time, goes the credit for creating the intellectual force which saved Europe from revolutionary chaos and dictatorship.

Book Description

with a new introduction by ERIC J. HOBSBAWM

"Very usefully pulls the key passages from Gramsci's writings into one volume, which allows English-language readers an overall view of his work. Particularly valuable are the connections it draws across his work and the insights which the introduction and glossary provide into the origin and development of some key Gramscian concepts."
--Stuart Hall, Professor of Sociology, Open University

The most complete one-volume collection of writings by one of the most fascinating thinkers in the history of Marxism, The Antonio Gramsci Reader fills the need for a broad and general introduction to this major figure.

Antonio Gramsci was one of the most important theorists of class, culture, and the state since Karl Marx. In the U.S., where his writings were long unavailable, his stature has lately so increased that every serious student of Marxism, political theory, or modern Italian history must now read him.

Imprisoned by the Fascists for much of his adult life, Gramsci wrote brilliantly on a broad range of subjects: from folklore to philosophy, popular culture to political strategy. Still the most comprehensive collection of Gramsci's writings available in English, it now features a new introduction by leading Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm, in addition to its biographical introduction, informative introductions to each section, and glossary of key terms.

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An excellent compilation of Calhoun's constitutional and political writings...

John C. Calhoun: Selected Writings and Speeches (Conservative Leadership Series)
H. Lee Cheek , John C. Calhoun , Lee Cheek Jr. , and John C. Calhoun
Manufacturer: Gateway Editions
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Calhoun And Popular Rule: The Political Theory Of The Disquisition And Discourse

The Anti-Federalists: Selected Writings and Speeches (Conservative Leadership Series)

The Best of Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke (Conservative Leadership Series)

New Views of the Constitution

The American Republic

ASIN: 0895261790

Book Description

The conflict between power and liberty in a free government was the passionate concern of this most articulate, and often prophetic, orator and writer.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent compilation of Calhoun's constitutional and political writings..........2006-06-06

~John C. Calhoun: Selected Writings and Speeches~ is an anthology of writings of the antebellum South Carolina statesmen. It's perhaps the definitive abridged compilation of Calhoun's writings. The alternative of course is the broad collection by historian Clyde Wilson, entitled The Papers of John C. Calhoun. However, as a practical matter, sorting through the cream of the crop is an exercise that takes a lot of work. Dr. Cheek, however, has sorted through Calhoun's writings, and put together a most remarkable collection of Calhoun's writings. Besides, the Disquisition and the Discourse, he features good pieces such as Calhoun's Exposition and Protest, his Speech on the Force Bill, and his letter to James Hamilton describing the nature of the Union, among several other selections.

Calhoun's Disquisition and Discourse are profoundly reflective political thought that typify what historians characterize as the South Atlantic Republicanism. Calhoun's concept of concurrent majorities and his understanding of the American federal system are deeply reflective. Undoubtedly, if we are to ever initiate a meaningful renaissance of federalism and implement needed constitutional reforms within the United States, such a move necessitates the revival of the statesmanship of John Calhoun. So, Dr. Cheek's books are a good place to start.

All things considered, if you're interested in antebellum politics, political science, or exploring the statesmanship of South Carolina statesmen John C. Cahoun, then Cheek's anthology is definitely worth your consideration. Please consider reading this book in tandem with his other book Calhoun and Popular Rule, which offers sound exegesis of the Disquisition and Discourse.

Essential Marcuse: Selected Writings of Philosopher and Social Critic Herbert Marcuse

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Essential Marcuse: Selected Writings of Philosopher and Social Critic Herbert Marcuse

Manufacturer: Beacon Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807014338

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The Essential Marcuse provides an overview of Herbert Marcuse's political and philosophical writing over four decades, with excerpts from his major books as well as essays from various academic journals. Marcuse's writings are noteworthy for their uncompromising opposition to both capitalism and communism. His words are as relevant to today's society as they were at the time they were written.

The Selected Political Writings of John Locke (Norton Critical Editions)

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He defines what it means to be civilized!

The Selected Political Writings of John Locke (Norton Critical Editions)
John Locke , and Paul Sigmund
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
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ASIN: 0393964515

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No other series of classic texts achieves the editorial standard of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with contextual and critical materials that bring the work to life for students. Careful editing, first-rate translation, thorough explanatory annotations, chronologies, and selected bibliographies make each text accessible to students while encouraging in-depth study. Each volume in the series is printed on acid-free paper, and every text remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice of excellence for scholarship for students at more than 2,500 colleges and universities worldwide.

Customer Reviews:

He defines what it means to be civilized!.......2006-04-25

John Locke has more influence on Western political culture than just providing Jefferson with his ideas and words for the Declaration of independence. Through his writings, particularly through his Second Treatise and Social Contract, he defines what it means to be civilized.

Combatants and non-combatants, criminals and soldiers, he presents a clarity that is missing in today's political world. If only our political leaders, and members of the press would read Locke . . there would be less ambiguity on who is and who is not deserving of our attention. As an example, non-combatants have never given their permission to be a potential target, and anyone not respecting this fact is a criminal. Period.

Some of his writings may no longer be relevant, such as his arguments against divine rights of kings, and he may be too idealistic in his expectations that people will only take what they need, but he was writing over 300 years ago, within a political climate quite different than at the present time, and at least some of his remarks should be placed in this perspective.

Selected Writings on Ethics and Politics (Studien zur oesterreichischen Philosophie 40)

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Selected Writings on Ethics and Politics (Studien zur oesterreichischen Philosophie 40)
Bernard, Bolzano
Manufacturer: Editions Rodopi BV
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9042021543
Release Date: 2007-01-31

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Celebrated today for his groundbreaking work in logic and the foundations of mathematics, Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848) was best known in his own time as a leader of the reform movement in his homeland (Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire). As professor of religious science at the Charles University in Prague from 1805 to 1819, Bolzano was a highly visible public intellectual, a courageous and determined critic of abuses in Church and State. Based in large part on a carefully argued utilitarian practical philosophy, he developed a non-violent program for the reform of the authoritarian institutions of the Empire, which he himself set in motion through his teaching and other activities. Rarely has a philosopher had such a great impact on the political culture of his homeland. This volume contains a substantial collection of Bolzano's writings on ethics and politics, translated into English for the first time. It includes a complete translation of the treatise 'On the Best State', his principal writings on ethics, an essay on the contemporary situation in Ireland, and a selection of his Exhortations, dealing with such topics as enlightenment, civil disobedience, the status of women, anti-Semitism and Czech-German relations in Bohemia. It will be of particular interest to students of central European philosophy and history, and more generally to philosophers and historians of ideas.

Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov

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Any Thoughtful Man is a Fugitive
His Championship of Freedom Should Never Be Neglected

Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov
Frank Chodorov , Charles H. Hamilton , and Paul Avrich Collection (Library of Congress)
Manufacturer: Liberty Fund
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Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Any Thoughtful Man is a Fugitive.......2007-04-18

Frank Chodorov was anything but an "ivory towered professor" as these essays will attest. He was a self-made man, and he was not swayed by the political trends of his times. He had little patience with the naive leftests, and he separated himself from what Lawrence Dennis called "The Dumb Right."

Chodorov was opposed to socialism. He was obviously at odds with the True Believing Communists, but he also expressed criticism at the New Dealers whom he thought would inaugurate socialism under different labels. He shared many of the same criticisms that John T. Flynn had of the New Deal programs.

One of the themes that Chodorov emphasizes is the fact that the "Capitalists" did not do a good job of defending themselves in refuting their Marxist and socialists critics. Chodorov is clear that anyone looking to the professors for intellectual support against Marxist and socialist criticisms was wasting their time. Chodorov was also against supressing Free Speech and Free Press of the Marxists and socialists. He remarked that to do so was to emulate the Communists wherevever they held power that emulating the Communists' tactics lowered Americans to their level. Chodorov's solution was for men to refute the ideas of the Marxists. In other words, one should confront the buzz words and phrases and slogans of the Marxists and socialists such as surplus value, greed, etc.

While Chodorov disagreed with Big Communism, he was no supporter of the Conservatives dreams of the U.S. Military State. In fact Chodorov was disillusioned with many Conservatives who wanted to build a garrison state in the U.S. and match such as state with a police state. Chodorov stated that the Conservatives would split over Anti-Communism, and Chodorov had little patience with "The Dumb Right." In fact, he stated that if anyone ever called him a Conservative, he would punch that person in the nose.

Yet, Chodorov's criticism of Big Communism was more incisive than most Conservatives. One remark he made that was so true was the Big Communism would rise over the dead of the Capitalists AND the workers in The Workers' Paradise. Chodorove also accurately argued that Big Communism would collapse due to its disasterous economic policies. He knew that only because the West, including the U.S., subsidized Big Communism, Big Communism survived. In other words, Chodorov thought that Big Communism's collapse would result from ecomonic policy rather than fruitless wars.

Frank Chodorov thinking and writing was similiar to that of Albert Jay Nock and other thoughtful men who valued liberty more than they hated "The Enemy" whoever the enemy was at any given time. This reviewer's only criticism of Chodorov is that he could have embellished his arguements against socialism and especially Big Communism by citing historical examples.

Frank Chodorov's writing is clear and thoughtful. Anyone who reads his work would learn not only clear thinking, but they would learn good writing from someone who did not clutter his work with quotes and useless phrases.

His Championship of Freedom Should Never Be Neglected.......2003-12-05

Long before there was such a thing as a libertarian movement, Frank Chodorov was one of the most genial defenders of freedom, of individual rights and sovereignty, and of properly-construed government (sole legitimate business, other than protecting her citizens from enemies abroad and predators - real predators, please, not mere vicemongers - at home: staying the hell out of your business, my business, every citizen's business, until or unless one citizen would abrogate a fellow citizen's equivalent rights) against the improperly consecrated State (which imposes itself upon every last shard of your business, though it be not competent nor Constitutionally sanctioned to do so).

Across these forty-five essays, written with grace, wit, and gentility, you will get to know a clarity of thinking and of feeling uncommon in contemporary sociopolitical writing. You will also get to know a man who suffered neither fools nor collectivists left or right gladly, yet had the surety never to make it a personal or a venal rebuke. I could point to numerous examples of just how lyric, how embracing, was his way of enunciating all the reasons why we should be and remain suspicious of the encroachments of the State against the sovereignty of the individual, but perhaps this will do for an introduction, from his gentle rebuke to the militant wing of the anti-Communist movement, written at the threshold of the Smith Act trial of 1949, "How To Curb The Commies." Here is wisdom we would do wisely to heed even now, as only too many of our fellows seem sooner disposed to a curb upon our freedoms than a healthy defence thereof):

"Heterodoxy is a necessary condition of a free society...Whenever I choose an idea and label it 'right,' I imply the prerogative of another to reject that idea and label it 'wrong.' To invalidate his right is to invalidate mine...The danger, to those who hold freedom as the highest good, is not the ideas the communists espouse but the power they aspire to. Let them rant their heads off - that is their right, which we cannot afford to infringe - but let us keep from them the political means of depriving everybody else of the same right."

Book Description

Activist, journalist, and theorist, Eqbal Ahmad (1934--1999) was admired and consulted by revolutionaries and activists as well as policymakers and academics. In articles and columns published in such journals as the Nation, New York Review of Books, Monthly Review, and newspapers in Pakistan and Cairo, Ahmad inspired new ways of thinking about global issues. Whether writing on the rise of militant Islam, the conflict in Kashmir, U.S. involvement in Vietnam, or the cynical logic of Cold War geopolitics, Ahmad offered incisive, passionate, and often prophetic analyses of the major political events and movements of the second half of the twentieth century.

This work is the first to collect Ahmad's writings in a single volume. It reflects his distinct understanding of world politics as well as his profound sense of empathy for those living in poverty and oppression. He was a fierce opponent of imperialism and corruption and advocated democratic transformations in postcolonial and third-world societies. A uniquely perceptive critic of colonialism and U.S. foreign policy, Ahmad was equally vigilant in his criticisms of third-world dictatorships.

Like few other writers, Ahmad's life experiences shaped his political views. He grew up amidst the turmoil of postcolonial India, worked alongside the Algerian FLN in their fight against the French occupation, and later became a prominent spokesperson for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Customer Reviews:

The Third World as seen by one of its keenest observers. .......2007-05-19

Met E.A. once in the mountains of colorado in the early 1970s. could see even then that he had a first class mind and that he understood the historical processes taking place in the Third World as well as anyone. His understanding of the war in Vietnam, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the great historic tragedy that would become independent Algeria combined with profound knowledge of India and Pakistan were already evident. This book is a collection of his writings. They give a birds eye view of the historical processes taking place in the Third World in the last half of the 20th century. This book is a gold mine of profound insights - provides a fine compass for what is happening in the Third World by one of its most perceptive observers and participants. I've started to use it as a text in some classes I teach. Hopefully his life and work will become better known in the period a head and can help guide us - all of us - to a better future.

Rob Prince.

Alfarabi, The Political Writings: Selected Aphorisms and Other Texts (Agora Editions)

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Alfarabi, The Political Writings: Selected Aphorisms and Other Texts (Agora Editions)
Alfarabi
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080148913X

Book Description

Alfarabi was among the first to explore the tensions between the philosophy of classical Greece and that of Islam, as well as of religion generally. His writings, extraordinary in their breadth and deep learning, have had a profound impact on Islamic and Jewish philosophy. This volume presents four of Alfarabi's most important texts, making his political thought available to classicists, medievalists, and scholars of religion and Byzantine and Middle Eastern studies. In a clear prose translation by Charles E. Butterworth, these treatises provide a valuable introduction to the teachings of Alfarabi and to the development of Islamic political philosophy. All of these texts are based on new Arabic editions. Two--The Book of Religion and Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages, Plato the Divine and Aristotle--appear in English for the first time. The translations of the other two works--Selected Aphorisms and chapter five of the Enumeration of the Sciences--differ markedly from those previously known to English-language readers. Butterworth situates each essay in its historical, literary, and philosophical context. His notes help the reader follow Alfarabi's text and identify persons, places, and events. English-Arabic and Arabic-English glossaries of terms further assist the reader.

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