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90 reviews for:
The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality
Bhaskar Sunkara
3.56 AVERAGE
90 reviews for:
The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality
Bhaskar Sunkara
3.56 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A great start for people who are disenfranchised by the American two-party political system and capitalist economy looking for a better alternative.
Sunkara paints a detailed picture of what life can look like in a more democratically socialist society before providing a history of socialism that is detailed but balanced with a good pace. I found this to be a great start as someone who didn’t know a lot about the history of socialism within the last 200 years. A great stepping stone to more detailed reading.
Sunkara’s ideas and proposals of where/what socialists need to go/do next is to the point and offers realistic ideas without getting bogged down in the doom and gloom known as American politics. A great read.
Sunkara paints a detailed picture of what life can look like in a more democratically socialist society before providing a history of socialism that is detailed but balanced with a good pace. I found this to be a great start as someone who didn’t know a lot about the history of socialism within the last 200 years. A great stepping stone to more detailed reading.
Sunkara’s ideas and proposals of where/what socialists need to go/do next is to the point and offers realistic ideas without getting bogged down in the doom and gloom known as American politics. A great read.
The beginning and end serve as a manifesto of sorts, though most of the book is dedicated to a brief but thorough historical overview of socialist movements throughout the world. Regardless of your political disposition, this book is a great objective preview, including the "good and bad," of a movement that is once again gaining steam.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Great intro book with a strong finish on ideas and tactics for the future. The middle tries to cover the whole global history of socialism with an honest critique of the times it's gone off the rails into totalitarianism. It gets a bit uneven there as others have said but I get why he tried and there's 150+ years to cover so don't think it was too off. For someone new to the subject, it will point them in the right direction and answer many of the questions they probably have.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Solid review of socialist movements over the course of history and a decent path forward...not super engaging covering so much along with the dates, names, etc. is hard to do well. The font of the book also drove me crazy but it's a good base level education to build from.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book is useful as a basic primer on socialism and a recalibration if the Cold War orthodoxy most of us received in school. I appreciate that Bhaskar didn’t attempt apologia for past failed socialist ventures like the USSR, but fairly framed these revolutions in their historical context.
For all it’s good qualities, this book got fairly dry at parts and there were some sections that jumped between two historical or current movements in, what I assume, was an attempt to compare and contrast, but which was not artfully done.
Additionally, though Bhaskar makes a case for socialism in the 21sr century, there was a disappointing lack of imaginative extrapolation about the future which I think is one of the arguments in favor of leftist movements and the case would have been stronger had more of that been included.
Overall, I would still recommend this to those looking to learn about socialism and the modern argument for movements like the DSA, but don’t look here for much inspiration.
For all it’s good qualities, this book got fairly dry at parts and there were some sections that jumped between two historical or current movements in, what I assume, was an attempt to compare and contrast, but which was not artfully done.
Additionally, though Bhaskar makes a case for socialism in the 21sr century, there was a disappointing lack of imaginative extrapolation about the future which I think is one of the arguments in favor of leftist movements and the case would have been stronger had more of that been included.
Overall, I would still recommend this to those looking to learn about socialism and the modern argument for movements like the DSA, but don’t look here for much inspiration.
Not what I wanted to read as a historical recount of the history of socialism rather than a manifesto