Socialism...Seriously

A Brief Guide to Human Liberation

by Danny Katch

Paperback, 165 pages

English language

Published Oct. 10, 2015 by Haymarket Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-60846-515-6
OCLC Number:: 921450083

Opinion polls show that many people in the U.S. prefer socialism to capitalism. But after being declared dead and buried for decades, socialism has come to mean little more than something vaguely less cruel and stupid than what we have now. That's not exactly going to inspire millions to storm the barricades. Danny Katch brings together the two great Marxist traditions of Karl and Groucho to provide an entertaining and insightful introduction to what the socialist tradition has to say about democracy, economics and the potential of human beings to be something more than being bomb-dropping, planet-destroying racist fools.

7 editions

Sergio reviewed Socialism...Seriously by Danny Katch

Review of 'Socialism...seriously' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is an effective (as in concise and easy to understand) surface-level guide to socialism, that reads maybe a bit too much like a long Twitter thread, full of humor and snark that at times works and at times falls flat for me. Regardless, it does a decent enough job of explaining core ideas and untangling concepts and myths from the reality of socialism without requiring hours upon hours of reading, which makes it a nice springboard from which to jump onto less surface-level material. I also thought the quotes the author chose to support their points were appropriate and quite good.

Ika Makimaki reviewed Socialism...Seriously by Danny Katch

Review of 'Socialism...seriously' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's a very fun, humorous and light-hearted introduction to Marxism and what it really means in today's world.
I must say it is one of those books that ends faster then you expect it too and it also gives you a lot of pointers to other books, movies and cultural references, should you wish to go further.
So, if like me, you didn't really understand much about socialism, communism, Marxism and all the different flavours of left-wing ideas, it is a great book to start and also have a laugh while you are at it.
It is a bit America-centered, but that is what you get with American authors. It's not bad though, he is pretty self aware and doesn't ride a high horse.