Book Review "Marx : A Short Introduction (Second Edition) by Peter Singer"

 Iskur Reza (30802300014)

I.  Introduction

Marx : A Short Introduction (Second Edition) by Peter Singer, this book waspublished by Oxford University Press in 2001. This book provides A short yet insightful overview about Karl Marx Idea, the man, the myth, the legend, the foundation father of one of the greatest idea in history, Marxism. Peter Singer, is a well known Philosophers, best know for his work on ethics and utilitarianism. He introduces Marx not as a revolutionary icon but as a thinker, his idea shape how we understand politics, society and economic.

This book is writen with biographical and philosophical genre, this book is alsosuitable for a high school students, general readers and anyone who curious about Marxism. Singer clear explanation making this book easy to understand even by beginners without worried the complexity and the length like Dos kapital or Communists Manifesto.

II.  Body

Peter Singer’s Marx: A Short Introduction doesn’t tell a story with a characters and plot, but it does take a reader on a journey through Karl Marx's life and ideas. The book start explaining how Marx’s background and experience in the 19th century on Europe shapes the way he thought about society. Singer shows that marx wasn’t just political figure. He was a thinker who trying to understand why people were struggling under industrial capitalism.

Singer also introduce Marx’s main ideas in a way that easy to follow. He explains historical materialism, the belief that the economy and class relation drive how society develop. He also talk about alienation, a concept describing how worker under capitalism became disconnected from their work, from other people and even from themselves. The ideas are explained, not just as theory but as reflections of a real problems people faced during that time.

This book still has a lot to offers like how The economic theory and also Marx’s prediction about the modern world. I found this book is quite interesting, because before i read this book, everyone told me that “the left wings are dangerous za” It makes me more curious about it, at first I didn’t even know what’re they talking about, what’s ‘Left wing' and what’s so dangerous about it but luckily there’s a chance for me to learn this it. 

It’s when I had an assignment about Marxist Criticism on one of my class, when I had this assignment, I know I have to lock in. Days after days I read about Marxist but unfortunately I can’t understand it fully, luckily one of my friends who got the same assignment as me give me his book, Marx: A short Introduction (second edition) once i read the inside, i finally fully understand what Marxism means about how corrupt capitalism is, where Angels gets the idea about hegelianism, and the material that i need on my assignment.

III.  Conclusion

Singer wanted to clarify Marx’s philosophy, separating the man’s idea from the political movement that later misused them. Even though this book didn’t won any award, this book has great, fairness and clarity about one of the most complex thinker in history.

Overall, Marx: A Short Introduction (Second Edition) making Marx’s ideas understandable without oversimplifying them. Singer invites reader to think about how issues of class conflict, labor, and inequality still exist in modern Capitalism. This book is a great starting point for everyone who wants to understand Marxism in a different way. Even after more than a century his question about justice and human freedom still worth to think about today.