New York magazine has produced a list of the “best books to understand socialism” that is so stupefyingly inane that you wonder if this is intended as satire or a really big put on. But no—they are quite earnest about this list, because it was curated by “experts.”
Among the best books to understand socialism, according to NY mag, are several by Marx himself (fair enough, if you really want to slog through Capital, Vol. 1), and Vivian Gornick's The Romance of American Communism, which is not great but has some useable material. But the list also includes not one, but two books by . . . Angela Davis: The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues, and Women, Race, & Class. Seriously? Michael Harrington rounds out the list with Socialism: Past and Future. By now you practically need carbon-dating to get a time fix on Michael Harrington he is such a forgotten fossil.
I can only assume they dug up their “experts” at some kind of retirement village for red diaper babies suffering dementia somewhere in the Balkans, since most of these titles are really old and out of date. What would we do without “experts”?
If you really want to learn about socialism or Marxism, how about listing Thomas Sowell's book on the subject by the simple title Marxism? It is short and holds up very well. Also The Black Book of Communism is indispensable.
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