The Civil War in the United States - Softcover

Karl Marx; Friedrich Engels

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0717807533 ISBN 13: 9780717807536

Publisher: International Publishers, 2016

Synopsis

The American Civil War so profoundly shaped Marx and Engels's understanding of social revolution and international politics that it marks a watershed in the history of communism as much as it does in the history of the United States. A complete revision of the 1937 edition of the Civil War writings of Marx and Engels, this volume incorporates new texts by Marx and Engels, as well as by US authors including Communist Union Army officer Joseph Weydemeyer and African American scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois. Careful editorial guidance throughout the volume allows readers with little prior knowledge to gain a good understanding of both Marxism and the Civil War as they encounter a range of fascinating and insightful letters, newspaper articles, and philosophic expositions. Experts will discover new perspectives opened by the unique insights of Marx, Engels, and others into the US Civil War, as well as the history of slavery and freedom, race and class, communism and capitalism that defined this era and continue to define our own.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Andrew Zimmerman has given us an extremely important book,one that will be of great interest to students of the Civil War, of slavery and capitalism, and of nineteenth-century Euro-American radicalism. Introduced by Zimmerman with great range and insight, this collection of Marx and Engels's writings on the American Civil War -- their correspondence and newspaper articles in the American, German, and British Press -- reveals how they simultaneously developed shrewd understandings of the political and social dynamics of the American struggle (with prescient forecasts) and began to reshape their own ideas of capitalism and revolution." -- Steven Hahn, University of Pennsylvania

"Karl Marx's revolutionary optimism spilled across the Atlantic to the United States. He followed the Civil War closely, hoping that it would trigger a social revolution. Many of his observations are prescient and useful. Andrew Zimmerman has done a great service by bringing them into one volume. It shows the elaboration of Marx's thoughts not only on the United States but also on the idea of popular unrest, civil war and revolution. An indispensable volume." -- Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South

About the Author:

Andrew Zimmerman is professor of history at George Washington University.

About this edition

• Publisher: International Publishers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0717807533
• ISBN 13: 9780717807536
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Andrew Zimmerman