Category: Monthly Review Press Blog

Class Dismissed reviewed on Counterfire

February 20, 2024

It is the erroneous idea that more university graduates will solve America’s economic and social woes with which Marsh has a problem. He dissects this idea so forensically, with the help of a range of data on poverty in the US, that his case becomes unanswerable. The research is rigorous and the author’s handling of it ensures the book never becomes dry. Marsh teaches English literature and has a non-specialist’s eye for the need to make economic data and analysis fresh and engaging. His lively writing style is a great strength, with an ability to interweave hard data with illuminating examples from his own life, others’ experiences and history.

The Great Financial Crisis reviewed in Work, Employment, & Society

February 20, 2024

An impressive and stimulating analysis of the historical origins and structural roots of the financial crisis, The Great Financial Crisis has much to commend it, providing an excellent reminder of the power of Marxist political economy in revealing the dynamics and contradictions of the present financial crisis, and indeed, of capitalist crises in general.

Two Events with Fred Magdoff & William Camacaro in DC, 2/17

February 20, 2024

Join MR Press authors Fred Magdoff and William Camacaro for a discussion on food sovereignty and Venezuela following a screening of the film Growing Change at Howard University in Washington DC.

José Carlos Mariátegui book party, NYC

February 20, 2024

Join Marc Becker, co-editor of José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology (with Harry E. Vanden), for a book party at the Brecht Forum in NYC on March 1, 2012.

Domitila Barrios de Chungara, 1937-2012

February 20, 2024

Domitila Barrios de Chungara, a renowned union leader, feminist, and revolutionary from Bolivia, died on March 13 at age 74. Monthly Review Press is proud to have published her classic memoir, Let Me Speak!, co-authored with Moema Viezzer. The book is a gripping account of her early life in a Bolivian mining town, her subsequent radicalization, and her efforts to organize miners and their wives in the struggle against exploitation and against U.S.-backed dictatorships. Available for a discount of 40% off until the end of April.

Oliver Villar interviewed on Expert Witness radio

February 20, 2024

Oliver Villar, co-author of Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in Colombia discusses his new book on Expert Witness radio with Mike Levine.

NEW! From Solidarity to Sellout: The Restoration of Capitalism in Poland by Tadeusz Kowalik

February 20, 2024

In the 1980s and 90s, renowned Polish economist Tadeusz Kowalik played a leading role in the Solidarity movement, struggling alongside workers for an alternative to “really-existing socialism” that was cooperative and controlled by the workers themselves. In the ensuing two decades, “really-existing” socialism has collapsed, capitalism has been restored, and Poland is now among the most unequal countries in the world. Kowalik asks, how could this happen in a country that once had the largest and most militant labor movement in Europe?

Jeb Sprague Book Tour Dates

February 20, 2024

Join the author of Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti, just released by Monthly Review Press, at an event near you! Jeb Sprague will discuss his new book, which investigates the dangerous world of right-wing paramilitarism in Haiti and its role in undermining the democratic aspirations of the Haitian people.

John Marsh interviewed on History for the Future, WRCT-Pittsburgh 88.3 fm

February 20, 2024

John Marsh discusses his new book, Class Dismissed: Why We Cannot Teach or Learn Our Way Out of Inequality. Marsh’s study asks some uncomfortable questions about the limits of education as a tool for eliminating inequality and poverty in the United States. On the show, he discusses how over the course of American history, but especially since World War II, education has became increasingly viewed as the central method for reducing poverty and inequality. Meanwhile, other remedies, including redistribution through higher wages or social programs, have been pushed to the margins of political thought.

Michael Yates discusses a double-dip recession on PBS.org

February 20, 2024

A few months ago, it looked like the Great Recession was over and the economy on its way to full recovery. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury had bailed out the nation’s financial sector and engaged in enough deficit spending to stop the dramatic rise in unemployment. The major European economies were holding their own, and the rising BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies seemed to be taking up any global slack in consumer demand and capital investment. Gross domestic product (GDP) here and in many other nations had stopped falling and started rising, sometimes dramatically.