{"product_id":"arguments-within-english-marxism-isbn-9780860917274","title":"Arguments Within English Marxism","description":"The characteristic form taken by English Marxism since the war has been the study of history. No writer exemplifies its achievements better than Edward Thompson, whose \u003ci\u003eMaking of the English Working Class\u003c\/i\u003e is probably the most influential single work of historical scholarship by a socialist today. An editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New Reasoner\u003c\/i\u003e in 1957–59, a founder of the New Left in 1960, now an eloquent champion of civil rights, Thompson has most recently aroused widespread interest with the appearance of his \u003ci\u003ePoverty of Theory\u003c\/i\u003e, which combines philosophical and political polemic with Louis Althusser, and powerful advocacy of the historian’s craft. \u003ci\u003eArguments Within English Marxism\u003c\/i\u003e is an assessment of its central theses that relates them to Thompson’s major historical writings themselves. Thus the role of human agency—the part of the conscious choice and active will—in history is discussed through consideration of its treatment in \u003ci\u003eThe Making of the English Working Class\u003c\/i\u003e. The problems of base and superstructure in historical materialism, and of affiliation to values in the past, are reviewed in the light of \u003ci\u003eWhigs and Hunters\u003c\/i\u003e. The claims of utopian imagination are illustrated from the findings of \u003ci\u003eWilliam Morris\u003c\/i\u003e. Questions of socialist strategy are broached in part through the articles now collected in \u003ci\u003eWriting by Candlelight. \u003c\/i\u003eExploring at once differences and convergences between \u003ci\u003eNew Left Review\u003c\/i\u003e and one of its founders, the essay concludes by suggesting the virtues of diversity within a common socialist culture.“Anderson evaluates the entire corpus of Thompson’s work as a historian and as a socialist ... The result is a fascinating assessment of the man Anderson claims to be ‘our finest socialist writer today.’ ... In so doing Anderson provides a superb essay in historiography as well as an important chapter of the history of the left in England.”—\u003ci\u003eTime Out\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An excellent book—exemplary in its tone, coverage, consistency and, an important point this, in its accessibility.”—\u003ci\u003eSociological Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Anderson] is an exceptionally determined, diligent, careful and intellectually capable thinker.”—\u003ci\u003eNew Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“His argument ... takes on an exceptional fluency and subtlety, touching many of the key points of socialist morality, socialist history and the socialist future. Its core is a very elegant restatement of the undogmatic essence of Marx.”—\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Despite the immense erudition it reads lightly and restores the most diverse theoretical debates to the concrete realities of socialist strategic thinking about contemporary issues.”—\u003ci\u003eChartist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ePerry Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of, among other books, \u003ci\u003eSpectrum, Lineages of the Absolutist State, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, Considerations on Western Marxism, English Questions, The Origins of Postmodernity\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe New Old World\u003c\/i\u003e. He teaches history at UCLA and is on the editorial board of \u003ci\u003eNew Left Review\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Verso","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302583455973,"sku":"NP9780860917274","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780860917274.jpg?v=1767721757","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/arguments-within-english-marxism-isbn-9780860917274","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}