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I strongly condemn the "[X] for Beginners" series of books. This series of books is designed not for a person who wants to learn seriously about a subject, but instead for the pseudo-intellectual who wants to memorize a bunch of neat-sounding phrases that make him sound like he knows what he's talking about. Marx's ideas are still important, if only because there are so many misguided people who still follow his bankrupt creed. Accordingly, his works should be treated with the respect they deserve. If you want to know about Marx, READ THE STUFF HE WROTE! Don't waste your money or your brain cells on this cartoonish bunk.

I had to read this book for my Russian studies class, and I have to admit I enjoyed reading about history in this cartoon format. It makes Marxism easier to understand. However, it discusses the ideology and its background in details. Recommended for anyone who does studies in history because Marxism is one of the most important topics in twentieth century history (not only in Russia).

I first ran into this series of books in the early '80s and loved them. For years, I recommended these books to my friends as a jumping off place on any number of subjects, but have been completely unable to find them. Many thanks to Amazon.com for carrying them now. I only hope that they become featured and easy for users to find.Addressing the one negative review that I saw online, I have to shake my head. Yes, if you want to know anything in depth on a subject, you must certainly go to the source. These books would never pretend to be a master's course in any of the subjects that they present (Freud, Marx, Lacan, Quantum Physics, You Name It). What they do, and do extremely well, is make the learning curve a lot less steep. They give a shape to the overall thought that they are describing. And they make it fun. Hard to imagine that anyone who wants to learn something (or who wants other people to learn something) could do anything other than cheer this excellent series.

In the period of post-soviet globalization, the writings and vision of Karl Marx continue to bring compelling insight to the unfolding of global capitalism. Denigrated and vilified by the ruling class in the west, Marx remains a storehouse of analytical tools for grasping the reasons behind capitalisms ravages. This is must reading for those curious to go beyond the front page headlines of US newspapers.

a good book to get....marx's thought can be extremely heavy and this is a good place to start