Politics: Left

Marxism and critical theory

Capital, ideology and the Frankfurt School.

Guide: Marx: where to start (before Capital)?

  1. The Communist Manifesto

    Marx & Engels

    Short, punchy entry point.

    287 pp≈7 h●○○ Gentle

    Read this first: The Manifesto itself is short; this Penguin edition adds a long introduction.

    Edition: Penguin Books · ISBN 9780140447576

    Get it at Bookshop.org (affiliate link)

  2. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

    Karl Marx

    Alienation, the humanist Marx.

    208 pp≈5 h●●● Demanding

    Edition: Dover Publications · ISBN 9780486455617

    Get it at Bookshop.org (affiliate link)

  3. Elements of the Philosophy of Right

    G. W. F. Hegel

    The background Marx was arguing with.

    300 pp≈8 h●●● Demanding

    Edition: Camb.U.P. · ISBN 9780521348881

    Get it at Bookshop.org (affiliate link)

  4. Dialectic of Enlightenment

    Adorno & Horkheimer

    Critical theory's core text.

    282 pp≈7 h●●● Demanding

    Edition: Stanford University Press · ISBN 9780804736336

    Get it at Bookshop.org (affiliate link)

Sources: r1 · r2 · balliol