Maritime History of Bath, Maine and the Kennebec River Regions Book

Traverso's version of Marxism never rises above the level of caricature and academic kitsch.

Neither Marx, Lenin, Engels, or Trotsky ever promoted the idea of linearity or inevitability in history in general or in the contemporary class struggle. They were conscious polemical opponents of such ideas; at their best, so were Kautsky, Labriola, and Plekhanov, not to mention Mandel and George Novack.

Traverso, for a "man of the left," seems to be satisfied with a knowledge of Marxism obtained second-hand, not from the works of the movement's founders and leaders.

To tackle subjects of the scope Traverso undertakes, this is simply not good enough.