Reviews for Expectations for the Millennium: American Socialist Visions of the Future, Vol. 192

The average rating for Expectations for the Millennium: American Socialist Visions of the Future, Vol. 192 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-07-02 00:00:00 Frank Patrick This book is exactly what it says it is. It examines, chapter by chapter, revolutions as seen from an economic perspective. The American Civil War was caused, says Novack, by two economic systems that had become mutually exclusive and incompatible--the feudal system of slavery (with a tiny minority of Caucasian power brokers ruling over the Blacks and poor white and racially mixed farmers of the still agrarian south), and the newly industrialized, capitalist north. The north needed to expand in order for capitalism to survive, but the southern aristocracy had ruined its own land with the nutritionally hungry yet profitable cotton crop. And the border states had taken up a trade seen nowhere before in the history of the world: the deliberate and planned mating of human beings so that their enslaved children might be physically strong, and bring higher prices. Every chapter of this book covers a different aspect of revolution in the United States, but I recall the American Civil War strongest because it was my field for a number of years. Even if you do not consider yourself a Marxist, if you are interested in American history, this well-documented series of essays is clear and thought-provoking, and well worth your time.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-23 00:00:00 John Hagerty This book is a real education. A perfect rejoinder to those who think the revolution of 1776 was in any way not a liberating event of world importance. Looking at you, Gerald Horne!