Cover of The Poverty of Theory

The Poverty of Theory

This classic collection of essays by E.P. Thompson, one of England 's most renowned socialist voices, remains a staple text in the history of Marxist theory. The bulk of the book is dedicated to Thompson 's famous polemic against Louis Althusser and what he considers the reductionism and authoritarianism of Althusserian structuralism. In lively and erudite prose, Thompson argues for a self-critical and unapologetically humanist Marxist tradition. Also included are three essays of considerable importance to the development of the New Left. Called essential reading for American radicals by The Nation, this book is one no serious socialist can afford to be without.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 303 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Poverty of Theory? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Poverty of Theory. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Poverty of Philosophy Shares philosophy, marxism, economics
  2. History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics Shares marxism, philosophy, critical theory
  3. For Marx Shares marxism, philosophy, critical theory
  4. How to Read Marx Shares marxism, philosophy, economics

“People who read The Poverty of Theory tend to reach for these next.”

  1. A Companion to Marx's Capital
  2. Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order
  3. Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century
  4. Socialism

“If you want more of the same (philosophy), start with these.”

  1. Reading Capital
  2. Mirror of Production
  3. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures
  4. After the Future

“If it was the marxism that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
  2. The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx
  3. Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844/The Communist Manifesto
  4. The Modern Prince and Other Writings

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology
  2. In Praise of Barbarians: Essays against Empire
  3. Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx
  4. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society