Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life

By: Jonathan Sperber

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

Karl Marx is a magisterial and defining biography that vividly explores not only the man himself but also the revolutionary times in which he lived. Between his birth in 1818 and his death 65 years later, Karl Marx became one of Western civilization's most influential political philosophers. Two centuries on, he is still revered as a prophet of the modern world, yet he is also blamed for the darkest atrocities of modern times. But no matter in what light he is cast, the short, but broad-shouldered, bearded Marx remains - as a human being - distorted on a Procrustean bed of political "isms", perceived through the partially distorting lens of his chief disciple, Friedrich Engels, or understood as a figure of 20th-century totalitarian Marxist regimes.

Returning Marx to the Victorian confines of the 19th century, Jonathan Sperber, one of the United States' leading European historians, challenges many of our misconceptions of this political firebrand turned London journalist. In this deeply humanizing portrait, Marx no longer is the Olympian soothsayer, divining the dialectical imperatives of human history, but a scholar-activist whose revolutionary Weltanschauung was closer to Robespierre's than to those of 20th-century Marxists.

With unlimited access to the MEGA (the Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe, the total edition of Marx's and Engels' writings), only recently available, Sperber juxtaposes the private man, the public agitator, and the philosopher-economist. With Napoleon III, Bismarck, Adam Smith, and Charles Darwin, among others, as supporting players, Karl Marx becomes not just a biography of a man but a vibrant portrait of an infinitely complex time. Already hailed by Publishers Weekly as "a major work... likely to be the standard biography of Marx for many years," Karl Marx promises to become the defining portrait of a towering historical figure.

©2013 Jonathan Sperber (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Eh

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I tend to listen to audiobooks whilst doing other activities, e.g. driving, manual labour, shopping, etc. This one is difficult to follow, not because the Marxian ideas are themselves so difficult, but the biography is a bit flat. It lacks the colour and depth that has kept my attention in other books and biographies. Sometimes it feels like a listing of chronological facts.

What didn’t you like about Kevin Stillwell’s performance?

He frequently accents the wrong syllable in foreign or philosophical terminology. For example, he says for the philosopher Hegel: "heGel" rather than Hāgel, or for émigré: "eMIgrā" rather than emigrĀ, as the French accenting makes plain. These are not minor annoyances because of their frequency, and it feels like listening to a lecture by someone who does not know the subject matter. Also, his style of American cadence is grating, at least to me. He tends to raise his voice at commas almost in the fashion of a question mark.

Was Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life worth the listening time?

Yes, but only for an interest in Marx.

Excellent research, analysis and narrative

Biography at its best. Nuanced, insightful and interesting. Very, very good narration. One to listen to many times.

KARL MARX

Johnathan Sperber has gathered an impressive amount of data in a history of Karl Marx’s life. Sadly, his presentation is not equal to his collection. Unlike biographies done by Robert Caro (wrote “The Power Broker” about Robert Moses, the land planner of New York, and former President, Lyndon Johnson) or William Manchester (a Winston Churchill Biographer), Sperber fails to bring his subject to life.

Marx is considered by some to be one of the three most influential economists that ever lived (Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes being the other two.) That influence is not felt by a reader or listener of Sperber’s biography. Sperber offers facts but leaves coherence to the consumer.

Sperber offers a lot of information about Marx’s family life and Friedrich Engels, his primary benefactor (ironically, a capitalist factory owner). But, this is a disappointing book because it garners too little interest in the power and influence of Marx’s economic theory.

masterwork i really enjoyed it...good narrator too

author did. a great. job. so. did the narrator. i really learned a lot. and enjoyed the ecperience

Very Scholarly Treatment of Marx

Karl Marx has to be a difficult person to treat objectively, as neither hero nor villain. But Jonathan Sperber manages to do that in my opinion. And he does it by deliberately situating Marx in the nineteenth century, hence the subtitle. The book is professional, scholarly, and moderately challenging. Rather than viewing Marx through the lens of twentieth century communism Sperber focuses on his nineteenth century cultural and intellectual contexts. Instead of Marx in proximity to Lenin, Stalin, and Mao we get Marx in proximity to Hegel, Feuerbach, Bauer, Bakunin, Ricardo, etc. To me this seems much more illuminating to Marx's biography. While it's totally appropriate to adapt Marx's ideas to later developments it's a different project from understanding what Marx meant to say when he said it, which may be distinct in many cases from later Marxist interpretations. The Marx that emerges is neither a brilliant prophet nor a failing fool. Sperber's Marx is a thoroughly nineteenth century figure who was intimately involved in and contributed to the major issues alive in Europe at that time, something I find fascinating as a student of European history. Rather than Marx through the lens of twentieth century communism we get the nineteenth century through the lens of Marx, which makes for an interesting study.

The narration was quite good. Some mispronunciations on the German but I didn't find it all that distracting. And other than that it was very engaging.

Reflecting and Transforming

This biography of Karl Marx tries to situate the philosophy’s works and his political initiatives in the context of 19th century Europe. In doing that, the book gives more attention to the facts that shape Marx’s ideas than to the content and effects of his works. The exposition is clear and fluid. The description of Marx’s family life allows the reader to understand the difficulties he endured and how someway he succeeded in doing his work. Marx was a revolutionary that never capitulated with the ruling Elite, specially in Prussia and Russia. His efforts and reflections are a treasure to mankind.

Every German word is miss-pronounced

What didn’t you like about Kevin Stillwell’s performance?

Kevin has no command of the German language and manages to miss-pronounce every German word (and there are quite a few of them) to point where the word becomes unrecognizable to a native German speaker.

Any additional comments?

Miss-pronunciations are the typos of audio books.

Good Book, Bad Pronunciation

The mispronunciation of German and French words, names, and places was frustrating. Otherwise, the narrator was ok. The book itself is very well-done and enjoyable.

Missed the main point; Why did Marx do what he did?

The narration was a good performance although anglicized pronunciation of German words would have been easier on the ear.

The story did not clearly explain the why part. What happened in his life that lead Marx to develop the ideas he did.

Always rewarding to read a Pulitzer Prize winner

I just never go wrong when I get my reading list from Pulitzer Prize winners