Book review: reading Marx as a ‘trouble-making journalist’ who explored the use of satire and scorn as a political strategy in his writings

Since the onset of global crisis in recent years, academics and economic theorists have been drawn to Marx’s analysis of the inherent instability of capitalism. The rediscovery of Marx is based on his continuing capacity to explain the present. In the context of what some commentators have described as a “Marx renaissance”, the aim of this book, edited by Marcello Musto, is to make a close study of Marx’s principal writings in relation to the major problems of our own society, and to show why and how some of his theories constitute a precious tool for the understanding and critique of the world in the early twenty-first century. Reviewed by Nick Taylor. Marx for Today. Marcello Musto (ed.) Routledge. April 2012.