This book serves as a very good introduction to socialism. We have the whole evolution from the French era to the present day. The title itself (A Very Short Introduction) already tells us the whole story. This is purely an introduction book with limited details... In fact, I personally love such a way. After all, I am not really keen on socialism as a whole. My objective is simple... I know a bit here and there. In view that my knowledge in socialism is still limited, I actually wanted more with the objective to enhance my general knowledge... End of the day, it is never for the purpose to study deep into details...After all, I have other important stuff to chase for, LOL.
As mentioned above, an out-dated ideology does have its own value especially from the perspective of history and humanity development. It is always interesting to learn on failed cases. End of the day, an ideology that almost made it in the past really deserved some attention. In fact, after reading this book, I wanted to study more to get a better understanding on why the whole ideology failed. Thank god that the author did provide tons of info on references and further reading...
Finally, some little flaws...the author seems to focus more on Europe and the Soviet Union. At the plus side, this is exactly what I am searching for... As for negative side; well, what happen to the Asia Socialism that indirectly created the Communism? I thought the author should at least cover a topic on that. The introduction seems inadequate without some digging into Asia...
Overall, for a start on socialism, this is a suitable book to kick off... I thought the author did so well and the overall cover up is good enough from a readers' point of view. Although some minor flaw as mentioned above, I personally rating this book as high as 9/10. Until I find the next excellent socialism stuff, this book remains as one of the best on my shelf. Thumbs up for the good work!
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