Marx's Ghost: Midnight Conversations on Changing the World

An American sociologist (Derber) travels to London's Highgate cemetery, where Karl Marx is buried. A surprise encounter with Marx's ghost, which reveals insights into the great revolutionary'¬"s personality and biography, leads to a night-long conversation between Derber and the ghost on important issues of the day: the economic crisis, globalization; climate change, war, racism, left- and right-wing politics, the future of capitalism, new economic models emerging in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, and revolutionary activism by citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya'¬ ;even Wisconsin. The ghost reconsiders his theories as he speaks eloquently about American labor, environmental, peace, social justice, civil rights, immigrant, and gender and anti-racist struggles. Their engrossing, funny, and provocative conversation, interrupted by appearances from ghosts such as John Maynard Keynes, offers a new vision of the stunning relevance and tragic flaws of the historical Marx, who now reveals a surprising Great Transition to a transformed future.

Charles Derber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. His op-eds, essays, and interviews have appeared in Newsday, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Business Week, Time, and other magazines. He speaks on National Public Radio, on talk radio, and on television. His books have been reviewed by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and many other media sources. His books include Greed to Green: Solving Climate Change and Remaking the Economy (Paradigm 2010).