The question of how the Nazis came to power in one of the most advanced countries in the world, both industially and culturally, remains a burning question. In this work the author discounts recent arguments suggesting that their success was the product of a profound and long-held anti-Semitism within the German national psyche and demonstrates that the Nazis were of marginal significance until the crisis in the German economy made their commitment to smash any gains for the working class from the German Revolution attractive to wide sections of the German ruling class.

Inequality has always been with us. With the growth of capitalism across the globe, inequalities of income, wealth and power became increasingly extreme. Written by economist Douglas Dowd, this book shows that the present banking crisis is the result of the growth of inequality across the globe. The expansion of the financial sector has brought incredible riches to a select few, at the expense of the majority. Inequality was ignored, or described as a necessary aspect of a booming global economy. With the collapse of the world markets, the fallacy of this position is clear. Inequality and the Global Economic Crisis shows how it is only by addressing inequality that we can secure the health of our economies in the future.--Publisher.

"Does socialism have a future in the 21st Century society? If not, what is the future for progressive politics? After Socialism deals with the collapse of socialism both as an idea and movement. This book scrutinizes the economic and social realities that require a critical but much more intelligent alternative of coping with the enormous, mounting challenges that the world confronts. This is a major contribution to contemporary social and political thought written by one of the world's leading critical historians. Gabriel Kolko asks difficult questions about where the left can go in a post-Cold War world where neoliberal policies appear to have triumphed in both the West and the former Soviet bloc. In trying to answer this, he discusses: a) the origins and development of socialist ideas; b) the contemporary dynamics of the globalize economy dominated by American military, cultural and political might; c) the failures of contemporary capitalism; d) the poverty and economic and financial instability-- in the United States and industrial nations as well as the Third World - that make our contemporary world so precarious. After Socialism is a synthesis of Kolko's past work and a critical assessment of why and how critical social thought can be reconstructed. While avoiding the temptations of either pessimism or utopianism, Kolko manages to offer an original and practical solution about the way forward for liberal politics."--Book cover.

"This provocative book addresses the ideological and political crisis of the Western left, comparing it with the problems facing leftist politics in Russia and other countries. The author presents a radical critique of the current state of the Western left which puts discourse above class interest and politics of diversity above politics of social change. The trajectory away from class politics towards feminism, minority rights, and the coalition of coalitions led to the destruction of the basic strategic pillars of the movement. Some elements of this broad progressive agenda became mainstream, but in fact this made the crisis of the left even deeper and contributed to the disintegration of the left's identity. The author demonstrates that a simple return to 'the good old times' of classical socialist politics of the industrial age is not possible, suggesting that class politics must be redefined and reinvented through the experience of new radical populism. This book speaks directly to the way the identity politics / class politics divide has been framed within the English-speaking world. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of political science and political sociology, international relations, security studies, and global studies, as well as socialist activists"--