Today's ISMS: Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Socialism

by William Ebenstein, Edwin Fogelman

Today's Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Socialism

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, History

229 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[Diogenes Grief · Rating 4 out of 5]

I yanked this out of a stack that was my girlfriend’s father’s (who is a retired teacher), and as I worked through the 240-page accounting, typically from a Caucasian 1950s lens—Capitalism is holy good while Communism is the devil’s work, I found this sentence underlined in green ink: “The political liberty of a society can best be measured by the margin of unorthodoxy that is tolerated in that society” (p. 142). It goes on:

“This yardstick enables us to go beyond the crude classification of dictatorship and democracy, which is valid only on a general level. Examining first the totalitarian states by this criterion, we find the least margin of unorthodox opinion in Nazi Germany (1933-1945) and in communist states today, a much wider margin of unorthodoxy in fascist Italy (1922-1945) than in either Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, and the relatively largest unorthodoxy in the present Portuguese and South American dictatorships.

Measuring the margin of unorthodoxy in democratic societies, we find Britain, Scandinavia, Holland, Australia, and New Zealand on the top of the list, while the United States trails somewhat behind. Needles to say, the positions are never fixed, and the range of unorthodoxy constantly changes; by general agreement there is more uniformity and conformity of thought in the United States than thirty years ago and there may be less again ten years hence.”

Ebenstein had no idea what was to come, but we can’t fault him for not having a time machine.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I thought nor what I wanted it to be. I thought it would explain the basic foundational points of socialism, capitalism, fascism, communism, and libertarianism, and then compare/contrast them so that way their definitions could be more easily understood. That was not the case at all. I don’t really understand any of these concepts more than I did before. And, what makes it worse, each topic was not treated equally: socialism had about 20 pages and communism had to have at least double that. Also, it would have been nice if each concept chapter was structured the same way; but they weren’t. I mean, I understand that some of these concepts were more theoretical as no country has practiced them, but oh my god how much time was spent on the history was not what I was looking for. So in short, I’m disappointed with this book and don’t think I’ve learned anything helpful.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this primarily for the chapter on communism; as a person who grew up largely in the post-communist world it has never made sense to me why people freaked out so much about the "communist threat." Who cares if a country wants to have a communist economy/society? Let them do their thing, let us do ours. By reading about communism, and also the chapter on capitalism, I was hoping to get a greater sense of why each views the other side as evil.

The communism chapter focuses way too much on the history of Russia and China, and does not give enough information about the actual tenets of communism. After reading it I felt like there was so much implied but not actually presented regarding the beliefs of communist societies. I ended up going to Wikipedia for answers.

[Mark Gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent explanations of the isms themselves and the history of their application in human societies. I would give it five stars but it's dry and reads like a textbook. But if you have a interest in the topic area, I would say give it a try because the content is very interesting.

[Juniar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Objective. Unbiased in treating on why one ism didn't live long in some place and survived in another. Very understandable for general readers.

[Mark Doton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, if a bit dry, historical overview of the major political systems of the 20th century (and before).

[Janet Stucky-Schinco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the 9th Ed. due to the national trend in name-calling of 'isms' which are disconnected to reality on social media platforms (Quora, specifically).

The authors use clear language and reference each chapter, well.

[Miguel Teles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estava à espera de uma dissertação clara e distanciada dos 4 ismos, o que me pareceu ser a proposta do título. No entanto, o que encontrei foi uma dissertação enviesada por uma inclinação mais que clara ao longo do livro para um dos ismos.

A maior parte do livro resume-se a criticar implacavelmente e, muitas vezes, de uma forma demasiado simplista três dos ismos. A outra parte do livro resume-se a louvar o ismo com que o autor mais que evidentemente se identifica (capitalismo), com leviandade e irritante encobrimento de variadas questões (ou problemas) que poderiam ser levantadas.

Teve o seu interesse como alguma fonte de história e algum achego à política, mas no fim, foi mais irritante do que didáctico.

[Bruce Reiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the eleventh edition with a copyright of 2000. The sections on fascism, capitalism socialism and libertarianism are good and an excellent review. The section on communism is wordy. It gives the reader a historical perspective of the development of the Soviet Union and China. It is a plodding, descriptive mess that does not live up to the reader's expectations from the other sections. I hope the remake is better

[Stefan]

nice

[Chandry Tyrtha]

bagus

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another intellectual fraud parroting old wives tales about the issues. Fascism is about landowners. Capitalism is about France. But I guess it was no joke that the cover said 7th edition!