There are moments in literary history that shape the world. Around 1445 B.C.E. unnamed sources composed the first books of the Bible. In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg perfected his printing press. Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense” in 1776. And in 1848, Karl Marx wrote “Mein Kampf” — at least that’s what one Fox anchor said. On…
While never a believer in Judaism, and at times vicious about the faith, the revolutionary philosopher Karl Marx came from an indisputably Jewish background: Both of his parents’ fathers were rabbis. The fact that he was not, himself, Jewish is the result of a curious historical circumstance. Marx’s father, Heinrich, born Herschel Levi, earned his…
If you have ever sat in a critical theory lecture and wished that your professor would be replaced by a group of dapper, miniaturized historical figures who sometimes rap, there’s now a puppet show to satiate that desire. Mexican artist Pedro Reyes will debut a goofy new production, “Manufacturing Mischief,” on April 26 at the…
Despite its origins in the work of the Jewish Karl Marx, and its early Soviet Jewish advocates, communism never served the Jewish people particularly well. Less than two decades after the Russian Revolution, Josef Stalin’s Great Purge made a particular — if unofficial — target of Jews. One decade after the 1938 end of the…
Raoul Peck’s latest film, “The Young Karl Marx”, is above all a story of clashing ideas. The film follows adversaries-turned-best-buds Marx and Friedrich Engels as they attempt to both understand and subvert the capitalist system. Inevitably, the film traces the conflicts that arise when radical thinkers try to change the world. The material may sound…
Pepsi recently announced that it has pulled their Kendall Jenner advertisement (it was just as much an advertisement for her as it was for Pepsi) and have issued an apology, stating “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not…
We all know Karl Marx as the bushy beard, as “Das Kapital,” as the “ism,” as “The Communist Manifesto…” But, thanks to a new film, we’ll soon get to know Karl Marx the man, or, at least, a hilariously romantic version of him. “The Young Karl Marx” is the newest film by Raoul Peck, who…
● Why the Germans? Why the Jews?: Envy, Race Hatred, and the Prehistory of the Holocaust By Götz Aly Metropolitan Books, 304 pages, $30 Early in his penetrating and provocative study of the roots of German anti-Semitism, “Why the Germans? Why the Jews?: Envy, Race Hatred, and the Prehistory of the Holocaust,” Götz Aly quotes…
100% of profits support our journalism
