Here Seltman has produced a text that reads like an early university analysis. She dissects and identifies key words from extensive quotations of Marx’s works, and delivers her personal interpretations as fact. Her points are rarely fully explained, and so she fails to convince you of her argument.
If you’re struggling with Marx, there are far better resources out there.

I found the layout and format messy and not reader friendly. I thought this was supposed to be a intro to marxism. The author speaks in such a way that she expects you know what she is say. I think the whole book should be edited again for simplicity and stop the jumping around!!

I came across Muriel Seltman's "Marx the Humanist" by accident while looking through the many, many different sections of NetGalley's offerings. As an English Studies (Literature) bachelor's, I'm interested in all sorts of different ideologies, anything that'll give me a greater understanding of what moves human beings from a societal and ideological viewpoint. When it comes to Marxism, I know a fair lot more than about, say, libertarianism, because come from a family at least partially socialist. Or communist. Or Marxist. Honestly, it's complicated.

Seltman's novel gives an easy introduction to Marx's ideas while also offering a thesis statement in the very title. "The Humanist" is broken down into four chapters, an appendix and an epilogue; the chapters first give a basic introduction to Marxism, through direct quotes from many of Marx's works like "The Capital" and "The Communist Manifesto" co-authored with Engels. In addition to these passages, the author gives additional context or furthers certain arguments, to mixed effect.

It's far from the most persuasive piece of historical (sociological, humanist) non-fiction I've read. Seltman too often abandons any attempts at convincing non-believers and nay-sayers, instead singing Marx's praises into what, at worst, felt self-congratulatory. Some of the author's arguments didn't go far enough, either. It seems like Seltman couldn't find a good enough balance between quoting passages and commenting on their own.

This is a really good introduction to Marx's ideas, thanks to well-chosen quotations, and a decent text by Muriel Seltman. Not quite 3 stars, not quite 4 -- my score is 3.5/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Ltd. for providing me with a review copy. Opinions are solely my own.

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!