Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution

Summary (from the publisher): For several reasons, prominently including arrest, ardent revolutionary and intellectual Karl Marx (1818-1883) did not seek personal publicity. In the twelve decades since his death, ideological wars have further obscured the man. Thus, Mary Gabriel's extensively researched new biography illuminates the personal and family life of one of the least known, yet most influential men of the past two centuries. Marx's almost lifelong relationship with Jenny van Westphalen (1814-1881), whom he married in 1843, forms the center of this extraordinary narrative, much of which unfolds as the Marx family flees from the police and professional informers. A powerful human story about a most controversial man.

Review: I won this book as a giveaway on goodreads. I had a love/hate relationship with this book from the start. First of all, its reallyyy long. Reading this was labor intensive. Gabriel does a great and thorough job of providing a biography of Marx and his wife and children. If you were writing a paper on Marx in high school or college and you came across this biography, you would do a fist pump, and promptly make it one of your main sources. For detail and thoroughness, I would definitely give this book 4 stars.

However, just as reading material, this book was not overwhelmingly enjoyable. For enjoyment, I would give this 2 stars. I signed up to win this book because the tag line emphasized Marx's wife and how his personal life had a major role in his work. However, Jenny Marx was a relatively minor character in this book, to my disappointment. I felt the tag line was pretty misleading in that respect. I know that publishers generally have the final say in titles though, so that is not something I can fairly criticize the author on. Additionally, Marx's life was irritatingly repetitive. The book consists of chapter after chapter of debt, moving to continually smaller and shabbier apartments, and death of numerous individuals. I can't even recall the number of ailments and bills that Marx was constantly stressing over. Again, that's not something that I can fault the author on, just the reality of Marx's life. (And who knew, despite his great love for Jenny, that he fathered a child with their live-in housekeeper/family friend?) Yet despite my frustrations with this book, I found myself sad to see the old man finally pass away and then see the even sadder deaths of his daughters. Marx had an incredibly hard life and was not recognized for his work during his lifetime. Its a shame that his idealistic ideas to improve the lives of everyday men have been grossly misinterpreted over time.

Stars: 3