Illustrated by Phil Wriggleworth

Edited by Bhaskar Sunkara Published by Verso ISBN 978-1784787264

A to Z of Socialism is an intriguing narrow portrait format book with equally intriguing content matter. We all hear the word ‘socialism’ in various contexts, but are we really sure we know what it means, especially from the mouths of actual socialists? If you’re interested in questions such as ‘Doesn’t socialism always end up in dictatorships?’ then this will be a good place to start.

Each chapter contains lively illustrations by Phil Wriggleworth, helping to keep the tone light as the various writers (from the magazine Jacobin) deliver on a multitude of aspects of socialism, mainly relating to a US audience, and why it’s the way forward. As the introduction says, ‘We don’t have all the answers, but this book was made to tackle some of them’. Wriggleworth’s cover is a great draw for the book, indicating that it’s not the dry tome one might expect.

There are themes which echo very heavily on the current Presidential campaigns in the US, and featured pull quotes such as ‘ultimately the goals of a radical feminism and socialism are the same – justice and equality for all people’ highlight the issues tackled in the book.

It’s an interesting publication to dip into, and you may even find out the answer to the question ‘Don’t the rich deserve to keep most of their money?’.

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