Brilliantly researched and wonderfully written, Love and Capital is a heartbreaking and dramatic saga of the family side of the man whose works would redefine the world after his death.
Drawing upon years of research, acclaimed biographer Mary Gabriel brings to light the story of Karl and Jenny Marx's marriage. We follow them as they roam Europe, on the run from governments amidst an age of revolution and a secret network of would-be revolutionaries, and see Karl not only as an intellectual, but as a protective father and loving husband, a revolutionary, a jokester, a man of tremendous passions, both political and personal.
In Love and Capital, Mary Gabriel has given us a vivid, resplendent, and truly human portrait of the Marxes-their desires, heartbreak and devotion to each other's ideals.
Lynn says:
"I'll admit that this rather massive book (709 pages, if you count the character list, political timeline, notes, index etc) at first gave me a few weeks' pause before I plunged in, but now that I've finished Mary Gabriel's biography of Karl and Jenny Marx, I feel as though I've just taken one of those trips of a lifetime abroad with some pretty unforgettable fellow passengers. Once pulled in by the complexities of its charismatic subjects navigating an era that rivals our own in terms of political and economic turmoil and the masterful storytelling of its author, I found myself coming up with excuses to go to Boulder on RTD, just so as to secure nice chunks of uninterrupted reading time! Reading Love and Capital immersed me in the tempestuous late 19th century, and Gabriel's nuanced portrait of the Marx family's navigation through that time was completely absorbing.
Fortunately for us, Karl and Jenny Marx, as well as most of their family circle (by blood, marriage, and by visionary zeal) were incredibly prolific and erudite letter-writers and authors whose now scattered archives sparked the imagination of a biographer adept at fleshing out the evolution of these human characters within their particular historical context, bringing vividly to life the dawn of the industrial age, in all its awesome wonder and horror. The economic times' parallels with our own are undeniable as we follow the courtship of this passionately intellectual couple who early on dedicate their initially privileged lives to challenging the class disparities looming ever larger as Europe's power elites' militarist and profit-driven responses to the increasing rage of the most exploited laborers grow ever more oppressive and violent. The Marx household becomes a magnet for fellow refugees fleeing censorship or worse, and the once aristocratic Jenny Von Westphalen and her ferociously brilliant philosopher husband find themselves frequently moving... from Prussia... France... Belgium... England... due to Marx's scathing critiques of the injustices and excesses that have the entire region teetering dangerously upon a precipice ready to fall into class warfare.
With the happy exception of Marx's astoundingly loyal lifelong friend, co-ideologue and benefactor, Frederick Engels, they become increasingly cut off from moneyed supporters and are hounded not only by their political opponents, but by poverty and debts incurred as started newspapers go under, book publication is delayed for months and years by all manner of exhaustion or distraction or by the demands of a seemingly imminent revolution. As dreadful illnesses plague members of their circle and personal betrayals and tragedies mount, pushing and pulling them from place to place, uprising to uprising, a resilience and irrepressible zest for life that early on seemed indomitable is relentlessly worn down both individually and collectively... Of Jenny and Karl's seven children, 3 pass away in infancy, their beloved and precocious son Edgar dies in childhood and the 3 daughters who live to adulthood are beset with frequent uprooting, financial struggles, stifling gender norms, and setbacks at least as devastating as their parents'.
Yes, it's a lengthy book... a commitment, in fact. But Love and Capital is a book to be savored and revisited, as its themes are universal. Throughout this narrative and despite (or maybe part and parcel of) its chronicling of considerable anguish and upheaval, there burns an undercurrent of very imperfect but abiding human love, solidarity, conscience and humor that had me reading late night after night, determined to question more deeply what undercurrents of ideas and principles might most hopefully and healingly connect that distant era's sanity in supremely difficult times with our own."
Drawing upon years of research, acclaimed biographer Mary Gabriel brings to light the story of Karl and Jenny Marx's marriage. We follow them as they roam Europe, on the run from governments amidst an age of revolution and a secret network of would-be revolutionaries, and see Karl not only as an intellectual, but as a protective father and loving husband, a revolutionary, a jokester, a man of tremendous passions, both political and personal.
In Love and Capital, Mary Gabriel has given us a vivid, resplendent, and truly human portrait of the Marxes-their desires, heartbreak and devotion to each other's ideals.
"I'll admit that this rather massive book (709 pages, if you count the character list, political timeline, notes, index etc) at first gave me a few weeks' pause before I plunged in, but now that I've finished Mary Gabriel's biography of Karl and Jenny Marx, I feel as though I've just taken one of those trips of a lifetime abroad with some pretty unforgettable fellow passengers. Once pulled in by the complexities of its charismatic subjects navigating an era that rivals our own in terms of political and economic turmoil and the masterful storytelling of its author, I found myself coming up with excuses to go to Boulder on RTD, just so as to secure nice chunks of uninterrupted reading time! Reading Love and Capital immersed me in the tempestuous late 19th century, and Gabriel's nuanced portrait of the Marx family's navigation through that time was completely absorbing.
Fortunately for us, Karl and Jenny Marx, as well as most of their family circle (by blood, marriage, and by visionary zeal) were incredibly prolific and erudite letter-writers and authors whose now scattered archives sparked the imagination of a biographer adept at fleshing out the evolution of these human characters within their particular historical context, bringing vividly to life the dawn of the industrial age, in all its awesome wonder and horror. The economic times' parallels with our own are undeniable as we follow the courtship of this passionately intellectual couple who early on dedicate their initially privileged lives to challenging the class disparities looming ever larger as Europe's power elites' militarist and profit-driven responses to the increasing rage of the most exploited laborers grow ever more oppressive and violent. The Marx household becomes a magnet for fellow refugees fleeing censorship or worse, and the once aristocratic Jenny Von Westphalen and her ferociously brilliant philosopher husband find themselves frequently moving... from Prussia... France... Belgium... England... due to Marx's scathing critiques of the injustices and excesses that have the entire region teetering dangerously upon a precipice ready to fall into class warfare.
With the happy exception of Marx's astoundingly loyal lifelong friend, co-ideologue and benefactor, Frederick Engels, they become increasingly cut off from moneyed supporters and are hounded not only by their political opponents, but by poverty and debts incurred as started newspapers go under, book publication is delayed for months and years by all manner of exhaustion or distraction or by the demands of a seemingly imminent revolution. As dreadful illnesses plague members of their circle and personal betrayals and tragedies mount, pushing and pulling them from place to place, uprising to uprising, a resilience and irrepressible zest for life that early on seemed indomitable is relentlessly worn down both individually and collectively... Of Jenny and Karl's seven children, 3 pass away in infancy, their beloved and precocious son Edgar dies in childhood and the 3 daughters who live to adulthood are beset with frequent uprooting, financial struggles, stifling gender norms, and setbacks at least as devastating as their parents'.
Yes, it's a lengthy book... a commitment, in fact. But Love and Capital is a book to be savored and revisited, as its themes are universal. Throughout this narrative and despite (or maybe part and parcel of) its chronicling of considerable anguish and upheaval, there burns an undercurrent of very imperfect but abiding human love, solidarity, conscience and humor that had me reading late night after night, determined to question more deeply what undercurrents of ideas and principles might most hopefully and healingly connect that distant era's sanity in supremely difficult times with our own."
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