I bought the book based on its cover. Rarely have I seen such a misleading cover. First, this is not a comparison of the political philosophies of Marx and Lincoln, but a book about the US civil war. Second, it is not a book by Robin Blackburn (whom I much admire), but a book edited by him, with the two inaugural addresses and the Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln, and assorted journalism on the US civil war by Marx. In addition there are random clippings from the correspondence between Marx and Engels and speeches and journalism from the era. Fair enough, Blackburn's intro takes up about 40% of the book, but it is mostly an overview of the civil war with little theoretical depth.

My expectations made the reading experience worse than it could have been. But the cover is still misleading.