First published in 1987. Similar in content to Sherman's previous book, Radical Political Economy, it covers most of the same issues and reaches the same overall conclusion in favour of democracy and socialism. Many of the analyses and conclusions on particular subjects, however, have changed because of the flood of new literature in every area of radical political economy and because the world has changed. The most important issue is the prevention of nuclear war.

A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Howard J. Sherman received an M. A. in Economics from the University of Southern California, a Jur.D. in Law from the University of Chicago Law School, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at a number of distinguished universities, and he is now Professor and Chair of Economics at the University of California, Riverside.