This book consists of 9 transcribed lectures; 3 introductions by 3 different authors; and a preface by Negri, written from his prison cell. The 9 lectures form a coherent course on Marx's increasingly-influential collection of notebooks, 'The Grundrisse.' If you do not already own 'The Grundrisse,' then you should definitely buy it with this book by Negri. Because Negri's lectures consist of a college course on 'The Grundrisse.' He even specifies the order in which he will discuss the book, listing the pages to read in preparation for each lecture. So this book, MBM, really provides its readers with a tremendous opportunity: to take a lecture course on Marx taught by Toni Negri! Through these lectures Negri provides a very unorthodox, very sophisticated and politically powerful reading of Marx. Ultimately, you must understand Negri's reading of Marx to fully understand Negri's own theoretical analyses, developed most recently in 'Politics of Subversion,' 'Labor of Dionysus,' 'Empire,' and 'Time for Revolution.' ('Empire' was co-written by Michael Hardt, and LD includes some early essays by Negri and a book-length analysis co-authored by Negri & Hardt.)
Negri is not an orthodox Marxist. He speaks openly of communism, but of communism here and now, of communism as an ongoing revolutionary process -- not as a state or government or even as an "economic system." As far as I know, he was never a member of the CP, and never embraced "state socialism" or the so-called communism of the USSR or PRC.
Nor is Negri a terrorist, as the Italian state charged. Indeed, his criticism of terrorism is the sharpest criticism and most coherent critique of terrorism I have ever read. See 'Communists Like Us: New Lines of Alliance' for an example of his writing on the subject. And for a courtroom transcript, see the (nicely-bound!) Red Notes collection of Negri's writings, 'Revolution Retrieved.' In that transcript, you see that Negri's criticism of terrorism actually get used as evidence against him, in an unbelievable echo from Orwell's '1984.' (Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine Ashcroft making the very same argument today.)
In any case, if you're up for a college course on the Grundrisse, taught by Negri, read this book! And/or, if you really want to understand Negri's theoretical framework, and his analysis of capitalism, then read this book!
My only criticism is with the binding. Like so many books today, the binding breaks all too easily. And due to the nature of this book's content, if you really put it to use, you will be referring to the book again and again as you read 'The Grundrisse' and other related books and writings. Just to understand Negri in this book, it takes some repeated reading of sections. So treat the book carefully. It does, however, have a great cover design, and a great choice of blurbs on the back.
A final note to the folks at Autonomedia, if you're reading this: it's great that you've published this, and that you continue to do so. But really, better binding would be much appreciated. I've went through two copies myself. If you'd like to see an example of excellent binding in paperback book, see the Red Notes book of Negri's writings. If you could do something like that -- with nicely-sewn signatures -- even in just a limited run, say for a deluxe edition of MBM, I suspect people would buy it. Hell, I would cherish it.
