Some comments on this discussion:

Foley's book is good but narrowly economic. As an accompaniment to Capital
vol.1 and The Marx-Engels reader I prefer Harvey's Limits to Capital though
it is too difficult for most undergraduates. But see http://davidharvey.org/
where you can access his video lectures. Sweezy's "Theory of Capitalist
Development" is very clear but now outdated on the transformation problem
and other things. (On transformation see Foley's 2000 RRPE article, the
Wolff, Callari Roberts article in HOPE, 1982, or Andrew Kliman's recent
"Reclaiming Marx's Capital.")

I have found that students really appreciate "getting" Capital vol.1 but
also want to discuss the application of these ideas to present day
issues. Both "The New Imperialism" and "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" by
Harvey are topical and tasty. Rick Wolff's film and book "Capitalism hits
the Fan" have been very effective with my students.
Braverman had his day but is VERY deterministic and as a guide to recent
changes in the labor process his book is not much use. Sections 3.4 and 3.6
in Hardt and Negri's Empire are better (though harder).


Richard McIntyre