The book Marx's Ghosts: Conversations with Archaeologists by Thomas Patterson is divided into five chapters with a preface and an introduction. It opens with an autobiographical preface that spells out the author's encounter with Marxism, from his young years in California to academia on the East coast, at Harvard and Temple, and finally, back to the West coast at University of California–Riverside. The book's aim is clearly stated in the introduction: to explore the many dimensions of Marxism in archaeological practice and discourse on two principal topics—the rise of civilization and the origins of states.