[markharper]

> My question: an oft repeated refrain, when Marx is touted as a reasonable alternative, is that any time anyone tried his ideas out, it was a total disaster (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Chavez).

A couple things. Chavez is of a different category from the other three just on the amount of death under the other regimes. The question of the results of socialism and capitalism is complex. It's worth reading both historical and economically focused works to get a more nuanced view than the one that you've laid out. For a few suggestions:

On historical critiques of the US-centric perspective:

The Jakarta Method, Vincent Bevins

The Darker Nations, Vijay Prashad

A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn

Economic works:

Competing Economic Theories, Richard Wolff

Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, David Harvey

There are more authors (Kliman, Moseley, Shaikh, etc.), but these two would be a good start.

These are works with particular perspectives and should be read as such. If you want competing ideological works, read a standard history book and Hayek, Mises, Friedman, etc.