Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography

Is the Grand Old Man re-emerging? More than twenty years after the collapse of Communism, and in the midst of the crisis of Capitalism, Karl Marx’s ideas, at least in part, are back in vogue. He is often invoked, yet often misunderstood. In this award-winning biography Rolf Hosfeld offers a new, transparent, and critical view of Marx’s turbulent life. Linking the contradictory politician and revolutionary to his work―his errors and misjudgments as well as his pioneering ideas―Hosfeld presents a vivid account of Marx’s life between Trier and London. At the same time, he renders accessible Marx’s complex work, one of the world’s most important contributions to the history of ideas.

Rolf Hosfeld studied German Literature, History, Political Science, and Philosophy at the Universities of Frankfurt/Main and Berlin, where he received his PhD with a dissertation on Heinrich Heine. He has worked as university lecturer, editor, journalist, and film and TV director and has published numerous essays, scholarly articles, and books on historical, cultural, and political topics, including a biography of Hegel, a history of the Armenian genocide, a history of the GDR, and a biography of Kurt Tucholsky. Currently, he is the Academic Director of the Potsdam Lepsius House, a Research Center for Genocide Studies, and works as an independent writer.