The Portable Karl Marx (Viking Portable Library)

A collection of essential writings from the influential German philosopher

This ideal introduction to the work of Karl Marx represents his most important writings, including the "Theses on Feuerbach"; the complete Communist Manifesto; and substantial selections from "On the Jewish Question," the "Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," The German Ideology, Grundrisse, Capital, and The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, among others.

In addition, documents, letters, and reminiscences offer a portrait of Marx the man—as student, husband, father, enemy, and friend. As Eugene Kamenka writes in his introduction, "This volume, perhaps more so than other Marx anthologies, attempts to present the man with his individual scars, to provide the material for an understanding of Marx himself." Kamenka also includes a chronology of Marx's life and work, a reader's guide to special terms, and an explanatory index.

Karl Mark (1818–1883) was a philosopher, social scientist, historian, and revolutionary. He is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the nineteenth century. Although he was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic, and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death. In Paris, Marx developed his lifelong partnership with Friedrich Engels (1820–1895).

Eugene Kamenka was a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Singapore and head of the History of Ideas Unit at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Australian National University. His works include Marxism and Ethics, A World in Revolution?, The Philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach, Nationalism: The Nature and Evolution of an Idea, The Portable Karl Marx, and Bureaucracy. He died in 1994.