A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx

This essential Karl Marx biography expertly weaves the complex personality of the legendary thinker through the turbulent passage of global history. The first biography to give equal weight to both the work and life of Karl Marx, A World to Win follows Marx through childhood and student days, a difficult and sometimes tragic family life, his far-sighted journalism, and his enduring friendship and intellectual partnership with Friedrich Engels. Building on the work of previous biographers, Liedman employs a commanding knowledge of the 19th century to create a definitive portrait of Marx and his vast contribution to the way the world understands itself. He shines a light on Marx’s influences, explains his political and intellectual interventions, and builds on the legacy of his thought. Liedman shows how Marx’s masterpiece, Capital, illuminates the essential logic of a system that drives dizzying wealth, grinding poverty, and awesome technological innovation to this day. Compulsively readable and meticulously researched, A World to Win demonstrates that Marx’s work remains the bedrock for any true understanding of our political and economic condition, even two centuries after his death.