About the Author

Jonathan Sperber, the author of The European Revolutions, 1848–1851, is the Curators’ Professor of History at the University of Missouri. He has written extensively on the social and political history of nineteenth-century Europe.

Reviews

"By locating Marx squarely in the society and intellectual currents of the nineteenth century, rather than interpreting him in the light of twentieth-century history, Jonathan Sperber's excellent biography succeeds splendidly in reshaping our image of the man and his thought." -- Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: A Biography "Absorbing, meticulously researched...[Sperber] succeeds in the primary task of all biography, recreating a man who leaps off the page... Sperber forces us to look anew at a man whose influence lives on. And he also offers a useful template for how we might approach other great figures, especially the great thinkers, of history-demystifying the words and deeds of those who too often are lazily deemed sacred. For all the books that have been written about America's founding fathers, for example, we still await the historian who will do for them what Jonathan Sperber has done for Karl Marx." -- Jonathan Freedland - New York Times Book Review "Brilliant, original, and beautifully written, Jonathan Sperber's biography of Marx dazzles. Neither a prophet nor a purveyor of a political system gone awry, Marx emerges in these pages as a man struggling, personally and intellectually, with the profound issues of his own time. With insight and erudition, Sperber weaves Marx's life and time seamlessly together, and gives us the first deeply researched, engaging biography of Marx in more than three decades" -- Helmut Smith, author of The Butcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town "Doing for Marx what Ian Kershaw did for Hitler, Jonathan Sperber has given us more than just a landmark biography, but a magnificent literary and historical achievement." -- Christopher M. Clark, author of Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 "Starred review. This superb, readable biography of the most controversial political and economic thinker of the last two centuries achieves what scholars have been hard-pressed to deliver in recent decades: a study of Marx that avoids cold war, ideological, and partisan commitments and arguments. A major work, this is likely to be the standard biography of Marx for many years." -- Publishers Weekly "[A] scrupulously detailed account of its subject from cradle to grave." -- Terry Eagleton - Harper's "Including the cast of Marx's enemies and acolytes, Sperber superbly recounts the life Marx led." -- Booklist "The first significant Marx biography in decades... Sperber details graphically the often-times scurrilous intrigues and competitive struggles, in doing so developing a panorama of a European-wide network of artisans, revolutionaries and intellectuals... In careful detail, [he] reconstructs the genesis of Marx's works, the influences of David Ricardo and Adam Smith on Marx's political economy, as well as his fascination with Darwin's theories." -- Alexander Cammann, author of Die Zeit "Sperber credibly reveals Marx's personal and political passions, ironies and contradictions... Authoritative." -- Kirkus Reviews "Working with sources not available to previous authors, Sperber offers a fresh perspective on Karl Marx and 19th-century European history in this remarkable work... This brief review hardly does justice to a book that combines exceptional scholarship with exemplary exposition, and is among the best historical studies of this generation... Essential." -- Choice "[A] balanced, fresh biography, putting the reader at ease and stimulating open-minded curiosity." -- Sam Stark - The Nation