Karl Marx: His Life and Thought
1973 book by David McLellan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Marx : His Life and Thought is a 1973 biography of Karl Marx by the political scientist David McLellan. The work was republished as Karl Marx: A Biography in 1995.
Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | David McLellan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Karl Marx |
| Publisher | Macmillan Publishers |
| Publication date | 1973 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 464 (1995 edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-333-44541-9 |
Bibliographic information
First edition published in London and New York:
- McLellan, David (1973a). Karl Marx: His Life and Thoughts. London etc.: MacMillan Press.[1]
- McLellan, David (1973b). Karl Marx: His Life and Thoughts. New York etc.: Harper & Row.[2]
These editions were republished several times,[3] in different forms, also as an e-book (after the MacMillan 1973 edition).[4]
In 1995 a republication appeared under a different name:
- McLellan, David (1995). Karl Marx : A Biography. London etc.: Papermac.[5]
In 1975 McLellan also wrote a much more condensed biography of Karl Marx, of 88 pages, with the simple title Marx. This work was reprinted many times (12 times between 1975 and 1988).[6]
Background
The first generally known and complete biography of Karl Marx was written by Franz Mehring, and published, first in German as Karl Marx. Geschichte seines Leben (Karl Marx: The Story of His Life) in 1918.[7]
It would take fifty-five years, before the next really important biography of Marx was written. This was Karl Marx : His Life and Thoughts by McLellan (1973). "What Mehring's biography had been for the first half of the twentieth century — the standard thus far — McLellan’s was for the second half (and probably even today)."[8]
Summary
McLellan deals with Marx's intellectual, political and private life.[9] Marx had his fair share of suffering. Born in 1818, Marx spent his entire life in exile from his native Germany. Two of his children died in infancy, one in childhood, and a fourth shortly before Marx's own death in 1883. For many years he was besieged by creditors and afflicted by a variety of illnesses, the most painful being a near-fatal carbuncular disease, (skin infection resulting in boils), that caused him immense suffering during his last twenty years.[10]
Reception
The political theorist Terrell Carver described the book as, "The most comprehensive scholarly account of Marx's life and works".[11] The historian of science Roger Smith called it "readable and reliable".[12]
