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.