Since his death in 1883, Marx has been revised, distorted and rediscovered. But as David McLellan shows, recent research and scholarship have provided the documentation and perspective that are enabling a more coherent picture to emerge.

This essay is a survey of Marx's life, of his contributions to the varied fields of History, Economics and Politics, and of his subsequent interpreters by a writer whose own studies have played a major part in fostering this process of redefinition.