Marx for the twenty-first century
The first new English translation in fifty years-and the only one based on the last German edition revised by Marx himself
Featuring extensive original commentary, including a foreword by acclaimed political theorist Wendy Brown
"An astounding achievement."-China Miéville, author of October: The Story of the Russian Revolution
Karl Marx (1818–1883) was living in exile in England when he embarked on an ambitious, multivolume critique of the capitalist system of production. Though only the first volume saw publication in Marx's lifetime, it would become one of the most consequential books in history. This magnificent new edition of Capital is a translation of Marx for the twenty-first century. It is the first translation into English to be based on the last German edition revised by Marx himself, the only version that can be called authoritative, and it features extensive commentary and annotations by Paul North and Paul Reitter that draw on the latest scholarship and provide invaluable perspective on the book and its complicated legacy. At once precise and boldly readable, this translation captures the momentous scale and sweep of Marx's thought while recovering the elegance and humor of the original source.
For Marx, our global economic system is relentlessly driven by "value"-to produce it, capture it, trade it, and, most of all, to increase it. Lifespans are shortened under the demand for ever-greater value. Days are lengthened, work is intensified, and the division of labor deepens until it leaves two classes, owners and workers, in constant struggle for life and livelihood. In Capital, Marx reveals how value came to tyrannize our world, and how the history of capital is a chronicle of bloodshed, colonization, and enslavement.
With a foreword by Wendy Brown and an afterword by William Clare Roberts, this is a critical edition of Capital for our time, one that faithfully preserves the vitality and directness of Marx's German prose and renders his ideas newly relevant to modern readers. Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, historian, and political economist whose critique of capitalism is considered one of the most influential developments in modern thought. Paul Reitter is professor of Germanic languages and literatures and former director of the Humanities Institute at the Ohio State University. His translations include The Autobiography of Solomon Maimon (Princeton). Paul North is the Maurice Natanson Professor of German at Yale University. His books include The Yield: Kafka's Atheological Reformation. Wendy Brown is the UPS Foundation Chair in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. William Clare Roberts is associate professor of political science at McGill University. Paul Reitter's intrepid new translation makes it possible to think about Capital anew and as a new kind of book. -Edwin Frank, author of Stranger than Fiction
"Paul Reitter and Paul North's new English edition of Volume I of Marx's Capital deserves the highest compliment that someone like me can give it-namely, someone who reads Marx in English translation and therefore relies entirely on the skill and craft of translators and editors, who in this case were thankfully and miraculously undaunted by such a gargantuan project. The highest compliment is this: Reitter and North have given us an accessible Capital-clear and coherent, timelessly up-to-date, and current without being fashionable. This translation communicates as plainly and forcefully as such a complex and intricate analysis allows. Huzzah! This is the version I will be reading with students going forward."-Beverley Best, author of The Automatic Fetish: The Law of Value in Marx's "Capital"
"An astounding achievement."-China Miéville, author of October: The Story of the Russian Revolution
