Leszek Kolakowski

Main Currents of Marxism

The Founders • The Golden Age • The Breakdown

Leszek Kolakowski’s masterpiece, one of the twentieth century’s most important books—for the first time in a one-volume paperback.

Renowned philosopher Leszek Kolakowski was one of the first scholars to reveal both the shortcomings and the dangers posed by communist regimes. He now presents, for the first time in one paperback volume, his definitive Main Currents of Marxism: “A prophetic work,” according to the Library of Congress, that provides “the most lucid and comprehensive history of the origins, structure, and posthumous development of the system of thought that had the greatest impact on the 20th century.”

“Considered the definitive work on the subject.”—Sarah Lyall, New York Times

“A monument of modern humanistic scholarship. ... It is quite impossible to convey in a short review the astonishing range of Kolakowski’s history of Marxist doctrine. It will surely not be superseded.”—Tony Judt, New York Review of Books

“Masterful ... it will stand for a long time as the essential work on the subject.”—Zbigniew Brzezinski

Leszek Kolakowski was the first recipient of the million-dollar John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and he is the recipient of the 2007 Jerusalem Prize. He lives in Oxford, England.