First published in 1985, Thomas Sowelle(tm)s book is a crisp, lucid and commonsensical introduction to Marxe(tm)s own writings and to Marxist theory. It combines readability with intellectual rigour and distils more than a quarter of a century of Thomas Sowelle(tm)s research and thought on the philosophical and economic doctrines of Karl Marx. Its central theme is that Marxian philosophy must be understood before Marxian economics can be defined. The book discusses Marxe(tm)s ideas, including his philosophy of history, concept of capitalist "exploitation", morality and business cycle theory. The authore(tm)s treatment is balanced, though often critical and displays a mastery of Marxe(tm)s own writings which are liberally extracted throughout the text.