It's excellent - a good place to begin. I would also recommend Nicolaevsky's Marx, Man and Fighter, which focuses more on Marx as a revolutionary militant
Seeking a good Biography of Karl Marx
I would recommend the Franz Mehring biography as one of the best biographies written on Marx, written by one of his contemporaries, one that didn't side with the social-chauvinists in WWI. It can be found online at Marxists dot org. Wheen's book is terrible, particularly when reading it I noticed that Wheen had nothing but contempt for revolution and revolutionaries. A sort of sneering contempt for revolution that one might find from an ex-Stalinist/Maoist/Trotskist. I can't say about McLellan's book though. I'd be wary about any biography written of Marx really, given that there are too many political tendencies and forces out there that have reason to lie about Marx, namely Trotskyist, Maoist, Stalinist, SocialDemocratic and other various Liberal Bourgeois historians. I suppose it is just an opinion but I think the history written in the words of one of his own comrades who knew him is probably the most worthwhile read.
It's not strictly a biography, but there is a very fine book by August Nimitz, _Marx & Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough_, that is a very fascination political history of (among other things) M&E within the First International.
I must be alone in having enjoyed the Wheen book. A rather fun read, even if Wheen totally botches _Capital_ by assuming the the value-form analysis in chapter one is intended as a parody!
It is a good read, Wheen does have an entertaining way of writing. It's just the content that's the annoying part.
You're right about his analysis of Capital. I don't have a copy near me, and it has been a good while since I read it, but doesn't Wheen go into how Capital was an astonishing literary feat that was beautiully written? Makes you wonder if he ever tried to read it. I tried a few times and it's probably the toughest time I've ever had trying to pay attention to something.
Yes, I'd say Nicolaievsky's book is the best biography I've read on Marx. Amazing price for it on Amazon too: £0.01!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0140215948/ref=dp_olp_1
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Blackhawk - you are absolutely right on that last point. There can be no better starting point than that of participating in the same movement as Marx Even the Nicolaevsky book, if I remember rightly , suffers from a certain attempt to use Marx againt 'ultra leftism' and to justify Menshevism. For some reason (perhaps linked to old councilist prejudices against the Second International), I have never read the Mehring book, but I am now looking forward to it.
The Ruhle is very good when it deals with the political/theoretical, but the psycho-analitical stuff about Marx does tend to detract from what in places is an excellent understanding of key aspects of Marx's method: class conscioussnes for example, see the section The Materialist Conception of History. This chapter is one of the best short introductions to this question I have read.
Riazanov's Marx and Engel's is also well worth the read.
I recently picked up a biography in a book sale written by Werner Blumenberg entitled Karl Marx an Illustrated History, written in the 1950's and first published in 1962. Written by a non-Marxist who was a member of the German Social Democratic Party. It's not a bad light-weight read and focusses largely on the personal side of KM's life. As the title suggests, it is well illustrated. (contains an illustration of a young KM with a bum-fluff beard!)
Am currently almost finished with the Mehring book. All in all, its good, but if you have prior knowledge of Marx's writings as well as the era in which he lived, there's far too much background history of the epoch as well as synopsis of his writings. The Ruhle biography is much more enjoyable to read, even if it is more objectionable as well.
Hey. Thanks for the feedback. Also, I found at least several Marx biographies on-line including the Ruhle one here :
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ruhle/1928/marx/index.htm and one by Karl Korsch here : http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/korsch-karlmarx.htm
I'm reading another book right now, "A People's History of the World," by Chris Harman. So far, it's okay, but I think that "The Rise of the West" by William H. McNeil" is more thorough....but that's another topic. Anyway, cheers! so much to read........
This one by David Riazanov might be interesting as well:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/riazanov/works/1927-ma/index.htm
Hi. I was hoping to get a recommendation for a good thorough biography of Marx. I recently picked up David McLellan's biography, which I haven't yet read. Has anyone else read McLellan's book? Thoughts? Thanks.