A titan among the social philosophers of the age that produced Proudhon, Marx, Blanqui, and Kropotkin, Michael Bakunin was involved in the Dresden uprising in 1848, which led to his imprisonment first in Germany, then in Russia, and his exile in Siberia, from where he escaped to Europe in 1861. Until his death in 1876, he lived and worked in London, Naples, Paris, Prague, Berlin and Geneva in opposition to the communist-statist Marx and the populist-liberal Herzen.

With the publication of Dolgoff's lengthy and careful selection, the vitality of Bakunin's message is evident. --Labour History

The most complete anthology I've seen of this neglected writer. It confirms my suspicion that Bakunin is the most underrated of the classical 19th century theoreticians. --Dwight Macdonald

Bakunin's insights are refreshing, original, and unsurpassed in clarity and vision. This selection provides access to the thinking of one of the most remarkable figures of modern history. I read it with great pleasure and profit. --Noam Chomsky

SAM DOLGOFF (1902-1990) played an important role in the anarchist movement since the early 1920s. He was a member of the Chicago Free Society Group, and co-founded the New York Libertarian League.