The spellbinding story of both the man and the theory, Bakunin chronicles one of the most notorious radicals in history: Mikhail Bakunin, the founder of anarchism, here revealed as a practical moral philosophy rooted in a critique of wealth and power. Mark Leier corrects many of the popular misconceptions about Bakunin and his ideas, offering a fresh interpretation of his life and thoughts. Bakunin is an insightful read for all those who wish to better understand the fundamental basis of modern radical movements.

A selection of writings by one of the most important practitioners of social revolution. "The best available in English. Bakunin's insights into power and authority, and the conditions of freedom, are refreshing, original and still unsurpassed in clarity and vision. I read this selection with great pleasure."--Noam Chomsky

McLaughlin is concerned not so much with an explication of Bakunin's anarchist position, as such, as with the basic philosophy which underpins it. He focuses on two central components: a negative dialectic, or revolutionary logic; and a naturalist ontology, a naturalistic account of the structure of being or reality. Bakunin scholarship, he notes, falls into two camps: Marxist and liberal. Both, he says, tend to be hostile. McLaughlin discredits one by one the analyses (published, usually, as part of a work on Marx et al.) by Francis Wheen ("schoolboy wit, idiocy of tone, poverty of content"), George Lichtheim ("completely misreads Bakunin") and Oxbridge scholar Aileen Kelly ("personality assassination, perverse, slanderous"), while upholding Eric Voegelin. Perhaps this book will spark a small revolution of its own. Scholars interested in Bakunin have had few resources available in English, and none of them, until now, presented a credible study of the man's philosophy.