The Ego and His Own: The Case of the Individual Against Authority

Max Stirner

In this classic work of libertarian thought, a brilliant 19th-century German thinker presents a well developed case against all supra-individual authority. Stirner’s manifesto of indi­vidualism and radical political anarchism is a savagely pen­etrating critique of liberalism and socialism, and of all religious and ideological constraints on freedom. All polit­ical, state, church and social structures, he argued, are based on empty ideological and religious concepts.

The impact and persuasive power of this fervently anti-author­itarian book has endured for more than a century and a half. Karl Marx regarded Stirner’s work with such hostility that he attacked it with a ferocious 400-page polemic.

James J. Martin, who edited, introduced and annotated this edition, commented: “The Ego and His Own is the most formidable assault on authoritarianism ever launched. Nothing distracts Stirner from his pursuit of the exposition of freedom for everyone, not just for himself. No one has surpassed Stirner in dealing with these two as­pects: individualism, whence it stems and where its logic goes.”

Lib­ertarian Book Club edition, with dust jacket.


Hardcover, 366 pages
ISBN: N/A
Stock Number: 0346