Breaking the Bonds of Fate

Offering a new perspective on Epicurus, this book provides an impressive presentation of Marx's materialism from an Epicurean point of view. Absolutely fascinating! ~Michael Heinrich, author, "Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society"

This is a book we have long needed. A dark corner of the young Marx’s intellectual formation is convincingly lit up, by an author with an impressive command of both Epicurean atomism and the history of 19th-century German philosophy. ~David Sedley, University of Cambridge

Breaking the Bonds of Fate is a splendid contribution to intellectual history. With a combination of panache and scholarly rigour Foster presents Epicurus as a major influence on Marx and Marxism. in Epicurus Karl Marx found a highly congenial philosophy thanks to the Greek thinker's materialism, naturalistic physics, anthropology and rejection of fatalistic determinism. This book casts new light on the ancient thinker's presuppositions and the German context of Marx's doctoral dissertation on the differences between Democritus and Epicurus. ~A.A.Long, author, "Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics"

A breathtaking intellectual, philosophical, and political history of Epicurus and Marx for which there is no equivalent. This is the final and culminating book in Foster’s trilogy and for me, the most synthetic and powerful. An extremely well researched book that will be cited for many years to come on this topic. ~Thomas Nail, distinguished scholar and professor of philosophy, University of Denver; author, "Marx in Motion: A New Materialist Marxism and Lucretius I, II, and III"

Marx wrote his PhD thesis about Epicurus, a highly influential ancient philosopher. Not many readers of Marx know what to do with this fact. Delivering an encyclopedic account of Marx and Epicurus in relation to one another, as well as the reception of Epicureanism in Marxist discourse, John Bellamy Foster aims to change this. He knows everything there is to know about Marx and Epicurus, and shares his knowledge in a helpful and eloquent way. ~Boris Hennig, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Toronto Metropolitan University