The Conditions of the Working Class in England by Engels

Engels was so obscured or overshdadowed by the giant mind and personality of Karl Marx. Who would not be? The wife of Marx (who was highly intelligent and worked on all manuscripts of Marx and was one of the few who could decipher his handwriting--remember that one of the few jobs that Marx applied for in England (as a clerk) he did not get on account of his illegible handwriting) once said that while she was confident she trembled intellectually speaking by looking at the eyes of her husband. But this book by Engels is such a masterpiece: the man did actual research for his book, and he did that with real people and not in the reading room of the British Museum where Marx started his day at 9:00AM and ended it at 7:00PM while working on Capital. In fact, the later Marx in the Capital owes much to this book, and not only in substance but also in the method and style. There is much attention to details and meticulous collection of data and the habit (later perfected by Marx) to cite sources from the enemy's own sources. (Remember that Marx in Cologne subscribed to British publications including The Economist). And the friendship between the two is rather legendary: it brought the best in both (unlike the friendship say between Nasser and `Amir which brought the worst in both). In all the letters between the two, there is only a reference to one dispute in all the years when they knew each others: that famous one well recounted in Francis Whean's fascinating and most recent biography of Marx) when Marx wrote to Engels after the death of Engel's life-long companion, when Marx basically said: I know that you are upset and all, but I still need the payment to keep coming. Engels was justifiably offended. And the book you need to remember was first published in 1845: just to give you an idea about its significance. If Marx was not the giant that he became, this book by Engels would have been treated as a masterpiece.