It is not possible to separate the life and work of Erich Mühsam. He was a bohemian, poet, anarchist, humorist, political publicist, playwright, bisexual erotomaniac, revolutionary, and even in the greatest distress, an unwavering humanitarian, ultimately becoming one of the first prominent victims of the Nazis. In 1933, he was arrested on the night of the Reichstag fire and murdered after months of torture in the Oranienburg concentration camp. The purpose of this reader is to recount Mühsam's lifelong struggle "for justice and culture" with texts from his rich body of work that have lost none of their political relevance to this day. In addition to some Mühsam classics, this collection also includes previously unpublished poems, excerpts from longer works, selected letters, and a description of his last days written by his wife, Zenzl.