Max Stirner's main treatise, Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum (1844; translated as The Ego and His Own, 1907), is an outrageous book, designed to call into question, if not to destroy, conventional values. And yet, from the first day of its existence, the book has created and sustained an almost inescapable fascination for many people.

Its impact is only to some extent explainable by the outrageousness of Stirner's message. His contention that only the ego counts undoubtedly hit a nerve; the time was ripe for casting doubt on values that had been regarded as sacrosanct. While Stirner could not expect his efforts to meet with general approval, he was successful in arousing serious interest in many of the points he addressed. His work was passionately discussed not only in his native country but all over Europe, the Americas, and even in Asia. Apart from Germanistics, the areas primarily affected were...