engels – Manchester Historian

Buried in an alcove of the Reading Room in Chetham’s library is an unassuming wooden desk. This desk was the station from which the founders of Marxism constructed their ideology during their time in Manchester. It was during the summer of 1845 that Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx worked from this desk, diligently developing the intellectual and literary roots that would change the world.

Friedrich Engels, by virtue of a statue in Deansgate, is ingrained in the heart of the city of Manchester. But how did a German man, who co-wrote the communist manifesto, become a Mancunian icon? What does Manchester owe to him?

Alex Byrom reviews Michael Wood ‘in conversation’ with Tristram Hunt MP.

Jennifer Nuttall discovers one of Manchester’s most historically significant and aesthetically awesome libraries.

We look at Chetham’s library — the historian’s aphrodisiac.