Until a few years ago, Herbert Marcuse’s reputation was confined to academic circles. Recently his analysis of the predicament of man in modern industrial society has been a source of revolutionary ideas and slogans. Is Marcuse’s analysis soundly based? Are his conclusions true? These are the questions that Alasdair Macintyre pursues through an examination of the content, method, and conclusions of Marcuse’s thought, and his relationship to other writers, notably Hegel, Freud and Marx. The answers he gives are forthright, closely argued, and highly critical.