The Christian concept of a god-the god as the patron of the sick, the god as a spinner of cobwebs, the god as a spirit-is one of the most corrupt concepts that has ever been set up in the world… In him nothingness is deified, and the will to nothingness is made holy. -from The Anti-Christ

He’s one of the most debated thinkers of the 19th century: Nietzsche and his works have been by turns vilified, lauded, and subjected to numerous contradictory interpretations, and yet he remains a figure of profound import, and his works a necessary component of a well-rounded education. The Anti-Christ, first published in German in 1895, is absolutely vital to any meaningful understanding of Nietzsche the man and Nietzsche the philosopher. An insightful and entertaining indictment of Christianity, it has enraged and inspired generations of readers, and this 1920 translation, by H. L. Mencken, considered the best available, is almost as controversial as the work itself, highlighting the darkest side of Mencken’s cynicism. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Nietzsche’s The Use and Abuse of History.