Basic Writings of Nietzsche (trans. Walter Kaufmann)
by Friedrich Nietzsche · Modern Library
The efficient way to own the mature published canon in a reputable translation instead of hunting individual volumes. Covers the two texts most worth reading first for anyone who wants the arguments rather than the aphorisms. Kaufmann's translations of five complete works - The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner and Ecce Homo - with his notes, seventy-five aphorisms and selected correspondence.
This link may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure
More resources on Nietzsche
Nietzsche Lectures - Prof. Raymond Geuss (Cambridge)
The best free spoken-word treatment and a rare case of a genuine research-level Nietzsche scholar lecturing on the record. Seven recorded University of Cambridge lectures on Nietzsche's genealogical method, his critique of morality and his relation to Schopenhauer and Wagner. Recordings of undergraduate philosophy lectures, not a produced series for general audiences.
Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
The postwar study that dismantled the Nazi appropriation of Nietzsche, tracing his intellectual development, his quarrel with Christianity and his debt to Socrates, and reading will to power through sublimation rather than domination. Pairs well with Leiter, who argues Kaufmann over-sanitised him; reading the disagreement is itself the lesson.
Nietzsche on Morality (2nd edition)
Analytic commentary on On the Genealogy of Morality, reconstructing essay by essay Nietzsche's arguments about the origins of moral values, free will, agency and the ascetic ideal. Assumes you have read the Genealogy first. The single best modern commentary and the strongest available correction to loose readings: it treats Nietzsche as making arguments that can be stated, assessed and sometimes rejected, rather than as a source of slogans.
The Portable Nietzsche (ed. and trans. Walter Kaufmann)
Zarathustra is the book most often read first and misread worst, and Kaufmann's chronological arrangement and notes make the development legible instead of oracular. Kaufmann's complete translations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist and Nietzsche contra Wagner, plus chronological selections from the earlier books, notebooks and letters that show how his positions developed.
Nietzsche Source: Digital Critical Edition (eKGWB) and Manuscript Facsimiles
This topic's biggest failure mode is fabricated or mangled quotations circulating as 'Nietzsche said'. This is the place to check any passage against the actual text and its context, and the only free source that is authoritative at the level of the manuscript. Free scholarly edition of Nietzsche's complete German works, posthumous fragments and letters (the Colli-Montinari text) plus facsimiles of the manuscripts, with a stable citation address for every aphorism and note.