[5] Much of the book focuses on arguments between the anarchist advocates of violence, epitomised by Trupp, and those such as Auban who believe that propaganda of the deed inadvertently strengthens the authorities it seeks to undermine.

[7] Mackay scholar Thomas Riley comments: In Die Anarchisten there are two contrasting characters, one of which represents a philosophy of life that is clearly communist-anarchism; the other, a more intellectual person, is an individualistic anarchist and an egoist.

[8] The book influenced Romantic composer Richard Strauss, who read it avidly and was reportedly engaged in a heated discussion concerning it hours before the opening of his first opera, Guntram.

[9][10] A Companion to Twentieth-century German Literature describes the work as "a skilful portrayal of cultural life in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century".

[11] Anarchist historian Paul Avrich found the book to be "remarkable",[12] while his counterpart George Woodcock commented that it revealed Mackay to be "a sort of inferior libertarian Gissing".