Writings on History brings together a selection of texts by Louis
Althusser dating from 1963 to 1986, including essays, a lecture, notes
to his collaborators, and the transcript of an informal 1963 discussion
of literary history. The centrepiece of this collection is Althusser's
previously unpublished Book on Imperialism, a theorization of globalized
capitalism that remained unfinished. All these writings are concerned
with the place of history in Marxist theory and, in particular, on what
Althusser considered to be the mortal danger of historicism haunting the
revolutionary reading of the present. They testify to his continuing
dialogue with the historiography of his day, several of whose
representatives were engaged in discussion and debate with him. Deeply
interested in history but intent on avoiding the kind of interpretation
that would transform it into a deterministic force, Althusser never
ceased to reflect on the equilibrium between the historical and the
concept in Marxist historiography, an equilibrium that he sought to
reinvent for his time. The traces of that undertaking, which continues
to generate debate throughout the world today, are brought together in
this volume.