Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) is widely celebrated as the most original
political thinker in Western Marxism and an all-around outstanding
intellectual figure. Arrested and imprisoned by the Italian Fascist
regime in 1926, Gramsci died before fully regaining his freedom.
Nevertheless, in his prison notebooks, he recorded thousands of
brilliant reflections on an extraordinary range of subjects,
establishing an enduring intellectual legacy.
Columbia University Press's multivolume Prison Notebooks is the only
complete critical edition of Antonio Gramsci's seminal writings in
English. The notebooks' integral text gives readers direct access not
only to Gramsci's influential ideas but also to the intellectual
workshop where those ideas were forged. Extensive notes guide readers
through Gramsci's extraordinary series of reflections on an encyclopedic
range of topics. Volume 3 contains notebooks 6, 7, and 8, in which
Gramsci develops his concepts of hegemony, civil society, and the state;
reflects extensively on the Renaissance, the Reformation, and
Machiavelli's political philosophy; and offers a trenchant critique of
the cultural and political practices of fascism. A detailed analysis of
positivism and idealism brings Gramsci's philosophy of praxis and
conception of historical materialism into sharp relief. Also included
are the author's extensive observations on articles and books read
during his imprisonment.