Antonio Gramsci: towards an intellectual biography

The story of his life continually alternates with the story of the historical events with which it was historically intertwined. The book is also a picture of the history of Italy from the First World War to the advent of fascism, with particular attention paid to post-war workers' struggles, even if they are seen through the actions and reactions of one of their protagonists. To me it seems that one of the characteristics of the book is that it does not fall into the temptation of a point by point record of a life, even though the events which mark it were extraordinary, and, in many respects, fascinating. Nor does it fall into the opposite excess so frequent among writers of strict Marxist persuasion, of going so far into the heaven of concepts that it loses sight of the world of facts. The battle of ideas cannot be separated from the events in which the ideas germinated and clashed with each other, from the battle of men. This book has tried to shoe both things are interdependent, and overcome this problem.