Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), generally considered the most original political writer in the tradition of Western Marxism, is one of the outstanding intellectual figures of the twentieth century. Arrested and imprisoned by the Italian Fascist regime in 1926, he died before fully regaining his freedom. While in prison, Gramsci wrote a series of notebooks covering an extraordinarily wide range of issues; they are his principal achievement. Written without thought of publication, the pages of Gramscis notebooks record and reveal his interests in history and historiography, the role of intellectuals in society, political theory, philosophy, Americanism and Fordism, religion, education, cultural analysis, literature, folklore, and linguistics. The integral text of the notebooks gives readers direct access not only to Gramscis influential ideas but also to the intellectual workshop where those ideas were forged.