This book examines the life, major ideas and lasting influence of the Italian militant and political thinker Antonio Gramsci. Author of the famous Prison Notebooks – over 2,000 pages of profound and influential reflections on history, culture, politics, philosophy and revolution – and head of Italy’s Communist Party in the 1920s, Antonio Gramsci is one of the most important European political thinkers of the 20th century. An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci provides an accessible overview of Gramsci’s thought and analyses how Gramsci’s theories can be applied to 21st-century politics in the age of Brexit, Covid, the rise of populism and the Ukraine crisis.

This edition includes:· A brand new chapter that considers Gramsci’s relevance to contemporary politics and events· Expanded and updated sections applying Gramsci to contemporary political theory and political economy· An exploration of the most recent Gramsci scholarship· A new section on Gramsci’s influence on the New Right