Andrew Pearmain has a PhD in Historyvfrom the University of East Anglia, UK. Andrew has previously published several articles and a book on Gramsci. Andrew was a member of the Labour Party, serving as a Norwich City Councillor for four years from 1999-2003, and is now associated with the Green Party though the think-tank Greenhouse. Now semi-retired, Andrew is a contributing editor to the art/fashion magazine Arena Homme Plus.

A compelling narrative of Gramsci's life and times with a lucid exposition of his intellectual achievements ... It is beautifully and sensitively written, sober in tone, wise in judgment and full of striking aperçus.

• A. Infancy and Childhood in Rural Sardinia, effects of Gramsci's father's prosecution and imprisonment.B. School study at home and in Cagliari.C. Scholarship and study at the University of Turin, and early involvement in radical politics.D. Early journalism and activism in the Socialist Party.E. Italian responses to the First World War and the Soviet revolution, and schisms within the Socialist Party.F. The journal Ordine Nuovo and the Turin Factory Councils movement.G. The foundation of the Italian Communist Party, and the reaction of Fascism.H. The early life of the PCd'I, Gramsci's then minor role, and his time in Russia at the Communist International, including his acquaintance with the Schucht family, his complicated courtship of Julia and the birth of their sons.I. Return to Italy as a Communist MP, then (with the arrest of most of the party leadership) as Party Secretary, culminating in arrest in November 1926.J. Early prison years, with court appearances and frequent relocations, with growing reliance on Tatiana and estrangement from Julia and the rest of the Schucht family.K. Settlement at the penitentiary in Turi di Bari, and a serious start on the prison notebooks.L. The inner-party feuds of the early 1930s and their ramifications for Gramsci.M. The onset of serious ill health, and death in 1937.N. The several 'after-lives' of Antonio Gramsci, and the continuing relevance of his thought.