Originally published in 1965, Reading Capital is a landmark of French thought and radical theory, reconstructing Western Marxism from its foundations. Louis Althusser, the French Marxist philosopher, maintained that Marx’s project could only be revived if its scientific and revolutionary novelty was thoroughly divested of all traces of humanism, idealism, Hegelianism and historicism. In order to complete this critical rereading, Althusser and his students at the École normale supérieure ran a seminar on Capital, re-examining its arguments, strengths and weaknesses in detail, and it was out of those discussions that this book was born.

Previously only available in English in highly abridged form, this edition, appearing fifty years after its original publication in France, restores chapters by Roger Establet, Pierre Macherey and Jacques Rancière. It includes a major new introduction by Étienne Balibar.

阿爾都塞（Louis Althusser，1918— ） 法國著名哲學傢、“結構主義馬剋思主義”的奠基人。齣生於阿爾及利亞首都附近的比曼德利小鎮，其父是一傢銀行的經理。1924—1930年在阿爾及爾上小學。1930—1936年在法國馬塞上中學。畢業後考入巴黎國立高等師範學校預科班學習。1939年入該校文學院不久，因德國法西斯入侵而應徵入伍，隨軍駐守布列特尼半島。1940年被德軍俘虜，關押在集中營，直到戰爭結束纔獲釋。1945年重返高等師範學校，在哲學傢巴歇拉爾指導下研究哲學。1948年獲哲學博士學位，留校從教，並於同年加入法國共産黨。1962年升為教授，1975年通過答辯，又被庇卡底大學授予文學博士學位。1980年患精神病，退休療養。1990年病逝。

埃蒂安·巴利巴爾，南代爾巴黎第十大學哲學教授，路易·阿爾都塞的學生和閤作者，他的書被翻譯成世界多種主要語言。