作为伟大的、富于创建性的马克思主义理论家，葛兰西的理论和思想大部分都是在监狱中形成的，其《狱中札记》则是他全面思考的结晶。《狱中札记》记载了他对国际共产主义运动、意识形态理论、文化领导权理论、有机知识分子理论、美学和历史学等等理论的思考和探索。这部著作体现了“人类意志的极限”，即一个人到底能在多大程度上超越他的历史和个人背景进行思考，这部监狱中完成的著作正是独立思考的伟大典范。葛兰西独树一帜的实践哲学和他所提出的“霸权”、“有机知识分子”、“市民社会”、“阵地战”等理论观念，在当代仍具有重大的理论意义。

This is an edited edition of Gramsci's notebooks and appears to be complete, finished, and organized. In fact, however, Gramsci did not organize his notebooks as they appear here. Hoare and Smith organized these notes around particular topics, whereas Gramsci originally wrote his notes in 29 separate notebooks, which he wrote at different times and never had the chance to systematically organize.