Totality has been an abiding concern from the first generation of Western Marxists most notably Lukács Korsch Gramsci and Bloch through the second exemplified by the Frankfurt School Lefebvre Goldmann Sartre Merleau-Ponty and Della Volpe up to the most recent typified by Althusser Colletti and Habermas. Yet no consensus has been reached concerning the term s multiple meanings--expressive decentered longitudinal latitudinal normative--or its implications for other theoretical and practical matters. By closely following the adventures of this troublesome but central concept Marxism & Totality offers an unconventional account of the history of Western Marxism.