Louis Althusser was probably one of the most complex - and the most controversial - of the "maitres de penser" to emerge from the turbulent Parisian intellectual scene of the 1960s. During a long career, Althusser achieved wide fame, notoriety and, finally, effacement. Yet his work remains an important element in contemporary philosophy and cultural critique. This volume, timed to coincide with the English-language publication of Althusser's autobiography, "The Future Lasts a Long Time", assesses the importance and influence of "Althusserianism", both in relation to, and beyond, the controversies of his political career and the events of his personal biography. One of the principal aims of the book is to situate Althusser and his texts within the wider histories and cultures to which they belong, drawing on contributors from a wide range of backgrounds and geographical locations. Thus E.J. Hobsbawm contextualizes Althusser's Marxism; Pierre Villar assesses Althusserian historiography; Paul Ricoeur probes Althusser's theory of ideology; Axel Honneth articulates his relation to the principal rival schools of Marxism in the 1960s and 1970s; Peter Dews examines his relations to the structuralist school; David Macey casts a sceptical eye over his alliance with Lacan; Francis Mulhern explores the diversity of Anglophone "Althusserianism"; and Gregory Elliott responds to Althusser's analysis of his own case history. The book concludes with a bibliography of Althusser's analysis of his own case history.