<em>Reading Capital</em> is an attempt to topple the entire edifice of Western Marxism, and rebuild it from the original foundations. Establishing a rigorous program of 'symptomatic reading' that cuts through the silences and lacunae of <em>Capital</em> to reveal its philosophical core, Louis Althusser interprets Marx's structural analysis of production as a revolutionary <em>break</em>—the basis of a completely new science. Building on a series of Althussers' conceptual innovations, including ''overdetermination' and 'social formation,' Étienne Balibar explores the historical and structural facets of production as Marx understood them, scrutinizing many of the most fundamental points in <em>Capital</em>, as though for the first time.