Piero Sraffa's work has had a lasting impact on economic theory and yet we know surprisingly little about the man behind it. This is the first intellectual biography of Sraffa and it details his working relationship with thinkers as diverse as Gramsci, Keynes, Wittgenstein as well as discussing the genesis of his major works.

A friend of Gramsci, a colleague of Keynes and a correspondent of Wittgenstein, Piero Sraffa made contributions to economics and philosophy for over 60 years. This book discusses his intellectual evolution from his student days in Italy to his extended period as librarian at the Marshall Library of Economics in Cambridge. Charting Sraffa's political development in Italy to the point where he was forced to flee Mussolini's regime, the book pays particular attention to his relationship with Gramsci, detailing both their protracted and wide-ranging philosophical discussions and his central role in preserving "The Prison Notebooks".