Italian theory is attracting increasing attention around the world. This book explores the reasons for its growing popularity, its distinguishing traits, and why people are turning to contemporary Italian thinkers for answers to real-world issues. Esposito offers insights into the great "unphilosophical" philosophers of life - poets, painters, politicians and revolutionaries, filmmakers, and literary critics - who have made Italian thought, from its beginnings, an "impure" thought ... (Esposito says that) Because Italian thinkers have always been deeply engaged with the concrete reality of life (rather than closed up in the introspective pursuits of traditional continental philosophy), and because they have looked for the answers of today in the origins of their own historical roots, Italian theory is a "living thought". Hence the relevance or actuality that it holds for us today. Continuing in this tradition, the work of Esposito is distinguished by its interdisciplinary breadth. In these pages, he passes effortlessly from literary criticism to art history, through political history and philosophy, in a style that welcomes non-philosophers to engage in the most pressing problems of our times. -- Book Jacket.