A major work in the development of critical theory in the late twentieth century, Anti-Oedipus is an essential text for feminists, literary theorists, social scientists, philosophers, and others interested in the problems of contemporary Western culture.

In his preface, Michel Foucault calls Anti-Oedipus an introduction to non-fascist life, referring not just to political fascism but to the fascism within us--- the desire to be led. To address that problem, Deleuze and Guattari propose a political analysis of desire as it is expressed or repressed in Western culture. They find the seeds of society's sickness in contemporary psychoanalysis, especially in the powerful figure of Oedipus.