In the book-size essay Albert Camus treats both the metaphysical and the historical development of the revolution in modern society. He tries to relate figures like Marquis de Sade, Max Stirner (whom he misrepresents to some extent), Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Karl Marx in one big picture of men in revolt. Albert Camus Albert Camus (November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) was a French author and philosopher and one of the principal luminaries (with Jean-Paul Sartre) of existentialism. ... Portrait of the Marquis de Sade by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (c. ... Johann Kaspar Schmidt (October 25, 1806 – June 26, 1856), better known as Max Stirner (the nom de plume he adopted from a schoolyard nickname he had acquired as a child because of his high brow [Stirn]), German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary grandfathers of nihilism, existentialism and... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a profoundly influential German philosopher, psychologist, and philologist. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, UK) was an influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ...

One of the main points is that the urge for revolt always comes from an urge for justice. Another theme is the idea that once a revolution gets established it will become more tyrannic than the original government because the ideal of an utopia justifies everything.

It also points out that the rejection of religion leads to political utopian philosophies such as communism, perhaps as a way to replace the tradition vision of a utopian afterlife with an earthly one. He rejects this idea because, as pointed out in the previous paragraph, the ideal of utopia justifies everything.

The writing has a rather complex structure, the trademark of French philosophy, making it difficult to read as a continuous story.

• The Rebel is a 1915 movie, directed by J.E. Mathews and starring Allen Doone, from the play The Rebels by James B. Fagan.
• The Rebel is a 1933 movie, directed by Edwin H. Knopf and starring Luis Trenker.
• The Rebel is a 1961 movie starring Tony Hancock.
• Le Rebelle (1930, 1980), El Rebelde (1943), Amakusa shiro tokisada (1962), El Motamarreda (1963), Poliziotto solitudine e rabbia (1980), La Ribelle (1993), and Das Fähnlein der sieben Aufrechten (2001) have all been distributed with the international English title of The Rebel.