The Rebel is an essay on artistic, historical, and metaphysical rebellion, in which he lays out the difference between revolution and revolt.
Camus sees revolt as a peaceful, evolutionary process that requires leadership but not violence. He criticizes Hegel's work, accusing it of glorifying power and the state over social morality and ethics, and he accuses Marx of co-opting Hegelian philosophy to allow "any means to an end". Camus prefers Mediterranean humanism, a philosophy grounded in nature and moderation, to the violence and historicism he sees as part and parcel to what he calls the "Absolutist" philosophies. The attacks on Hegel, Marxism and nihilism in The Rebel had a profound effect on Camus' peers.
The book was described as intellectual treason by leftist critics, and a review by Francis Jeanson in Les Temps Modernes accused Camus of being a traitor to the left. After Camus attempted to defend himself in a letter to the publication, Jean-Paul Sartre, the editor of Les Temps Modernes at the time, published an open letter in response that tallied 19 pages. The letter included personal attacks, and marked the end of the two philosophers' friendship.

加缪在他的小说、戏剧、随笔和论著中深刻地揭示出人在异己的世界中的孤独、个人与自身的日益异化，以及罪恶和死亡的不可避免，但他在揭示出世界的荒诞的同时却并不绝望和颓丧，他主张要在荒诞中奋起反抗，在绝望中坚持真理和正义，他为世人指出了一条基督教和马克思主义以外的自由人道主义道路。他直面惨淡人生的勇气，他“知其不可而为之”的大无畏精神使他在第二次世界大战之后不仅在法国，而且在欧洲并最终在全世界成为他那一代人的代言人和下一代人的精神导师。

1995年，法国BVA调查所作的民意调查显示：在“20世纪作家中谁最让你心动”这类问题上，加缪拿到了4.5的高分，萨特只有0.8。加缪的作品，迄今仍是伽利玛出版社的畅销书。
本书是关于阿尔贝•加缪的首部传记，也是公认的经典，被誉为“加缪传记中极受欢迎的一部”（《纽约时报》）。法语原著初版于1978年，近四十年来多次再版，已被译成十几种文字。长期旅居巴黎的美国传记作家赫伯特•R. 洛特曼采用英美人撰写传记的严谨方法，努力贴近加缪的生活，向读者揭示了一个在阿尔及利亚贫民区长大，经历长期的贫穷、无尽的苦难，却通过不懈的努力荣获诺贝尔文学奖的法国作家的成长历程、创作历程、生活历程和心路历程。
本书涉及加缪的所有作品，包括《局外人》《鼠疫》《西西弗神话》《第一个人》《堕落》《反与正》《反抗者》《正义者》《卡利古拉》《流放与王国》等。