Jean-Michel Palmier's monumental study on Walter Benjamin is the life's work of a scholar who does not add a new interpretation to the numerous existing ones but simply provides the key to understanding this enigmatic author. Palmier meticulously traces Benjamin's philosophical, political, and aesthetic thought processes, clearing up many misunderstandings and clichés, such as the notion of the "Marxist rabbi" who turns the alternative between historical materialism and theology into an insoluble dilemma. Above all, Palmier fills the gaps in a often oversimplified and repetitive reception of Benjamin's work. The ragpicker, the angel, and the "hunchbacked little man" thus become fundamental figures in a philosophical narrative that captures the complexity of Benjamin's thought systematically rather than hagiographically.