This superb new collection will be of invaluable assistance to students and scholars alike. With judicious commentary and an excellent selection of supplementary writings, it provides in one volume the essential tools to understand Rousseaus fundamental political ideas and their tremendous resonance in his own time, and ever since. Darrin M. McMahon, Mary Brinsmead Wheelock Professor of History, Dartmouth College
This is an excellent classroom edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseaus key political works. It features clear, accessible translations of important texts the First and Second Discourses, On the Social Contract, and, less conventionally, the Preface to Narcissus and a well-chosen set of passages from canonical works designed to encourage comparisons, some of which influenced Rousseau, and some of which responded to him. In addition to providing important biographical details, the introduction beautifully situates the texts within the history of political thought. Melissa Schwartzberg, New York University
The political writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau were immensely influential in their day and remain crucial for understanding contemporary discussions of diversity, rights, democracy, and the value of humanistic and scientific inquiry. This volume collects the key texts, including On the Social Contract in its entirety. Along with a useful overview of Rousseaus life and career, it provides numerous thoughtfully selected excerpts from other thinkers. These illuminate the roots, context, and impact of Rousseaus complex, often paradoxical interventions. Rousseau is a canny and controlled rhetorician, whose style ranges from terse simplicity to grandiloquence. Ian Johnstons translation cleaves to the original while crisply rendering the authors varied prose. James A. Steintrager, University of California, Irvine
Readers of Rousseau are often frustrated that very few editions combine his great political writings into one volume. This edition does that, but also so much more. It includes Rousseaus important Preface to Narcissus, as well as excerpts from many works that provide invaluable context for understanding Rousseaus significance in the history of political thought. Williams and Maguires editorial introduction and notes offer an insightful and detailed guide through Rousseaus text and beyond. An excellent edition for students and scholars. Jeffrey Church, University of Houston
This superb volume introduces students to Rousseaus principal political writings. The editors draw attention to the diversity of interpretations elicited by Rousseaus writings and offer a robust introduction to the main angles and nuances of Rousseaus political thought. The volume also presents the welcome inclusion of the lesser-known preface to Rousseaus play Narcissus, in a new translation by Samuel Webb, and a comprehensive appendix of excerpts of key texts written by Rousseaus predecessors, his contemporaries, French revolutionaries and modern philosophers, who have all grappled with his provocative and probing ideas in intriguing and diverging ways. Anyone interested in inequality, politics, philosophy and the challenges of modernity will benefit from this elegant volume. It makes for essential reading for students and specialists in political science, philosophy and the humanities. Masano Yamashita, University of Colorado Boulder
The distinctive value of [ this volume] comes from the editing. The most interesting editorial choice was to include the Preface to Narcissus, which is rarely taught to students. To put a fine point on this decision, it is inspired. The Preface was written between the First and Second Discourse, and both develops the argument of the former discourse and anticipates the political argument of the latter. Importantly, it is in the Preface that Rousseau introduces the language of amour-propre and transforms his cultural critique of Parisian intellectual life into a political and economic one. Michael Locke McLendon, California State University, in Philosophy in Review
