Charles-Louis de Secondat baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu

reprint of Hafner 1949 edition

Nouv. éd., revue sur les meilleurs textes, suivie De la défense de l'esprit des lois par l'autheur

"This translation of Montesquieu's unsurpassed epistolary novel, the first to appear in over thirty years, is completely new and aims at being as literal as possible, including pulling no punches with the erotic elements. This means, among other things, that the translators have attempted to render the same word throughout the work as consistently as good sense allows. This places readers in a position to see the various ways in which Montesquieu associates one character with another. Also, by allowing Montesquieu to speak for himself, readers will be able to see more clearly than in any other translation both the seriousness and playfulness of Montesquieu's intention. Nevertheless, due attention has been paid to the beauty of the literary character of the work. This will be the standard translation for years to come. Persian Letters journeys across the unending landscape of things human, providing readers the opportunity to think through an astonishing number of themes - mastery and slavery, jealousy, philosophy and tyranny, self-deception, commerce, nature and convention, the best life for a human being, vanity, glory, and human sexuality. Given its fascination with the relationship between Islam and the West, and the power of religion in the world generally, the book is especially timely. In addition to the translation of the text, the volume includes a brilliant introduction by Stuart D. Warner on the philosophical meaning of Persian Letters; a translation of the French index from the 1758 edition, which was the first-ever index of the book, as this edition will be the first-ever index in English; editorial footnotes to help with historical and literary allusions; and a chart detailing the chronological order of the composition of the letters"--

Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws is one of a handful of classic works of political philosophy deserving a fresh reading every generation. The product of immense erudition, Montesquieu's treatise has captured since its first printing (1748) the imagination of an impressive array of intellectuals including Rousseau, Voltaire, Beccaria, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, Herder, Sieyès, Condorcet, Robespierre, Bentham, Burke, Constant, Hegel, Tocqueville, Emile Durkheim, Raymond Aron, and Hannah Arendt. In what constitutes the only English-language collection of essays ever dedicated to the analysis of Montesquieu's contributions to political science, the contributors review some of the most vexing controversies that have arisen in the interpretation of Montesquieu's thought. By paying careful attention to the historical, political, and philosophical contexts of Montesquieu's ideas, the contributors provide fresh readings of The Spirit of Laws, clarify the goals and ambitions of its author, and point out the pertinence of his thinking to the problems of our world today.