The Marquis de Sade spent more than half his adult life behind bars. In prison he produced most of his major writing including the infamous 120 Days of Sodom and Philosophy in the Bedroom. His books were either banned or heavily censored. Letters from Prison, only discovered in 1948, are written principally to his beloved (and devoted) wife and to his hated mother-in-law, Madame la Pr'sidente de Montreuil, who put him in jail to preserve the good name of her family, as well as to other friends and enemies. Impassioned, angry, caustic, indignant, pleading, self-justifying, Sade gives vent in these letters to his most profound and profane thoughts and opinions. They offer brilliant and original insights into society, religion, morals, politics and into the minds and motivations of men and women. Letters from Prison is the most candid portrait we have of a man who, two centuries after his death, is an enduring influence on modern thought and literature.