My Thoughts by Montesquieu

My Thoughts by Montesquieu

My Thoughts provides a unique window into the mind of one of the undisputed pioneers of modern thought, the author of the 1748 classic, The Spirit of the Laws. From the publication in 1721 of his first masterpiece, Persian Letters, until his death in 1755, Montesquieu maintained notebooks in which he wrote and dictated ideas on a wide variety of topics. Some of the contents are early drafts of passages that Montesquieu eventually placed in his published works; others are outlines or early versions of projected works that were ultimately lost, unfinished, or abandoned. These notebooks provide important insights into his views on a broad range of topics, including morality, religion, history, law, economics, finance, science, art, and constitutional liberty.

Montesquieu called these notebooks Mes Pens es (My Thoughts), and they appear in their entirety in English for the first time in this Liberty Fund edition.

Editor and translator Henry C. Clark provides readers with translations of most of the footnotes contained in the 1991 French edition by Louis Desgraves, while adding new notes, a bibliography, and other aids to understanding the text and translation. These features provide the frame for a revealing portrait of one of the most influential figures of the eighteenth century.

Henry C. Clark is a Visiting Professor in the Political Economy Project at Dartmouth College. He has written two books and numerous articles, mainly on the French and Scottish Enlightenments.

Please note: This title is available as an ebook for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.

Charles-Louis de Secondat was born in 1689 at La Br�de, near Bordeaux, into an eminent family of parlementaires. His mother died when he was ten and Charles-Louis was sent to Paris to be educated and completed a law degree in Bordeaux in 1708. He returned to Paris in order to finish his education, staying until his father died in 1713. In 1714 he became a councilor at the Bordeaux Parlement and a year later married a Huguenot lady, Jeanne de Lartigue, probably for her money. They had three children. A year after their marriage Charles-Louis inherited the barony of Montesquieu and the post of pr�sident � mortier at the Bordeaux Parlement and five years later, in 1721, he published anonymously in Holland the Persian Letters, which ran into ten editions in one year. From 1721 to 1725 he lived in Paris frequenting fashionable society and conducting several love-affairs. He sold his post of pr�sident in 1726 because of financial difficulties, was elected to the French academy in 1727 and spent the next three years traveling in Europe (he stayed about eighteen months in England and became a freemason). He returned to France working mainly in Paris but occasionally traveling to the southwest to look after his estates and wine business. During this period his persistent eye troubles got worse and he gave up freemasonry because of the Church's disapproval. In 1748 he published his most important work, The Spirit of Laws, which made an immediate impression and caused a lot of controversy. Montesquieu died in Paris of a fever in 1755. In 1751 The Spirit of Laws was placed on the Vatican Index and likewise the Persian Letters in 1761.
Christopher Betts was born in 1936 and is at present a lecturer in the School of French Studies at the University of Warwick.
Christopher Betts was born in 1936 and is at present a lecturer in the School of French Studies at the University of Warwick.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780865978256
ISBN 10	0865978255
Title	My Thoughts
Author	Montesquieu
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Liberty Fund Inc.
Year published	2012-11-01
Number of pages	808
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable