Essays by Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne was a sixteenth century French philosopher and a key figure of the French Renaissance. His initial career was as a politician and statesman, and he had connections to the French monarchy. Upon inheriting his father's country estate he settled down to a life of reading, writing, and introspection. In 1580 he published his extensive Essais, whose uniquely personal perspective on subjects, including himself, established the modern form of the essay. Philippe Desan is the Howard L. Willett Professor Emeritus of History of Culture at the University of Chicago. He specializes in the history of ideas in the Renaissance and is a leading Montaigne scholar. His biography, Montaigne. A Life, was published in 2018. Tom Butler-Bowdon is series editor of the Capstone Classics series and has written introductions for Plato's Republic, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Marx' & Engels' The Communist Manifesto. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he is also the author of 50 Philosophy Classics, 50 Politics Classics, and 50 Psychology Classics www.butler-bowdon.com