This volume discusses the ideas of six leading thinkers of the French Enlightenment: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Holbach, and Condorcet. A general introduction surveys the political theories of the Enlightenment, setting them in the context of the political realities of 18th-century France. The first book of its kind on the subject, Philosophers and Pamphleteers brings a welcome, new perspective to the study of French political thought during a fascinating historical era.

          It is written in a very clear way and makes for enjoyable reading. It opens with an exposition of the life and work of the writer Cranston believes in the most delightful of all the political philosophers, Montesquieu. It attempts to show that all these philosophers were in one way or another champions of the idea of liberty. The emphasis for Montesquieu was on the work of parliaments, the seperation of powers; for Voltaire there was a focus on the absolute ruler as key to political freedom, for Rousseau the emphasis is on his experience in Geneva as city and therefore on the republican idea. For Diderot and Holbach there was movement from utilitarianism to liberalism.