Voltaire's Revolution

Voltaire, the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), was one of the most influential leaders of the Enlightenment. This book presents English translations of key writings from Voltaire's legendary campaign for tolerance which forcefully drove the movement to grant freedom of beliefs and end state-imposed religions. Many of these writings have long been unavailable in English. John Adams wrote that Voltaire "did more for religious liberty than Calvin, Luther or even Locke."

Originally published under pseudonyms to avoid imprisonment, many of these tracts were burned in a losing battle by the authorities. The book includes the rarely-cited “Sermon of Rabbi Akib” (a searing attack on anti-Semitism),  the hugely popular deistic “Prayer to God”, “Catechism of the Honest Man,” and other witty, at times acerbic pieces that point out the errors in the Bible, the corruption of the clergy, and religiously-inspired persecutions across the ages.

With a well-annotated introduction, plus an appendix including first-hand accounts of the battle by noted mathematician and French revolutionary Condorcet, Frederick the Great, Oliver Goldsmith, and others, this excellent compilation will be a welcome addition to the libraries of anyone with an interest in the history of freedom of thought or in arguments still pertinent today.

"... a master of writing and rhetoric, whether ironic or earnest. Voltaire speaks easily to his modern readers, with criticisms that are as insightful today as they were over two hundred years ago." - Gretchen Wagner, San Diego Book Review

"I count myself as a Voltaire enthusiast but had never bothered to unearth some of these gems. No other book offers such a lively collection of Voltairian prose in so few pages." - Michael Johnson, Facts and Arts

"It would be nice to think that "Voltaire's Revolution" will add to the ranks of (his) admirers. If this much wit and brilliance (all adroitly translated) can't manage that, probably nothing can." - Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly.