"Strong's exegesis seeks to show that the teacher's texts contain a fully elaborated egalitarian creed celebrating human ordinariness, a writ revealing a haven, if not a heaven, from the dominion of the inhuman either in self or other, and a promise of freedom in the infinite, self enclosed, reflexivity of the "I" and "Thou" of humankind." --Choice "Tracy B. Strong's book is as much an elegant and compelling evocation of Rousseau himself, or of his spirit, as it is a very fine analysis of the books and the ideas. This makes it a critically important achievement, since that spirit or frame of mind has had more to do with whatever common world and unresolved problems we still share than the work of any other modern. This book is an extraordinary acknowledgement of Rousseau and of how Rousseau wanted to be read, and thereby, in a strikingly original and lucid way, helps make available to us the problem of a 'common humanity,' as Rousseau saw it." --Robert B. Pippin, University of Chicago "In a lucid and thoughtful fashion, Tracy B. Strong directs our vision to Rousseau's analysis of the mysterious character of ordinary life and its meaning for politics. The reader will be delighted and challenged by the vision of Rousseau that Strong presents. Particularly insightful is the discussion of Rousseau's preference for humanity over authority and for self-constituting communities over political impositions by external agency. Rousseau in Strong's hands becomes an important precursor of postmodernity or perhaps even the first postmodern man. This book will thus be of interest not merely to political theorists and philosophers but to all those engaged with postmodernism in literature and other kindred disciplines." --Michael Allen Gillespie, Duke University Jean-Jacques Rousseau examines the philosophy of Rousseau in view of its contribution to our understanding of modernity. Strong notes that Rousseau has been associated with almost every school of thought and political movement of western modernity. Why is it that Rousseau has been read so divergently? The author suggests that Rousseau "gives us our language for politics and personhood. Rousseau is not the whole story of modernity, but he is, in ways that others around and before him were not, modern." This book is an exploration of the relationship between political community and the ordinary as set forth in the thought of Rousseau. In Strong's reading, Rousseau anticipates not only Kant and Hegel, but more contemporary thinkers such as Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. This product is now available from: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Phone: 800-462-6420 Fax: 800-338-4550 http:\www.rowmanlittlefield.com