'The Birth of the Clinic repeatedly allows us to glimpse the face, the personal and distinctive features of a philosopher-historian whose declared aim is nevertheless to get rid of the subject and subjectivity, to disappear in his own discourse and to leave the way open for a formulation of the anonymous rules which govern human knowledge and behavior.' - New York Review of Books'Foucault has re-launched philosophy in France single-handed.' - The Times Literary Supplement'Michel Foucault is a very brilliant writer, he has a remarkable angle of vision, a highly disciplined and coherent one, that informs his work to such a high degree as to make the work sui generis original.' - Edward W. Said