Tracy 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 od 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.