Voltaire was one of the key figures of the French Enlightenment. The foremost epic poet, playwright, novelist and satirist of his age, he was also a forthright and vastly influential campaigner for social justice and progressive thinking, producing countless pamphlets, articles, books and letters, landing him in jail and exile. This selection is taken mainly from his prose non-fiction, but includes some letters. In addition to the texts, this book contains recent Voltaire scholarship in an introduction, a bibiliography, selected criticism and chronologies of Voltaire's life and times.