Montaigne Zweig Stefan

A brilliant and impassioned biography of one of the founding fathers of humanism, from one of its greatest defenders in the 20th century

Written during the Second World War, Zweigs typically passionate and readable biography of Michel de Montaigne, is also a heartfelt argument for the importance of intellectual freedom, tolerance and humanism. Zweig draws strong parallels between Montaignes age, when Europe was torn in two by conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his own, in which the twin fanaticisms of Fascism and Communism were on the verge of destroying the pan-continental liberal culture he was born into, and loved dearly. Just as Montaigne sought to remain aloof from the factionalism of his day, so Zweig tried to the last to defend his freedom of thought, and argue for peace and compromise.

One of the final works Zweig wrote before his suicide,