| Rousseau abandoned his five children to the foundling home, not bothering to marry his mistress until his life was nearly over. His writings contradict nothing so much as his prior writings. Voltaire, while not engaging in illegal financial transactions, was making his niece into his mistress. His greatest affection was for the despotic and powerful, and he often wrote anonymously to avoid the courage of his convictions. No temerity here, he adivsed staying at home to take care of one's own garden. The authors attribute nearly everything after these two to one or the other of them. It is a waste of two perfectly good historians to see them get so sucked in by these men of high purpose and low example. Nonetheless, a great book. |
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