Montesquieu's 'The Spirit of the Laws'

"Bill Allen has been wrestling with Montesquieu’s œuvre now for more than fifty years; and, to his great credit, he has resisted the propensity, nearly universal among scholars, to treat the French philosopher as a partisan of one or another form of government. In this brilliant, provocative book, he challenges the consensus that the author of The Spirit of the Laws was a liberal on the Lockean model by drawing attention to passages on natural law in that work that do not fit this hypothesis. Then he elaborates an account of Montesquie’s thinking that places him in between Plato and Aristotle, on the one hand, and Hobbes and Locke, on the other. No one who reads this work with care and ruminates on the implication of Allen’s argument can rest satisfied with the reigning orthodoxy. —Paul A. Rahe, Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, Hillsdale College Roger and Martha Mertz Vising Fellow in Classics, The Hoover Institution In his new translation and commentary on The Spirit of the Laws, W. B. Allen has unveiled the plan, structure, and political profundity of Monesquieu's magnum opus. He has also captured that oh-so-very elusive idea of ""esprit"" that restlessly occupies the nucleus of Montesquieu’s work. Allen's book is a show of philosophical brilliance revealing philosophical brilliance, set against a backdrop of political moderation and hushed grandeur. -- Colleen Sheehan, Professor of Politics with the School of Civic and Economic Thought at Arizona State University. A wide-ranging, deeply reflective, and richly thought-provoking contribution to the study of Montesquieu and of his influence on the American constitutional tradition. -- Thomas L. Pangle, Joe R. Long Endowed Chair in Democratic Studies, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin"