Voltaire: A Sketch of His Life and Works

Voltaire lived to offend, and this 1894 biographical sketch captures exactly why that mattered. J. M. Wheeler traces the arc of a man born François Marie Arouet in Paris who chose a weapon sharper than any blade: wit. From his earliest clashes with a father who wanted a respectable lawyer, through years of exile and imprisonment for his satirical barbs at the powerful, Wheeler paints Voltaire as a figure who refused to let comfort purchase his silence. The book traces his battles with religious hypocrisy, royal tyranny, and the stupid cruelties of his age, showing how a talent for mockery became a form of moral resistance. Selected excerpts from Voltaire's own writings punctuate the narrative, letting his voice crackle across the century. What emerges is not just a portrait of a philosopher, but a field guide to the art of intellectual disobedience. Wheeler wrote for readers who suspected that reason and tolerance were radical ideas worth fighting for, and his sketch still serves anyone curious about where modern skepticism found its spine.