Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary

This is not a dictionary. It is a weapon, dressed in wit. Written in 1764 as a gauntlet thrown at the feet of religious orthodoxy and received wisdom, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary is a collection of short, devastating essays on everything from Abraham to zoos, with stops at "Apostles," "Atheism," "Christianity," and "Moses" along the way. Each entry is a trapdoor into reason, each definition a small act of rebellion against the powerful. Voltaire believed that reason and justice were worth defending with every ounce of his elegant, poisonous prose, and this book is his ammunition. What makes it endure is not just its courage, but its style. Voltaire writes with the precision of a surgeon and the timing of a stand-up comedian. He is never crude, never heavy-handed; he simply asks questions that the powerful wish no one would ask, and then lets the silence do the work. The book was banned, burned, and denounced as a "deplorable monument to the extent to which intelligence and erudition can be abused" - which tells you everything about how dangerous it was and still is. For readers who love to think, who enjoy watching a master dismantlesacred cows with nothing but logic and irony, this remains essential.