Montesquieu and the Making of the Modern World

Montesquieu is widely regarded as one of the founders ofmany of the social sciences. His broad erudition and deepconcentration led to his great work The Spirit of the Laws, published in 1748. Before that, he had written other notableworks including the Persian Letters, published in 1721. Byconsidering his life and his work in relation to each other, and all his works alongside each other, we can see insidethe mind of one of the greatest of modern thinkers. He wasthe first great global thinker who could base his work on sources from around the world. Alan Macfarlane, F.B.A., is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge University and a Life Fellow of King's College. His website is alanmacfarlane.co