Includes bibliographical references and index.

We know Montaigne today as the author of a single, extraordinary book: the Essays. It is a book like no other. People have considered it an autobiography, a philosophical treatise, and even a Renaissance self-help manual on how to live, but it is none of these. To be sure, it offers profound meditations on social and ethical questions, and it presents one of the most candid self-portraits ever written-a portrait rich in insight about sanity and peace of mind.