The Best of the World's Classics Restricted to Prose Vol. VII (of X)--Continental Europe I

Volume VII includes works from renowned Continental European figures such as Voltaire Jean-Jacques Rousseau Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and others showcasing the intellectual and literary achievements of the Enlightenment and Romantic periods. Voltaire’s Candide is a key satirical work that critiques optimism and social structures while Rousseau’s The Social Contract offers influential political philosophy on the nature of governance and individual freedom. Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther is included a foundational work of German Romanticism that explores themes of passion and existential crisis. Additionally the volume presents important philosophical and political writings from other Continental European thinkers such as Montesquieu and Friedrich Schiller whose works influenced the development of modern political theory ethics and aesthetics. These selections illustrate the complex intellectual currents of the 18th and early 19th centuries that helped shape modern Western thought.