The Need for Roots

<p><b>A new translation of Simone Weil's best-known work: a political, philosophical and spiritual treatise</b><br><br>An icon of twentieth-century French philosophy, Simone Weil was described by André Gide as 'the patron saint of all outsiders' and by Albert Camus as 'the only great spirit of our time'. In this, one of her last and best-known works, she offers a vision of what human life could be - where the needs of our bodies are met and the needs of the soul, too, are better known and nurtured. <br><br><br>Written in 1943, when France was occupied and Weil was working in the offices of the Free France in London, <i>The Need for Roots</i> responds to a plea both timely and timeless: what can satisfy the cry of our hearts for justice? In the same decade that saw the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Weil argues that rights alone are inadequate to the task - and encourages her contemporaries not to repeat the mistakes of the French Revolution and the malaise of modern life. The alternative she offers has intrigued and inspired generations of readers since. <br><br>Translated by Ros Schwartz, with an introduction by Kate Kirkpatrick.</p> <p><b>A new translation of Simone Weil's best-known work: a political, philosophical and spiritual treatise on what human life could be</b></p><p><br>What do humans require to be truly nourished? Simone Weil, one of the foremost philosophers of the last century, envisaged us all as being bound by unconditional, eternal obligations towards every other human being. In <i>The Need for Roots</i>, her most famous work, she argued that our greatest need was to be rooted: in a community, a place, a shared past and collective future hopes. Written for the Free French movement while she was exiled in London during the Second World War, Weil's visionary combination of philosophy, politics and mysticism is her answer to the question of what life without occupation - and oppression - might be.'The patron saint of all outsiders' Andre Gide<br>'The only great spirit of our time' Albert Camus <br>Translated by Ros Schwartz, with an introduction by Kate Kirkpatrick.</p>