Montaigne's essays, still compulsively readable, exerted a powerful influence on thought and literature in the Renaissance and beyond. Peter Burke's clear and cogent account of the multifaceted Montaigne and his writings places him in his cultural context and reveals both the similarities and differences between him and his contemporaries. Burke also describes the lasting influence of the Essays on thinkers from Bacon to Nietzsche and Lévi-Strauss.