The essential one-volume collection of Michel Foucault’s letters, lectures, and interviews, tracing the evolution of the eminent and groundbreaking philosopher’s thought throughout his life

“A rare opportunity to see how a great and original mind produces its work as well as itself at the same time. . . . Foucault’s work . . . leaves no reader untouched or unchanged.” —Edward Said, The New York Times Book Review

Few philosophers have had as significant an impact on contemporary thought as Michel Foucault. His complete uncollected writings, under the title Dits et écrits, were published in French in 1994; this was followed by a three-volume series from The New Press that brought the most important of these works—courses, articles, and personal letters, many of them translated into English for the first time—to American readers. Here, the renowned Foucault scholars Paul Rabinow and Nikolas Rose have collected the best pieces from the three-volume set into a one-volume anthology in which Foucault’s dazzling intellect and gift for language are on full display.


The Essential Foucault, which features a provocative introduction by Rabinow and Rose, is certain to become the standard text for all those interested in a comprehensive overview of Foucault’s thought.