This book examines the philosophy of Rousseau and its contribution to our understanding of modernity. Strong notes that Rousseau has been associated with almost every school of thought and political movement of Western modernity - why is it that he has been read so divergently? The author suggests that Rousseau `gives us...our language for politics and personhood...Rousseau is not the whole story of modernity, but he is, in ways that others around and before him were not, modern.'