an award-winning essayist and novelist, studied at McGill University and the University of London, where he obtained his Ph.D in 1972. Declared a “prophet” by TIME magazine, he is included in the prestigious Utne Reader’s list of the world’s 100 leading thinkers and visionaries. His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages and include the trilogy made up of the bestseller Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West (1992), the polemic philosophical dictionary The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense (1994), and the book that grew out of his 1995 Massey Lectures, The Unconscious Civilization. His works deal with themes such as the dictatorship of reason, the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good, and the role of freedom of speech. Find much more on: johnralstonsaul.com.