A watchmaker's son from Geneva sets fire to the philosophical foundations of monarchy and dares to imagine what might replace it. Jean-Jacques Rousseau published this treatise in 1762, constructing the architecture of popular sovereignty: legitimate authority arises not from force but from a covenant among equals who surrender private will to the general will. The prose is compressed, urgent, almost feverish with conviction. Within three decades the French Revolution would attempt to build a republic on these foundations. The book scandalized thrones across Europe and was publicly burned in Paris and Geneva alike. It remains dangerous in the best sense, a challenge to every government that rules without consent from those it governs.