Liberty in Their Names

Here is the story of three overlooked revolutionary thinkers, Olympe de Gouges, Manon Roland, and Sophie de Grouchy. All three began to think and write political philosophy before the French Revolution. All three were concerned with social justice and equality and all three felt the call of the revolution. When women could neither vote nor talk at the assembly, all three became vocal, public figures. Yet instead of the philosophy of Gouges, Grouchy and Roland, we speak of Voltaire, Rosseau and Diderot. Charting the extent of their influence for the first time, we finally see how three pivotal figures were written out of intellectual history and what we stand to gain by thinking about their lives and works.