History of Madness

When it was first published in France in 1961 as Folie et Déraison: Histoire de la Folie à l’âge Classique, few had heard of a thirty-four year old philosopher by the name of Michel Foucault. By the time an abridged English edition was published in 1967 as Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault had shaken the intellectual world.

This translation is the only English edition of the complete French texts of the first and second edition, including all prefaces and appendices.

Shifting deftly from Descartes to the founding of the Hôpital Général in Paris and early psychiatry, Foucault explores not only scientific and medical analyses of madness, but also the philosophical and cultural values attached to the mad. He also urges us to recognize the creative and liberating forces that madness represents, brilliantly drawing on examples from Goya, Nietzsche, Van Gogh and Artaud.

The History of Madness is an inspiring and classic work that challenges us to understand madness, reason and power and the forces that shape them.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new introductory Post Scriptum by Jean Khalfa and, published here for the first time in English, a lecture Foucault delivered in 1970 at the University of Tokyo, where he summarizes some of the principal themes in this book. It is translated by Jean Khalfa and Joshua Heath.

Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977-1984

Politics, Philosophy, Culture contains a rich selection of interviews and other writings by the late Michel Foucault, many of which are hard to find. Drawing upon his revolutionary concept of power as well as his critique of the institutions that organize social life, Foucault discusses literature, music and the power of art while also examining concrete issues such as the Left in contemporary France, the social security system, the penal system, homosexuality, madness and the Iranian Revolution.

Taken together, the book provides a perfect companion to Foucault’s best-known works, offering a fascinating insight into the mind and work of one of the twentieth century’s most influential and controversial thinkers.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Preface by Lawrence D. Kritzman, , in which he situates Foucault’s thought in the context of Donald Trump’s presidency. It also retains his helpful original introduction to the anthology.