Book Review of CandideCandide is a French satirical novel first published in 1759 by Gabriel Cramer in Paris, France, and written by François-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire, his pseudonym , philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. This book was chosen to show what life was like in France before the French Revolution and to provide an overview of the political issues of this period. Reading the book provided context for discussing various themes, including the importance of reason, corruption of the Church, money and power, inequality, which were pervasive issues during the period that we studied. The book was useful to our curriculum as it detailed what life was like in France in the mid-18th century and provided context for what was being taught in class - for example corruption by powerful forces in French society , like the unfair treatment and pay between the serfs and their feudal lords. Many historical events led Voltaire to write Candide. The first was the publication of Leibniz's "Monadology", an essay on Leibniz's philosophy of optimism. Two other historical events, the Seven Years' War and the Lisbon earthquake of 1775, also inspired Voltaire. The conclusion of Leibniz's play, "It is therefore the best of all possible worlds", serves as the main basis for Voltaire's satire. Things weren't going so well in France at the time for the majority of French people and there wasn't much reason to be optimistic. Voltaire rejected Leibnizian optimism because if he had been in the best of all possible worlds, a tragic and devastating earthquake should not have occurred. Natural disasters simply do not fit into the philosophy of optimism. Voltaire's point of view is very logical...... middle of paper ......energy enters the work, and he stops all his previous philosophical speculations. Finally, he is happy. The text was entertaining, but highly improbable, and provides a good perspective for viewing the culture and politics of Spain and France in the mid-1700s. The themes – the hypocrisy of religion, the folly of optimism, the futility of philosophical speculation and the corrupting influence of power and money – are expressed in a highly entertaining manner. I found the way Voltaire intertwined characters with his themes and used satire most interesting. He made characters he disagreed with look like fools in order to discredit their beliefs, and he made his points through sympathetic characters. Candide was definitely worth reading and packed with lots of history and philosophy in a fast-paced action story..