A collection of 23 essays that Camus thought worthy of being published in English and worth a read for anyone seeking hope or inspiration in the dreary world. During a difficult period in my life, I found that reading Camus's work can be like soothing for the mind and good for the heart. So many of the lines are pockets of wisdom, I was moved by one in particular, "There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for."

The essays are moving, simply but beautifully written, and shows the deep humanity that moves the corpus of Camus's thought and life's work. The topics range from Camus's political writings on the French Resistance, the Algerian situation, the role of the artist in modern day society and writings on the death penalty. His series of letters written to the German state are deeply inspiring and full of humanity. Reading them even now sent shivers down my spine and moved my heart. I can only imagine how moving they were when they were published during the Resistance. While Camus writes for liberty and humanity, he is honest and realizes that sometimes that calls for struggle to preserve those concepts. Camus's work on reporting the Algerian Crisis revolve around his desire to remind all sides of the shared humanity of mankind. Camus tries to be fair and allocates blame to all sides and mourns the difficulty of a political resolution to the Crisis. Camus acknowledges the brutalities of the French government and the rights of self-determination but also argues that solutions to remove the pied-noir, who have been in Algeria for 100 years would be deeply inhumane. A particularly moving essay practically begs both sides to agree to the principle of preservation of innocent lives, a principle that Camus thinks both sides can agree to and encourage further compromises.

I found particularly inspiring, Camus's refusal to turn a blind eye towards the evils of totalitarianism of the communist states. Though in hindsight this seems obvious, many intellectuals of the time willing turned away from the atrocities of the communist governments because it contradicted their ideologies. Camus's writings stubbornly refuse to give up liberty, even temporarily for the "greater good". Camus argues that even though concepts of liberty and freedom have been abused by the powerful, that does not mean that intellectuals should give up on them. Camus ties this liberal view with the absurdism. Camus argues that all of mankind has a right to engage in the search for meaning, even if we recognize that there is no meaning. To take away this right for people to share in this cosmopolitan desire would be wrong.

I found Camus's essay on the death penalty pretty original. Along with the standard arguments, Camus argues that people are not deterred by calculations and even if they were, the modern practice of the death penalty, in private and described by euphemism, does not align with the goal of terrifying would be criminals. Camus argues that the death penalty is by its nature disproportionate to murder, a precursor for the so-called death penalty phenomenon referenced later by the European Court of Human Rights. He argues that the victim never has to suffer the dread and anticipation of the death penalty. Additionally, Camus argues that the death penalty assumes and represents the State as the ultimate truth in society without admitting that it makes mistakes. While the persuasiveness of the arguments can be debated, I was impressed by the originality and logical coherence of his arguments.

Camus includes an essay about the role of the artist in society. But I think the selection here, again by Camus himself, themselves reveals what his belief is. Camus fulfills his own conception of an artist, reminding others of their shared humanity and the right of all to seek meaning in the cold, indifferent vast universe. Even in the most difficult and charged circumstances, humanity shares a, perhaps silly, striving for meaning that should be celebrated on its own terms. ( )

I first read The Stranger in college (1963 or 1964), and was stunned. I went looking for other things by him, and was devastated to know that he was gone, before I even knew who he was. Of the many things by him that I read then (and again, over the years), this one was my favorite. I'd pulled the books I had by Camus out of storage, to enter them here on LT, and was reminded that I'd "repaired" this book, long ago. The more ancient one will go back into storage, while I read this fine work, yet again.

It's an excellent collection of essays, speaking to that part of us that is best, and encouraging us all to be like him. ( )

I love my Country too much to be a Nationalist states Camus in his introduction to his Letters to a German Friend and this sets the tone for these magnificent essays. They highlight Camus political stance, as the early letters published in 1944 shriek his defiance from a beleaguered Paris to his final defence of his position on the Algerian crisis in 1958. It is Camus himself who becomes beleaguered on this journey: firstly being fated as an intellectual hero of the French resistance and later; a man shunned by the intellectual left for his failure to support the Algerian Liberation movement. Camus belief in justice, and his unwillingness to spill blood are twin themes of much of his writing, together with his struggles to come to terms with apparently contradictory positions and refusal to be anything less than truthful make for fascinating reading.

This collection starts with the four "Letters to a German Friend" justifiably famous for their powerful indictment of the Nazis. They are a rallying call to his compatriots in their fight for freedom from German oppression, but more importantly they are an intellectual statement as to why Frenchmen should not hesitate to kill their enemy. Having made his case for the moral rightness of the French freedom fighters, Camus says "I can tell you (his German friend) that at the very moment when we are going to destroy you without pity, we still feel no hatred for you." In an essay published in his newspaper "Combat" written after the liberation of Paris in 1944 entitled "The Blood of Freedom" Camus makes his position clear:

"Time will bear witness to the fact that the men of France did not want to kill and their hands were clean when they entered a war they had not chosen

More short essays from "Combat" are followed by Camus' reflections immediately following the end of the war. In a short section "Pessimism and Tyranny" there are a couple of essays making the point that nihilism and negation are natural thoughts harboured by people after the horrors of war and those thoughts should be posited, but Camus is ready to move on to a more optimistic philosophy. Two more essays Defence of Intelligence" and "The unbeliever and Christians" further clarify Camus' position. The essays now jump ahead to 1953 when Camus is no longer writing articles for "Combat" and feels he can expound on one of his favourite themes Freedom. The section is entitled Defense of Freedom and we start to see Camus on the back foot. He has become fearful of the power of governments: the power of the state and criticises the intellectual left wing's love affair with Russia and its denial of individual freedoms.

A selection of Essays about Algeria finds Camus at his most politicised. He became involved in an attempt to instigate a civilian truce in the war torn country in 1956 when tit for tat murders were common place. His own position as a Frenchman born in Algeria placed him firmly in the French colonialist camp in many peoples eyes and his famous statement that he would not support a movement that could lead to the death of his mother (who still lived in Algeria) made it a very personal position. Camus could however point to the fact that he had written profusely about the injustices towards the Arab community and was quite clear that reforms had to be made to give the Arabs equal rights, but this was not enough to satisfy the left wingers in France. He courageously took a leading role in trying to bring about a truce, getting his hands dirty in a dangerous situation, perhaps he was naïve, but his willingness to get involved has to be admired. It was all over for him in 1958 when he felt compelled to make a final statement on his position and in an essay "Algeria 1958" he has clearly been left behind by events. By this time Camus had stated "I am incapable in rejoicing in any death whatsoever" and "no case justifies the death of the innocent"

Their follows essays on the Hungarian uprising in 1956, where Camus again found himself at odds with many of his former friends and while he lambasted them with stinging attacks for their support of the Totalitarian regimes, he saluted the voices for freedom and liberty only where they did not lead directly to the deaths of innocent people.

I am not one of those people who long for the Hungarian people to take up arms again in an uprising doomed to be crushed under the eyes of an international society that will spare neither applause nor virtuous tears before returning to their slippers like football enthusiasts on Saturday evening after a big game

His long essay "Reflections on the Guillotine" should be read by all those that still support capital punishment, to my mind Camus' case against the use of Capital punishment is unanswerable and deserves to be read. The final couple of essays steer the reader away from politics as Camus explores the role of the artist in post war society. Liberty, justice and freedom feature as usual as key themes along with an essential honesty that precludes art for arts sake; there has been enough of this with Camus exhorting a return to reality:

Art which is nothing without reality and without which reality is insignificant

This is an excellent collection of essays and essential reading for anyone interested in Albert Camus, but also some gems that capture the thoughts and ideas of one of the most important writers of mid twentieth century Europe. A Five star read. ( )

Wonderfully illuminating set of essays which show very clearly the full meaning of Camus' life and thought. The Algerian and Hungarian political essays, which may appear dated at first glance, are only too relevant to the modern world with its thoughts on uprisings and Arab feeling. One or two essays are bit dim, but all the rest are still shining gems of thought and feeling and are very much worth reading. ( )

Many of the issues he discusses, I don't know enough about to form an opinion. The ones I do, like capital punishment, I find myself agreeing with his conclusions, but not so much his arguments. ( )