About...

John T. Scott, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, specializes in modern political thought. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. Most of his work has been on the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and he has written numerous articles on the thinker, including studies of his musical theory, religious ideas, and political thought. He has translated Rousseau’s Essay on the Origin of Languages and Writings Related to Music for the Collected Writings of Rousseau, the definitive series of Rousseau’s works in English translation. He has also edited several volumes of studies of Rousseau, most recently Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, a four-volume collection published by Routledge of scholarly work on the philosopher. He is currently writing a study of Rousseau’s theological and religious thought.

Robert Zaretsky, Professor of French History in the Honors College and Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Houston, specializes in French political and intellectual history. He received his PhD in History from the University of Virginia. His first book, Nimes at War: Public Opinion, Religion and Politics in the Department of the Gard 1938-1944 (Penn State Press, 1995), examined the relationship between the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities of the southern city of Nimes during WWII. The book won the 1997 Hans Rosenhaupt Award from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. His second book, Cock and Bull Stories: Folco de Baroncelli and the Invention of the Camargue (University of Nebraska Press, 2004) studies the issues of regionalism and invention of traditions in late 19th century France. He has also translated two books by the French cultural critic Tzvetan Todorov (one with John T. Scott) and has written numerous articles on French history and political theory, as well as literary essays (most recently, with John T. Scott, “Philosophy Leads to Sorrow: An Evening at the Drury Lane Theatre with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume”, for the Southwest Review). With Sarah Fishman and Alice Conklin, he is currently writing a history of modern France for Oxford University Press.