The preface of this homage to Antony McKenna underlines his career as professor at the Université Jean Monnet (France). A long bibliography includes more than two hundred publications (books, articles, direction of publications and periodicals, direction of collected works, etc.) testifying to his influence on a wide variety of subjects, such as the history of ideas in the seventeenth century, Jansenism, Pierre Bayle, Protestant literature, and erudite and philosophical libertinism. The book is divided into five parts and offers an interesting collection of fifty-one scholarly studies on the theme of liberty of conscience and ways of thinking, over three centuries, covering McKenna's own views and offering new directions.

It first examines “Methodological Approaches,” particularly through the work of McKenna himself, whose research inaugurated a way of reading past philosophers through new criteria. D. Reguig shows how McKenna's thesis (1985) and the Port-Royal Dictionary (2005) employed new methodological tools to read the literature of the seventeenth century. He linked together theology and intellectual literature to reexamine the principle of reason, going further than exclusively Cartesian-based interpretations to uncover the historical bases for philosophical developments in this period. Indeed, McKenna identified a classical network that contributed to the history of ideas and defined the intellectual climate of the age, showing, for example, that some Augustinians did exist and exercised influence. D. Antoine-Mahut adds that McKenna also discovered a few minor texts of the century, such as clandestine manuscripts or correspondences, contributing to interdisciplinary studies. P.-Fr. Moreau offers an interesting summary about New Science and Christianity in the seventeenth century, and M. S. Seguin addresses the real meaning of erudite libertinism.

The second part is composed of twenty papers on “Literature and Philosophy,” dealing with the major philosophical questions of that time, including “Epicurean Theology” in A. Mothu's paper. L. Simonutti's essay treats tolerance and the demands of conscience that produced libertinism and atheism. Hermetism is addressed by B. Roche, and libertinism by J.-F. Lattarico and M. Rosellini (who demonstrates originality by asking the question, “Is Corneille a libertine?”). We also find articles about Pascal (B. Descotes, B. Bah Ostrowiesky), Pyrrhonism (C. Borghero), reason versus faith in Malebranche (A. Del Prete), and Spinozism (W. Van Bunge, L. Bove, C. Secretan). L. Thiroin provides an original approach to Dom Juan, and J. Israel gives a surprising account of “Spinozism and the Erotic.” M. Clément sorts out the relationship between fiction (especially the sexual imaginary) and history.

The third part, “Around Pierre Bayle,” takes the title of McKenna's last book. We can read new approaches: G. Mori discusses two mysterious, anonymous writings attributed to Bayle; H. Bost examines the relationship between the theological and political aspects of soul and right; J.-M. Gros places Bayle between Moby Dick and Bartleby, because of Bayle's fight against evil (as the myth inside Moby Dick and because of the parallel between Bayle and Bartleby, the hero of a tolerant way of thinking). We also find more traditional studies on books written by Bayle (J. Sgard, L. Bianchi, M. Bokobza Kahan, S. Brogi). Some research deals with Bayle's link with famous thinkers, such as Houdard de La Motte (Ch. Bahier-Porte), Descartes (M. Pécharman), or an aspect of Bayle's correspondence (Ch. Albertan). The classical intellectual network exposed by McKenna is treated in the fourth part in four precise papers on previously unpublished correspondences concerning Des Maizeaux, Joncourt, Jean Le Clerc, and Perard and Marchand. The relationship between censorship, clandestineness, and free thinking in the seventeenth century is studied in the fifth part, with analysis by ten writers on censorship and philosophical connections.

The book (complete with an index nominum) is a good opportunity for current scholars to sum up topics while also offering some original approaches. For example, the book offers a newly mysterious Bayle. We can also learn, in particular through McKenna's important contribution to university research, how libertinism forms a real intellectual heritage, similar to a network, in early modern philosophy.