The essential political writings of Montesquieu--a substantial abridgment of The Spirit of the Laws, plus judicious selections from The Persian Letters and Considerations of the Romans' Greatness and Decline --are masterfully translated by Melvin Richter. Prefaced by a new fifty-page introduction by Richter for this revised edition, The Selected Political Writings displays the genius and virtuosity of Montesquieu the philosopher, social critic, political theorist, and literary stylist, whose work commands the attention of all students of the Enlightenment and of modern constitutional thought.