Ricoeur (1913-2005), the French philosopher of hermeneutics and phenomenology, first published this collection of 17 essays in 1977 as Histoire et vérité, although many originally appeared in the pages of the left-wing Christian journal Esprit. In Ricoeur's own words, the first set of essays are "devoted to the significance of historical work, some dealing with the historian's craft proper, with its exigency for objectivity, and others with the philosphico-theological problem of a total or ultimate significance of history." The other set pertains to what Ricoeur calls a politico-ethical "critique of civilization" and includes essays on the personalism of Emmanuel Mounier, the association between speaking and praxis, politics and the violence of state power, and Sartre's philosophy of negation. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)