This chapter introduces the main themes of the volume and sets out its overarching goals: to bring On the Citizen out of the shadow of Leviathan and to show that it is a valuable and distinctive philosophical work in its own right. We proceed by outlining the publication history of On the Citizen and charting its reception history in early-modern European thought, before turning to consider some of the distinctive methodological features and challenges that the text raises for understanding Hobbes’s philosophy. The chapter finishes by summarizing the main contributions of all subsequent chapters.