Democracy Past and Future. By Pierre Rosanvallon. Edited by Samuel Moyn. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. 312p. $40.00.

One of France's leading political theorists and historians, Pierre Rosanvallon played a key role in what came to be known as the Second Left, and has spent most of his distinguished academic career rethinking the history of democracy in France. Under the guidance of Claude Lefort and François Furet, Rosanvallon learned to transcend intellectual fashions, reviving interest in a study of “the political” that moves beyond the mere functioning of politics.