{
  "type": "edition",
  "site": {
    "name": "The Book Quiver",
    "language": "en-US",
    "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "title": "Of The Social Contract and Other Political Writings",
  "subtitle": null,
  "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings/9780141191751",
  "publisher": "penguin_classics",
  "translators": [],
  "medium": "paper",
  "duration_seconds": null,
  "narrators": [],
  "isbn": "978-01-4119-175-1",
  "pages": 400,
  "published": "2012-10-04",
  "language": "en_GB",
  "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/jean-jacques-rousseau/of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings_978-01-4119-175-1.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2012%3A54%3A54",
  "json": "https://www.bookquiver.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings/9780141191751.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.bookquiver.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings/9780141191751.md",
  "binding": "Softcover",
  "description": "Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.' These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for totalitarianism, to others a declaration of democratic principles.",
  "book": {
    "title": "Of The Social Contract and Other Political Writings",
    "slug": "of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings",
    "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/of-the-social-contract-and-other-political-writings"
  },
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau",
      "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau",
      "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/jean-jacques-rousseau"
    }
  ]
}