Voltaire

A Beginner's Guide to the quintessential Enlightenment philosopher and satirist and his relentless crusade for reason, freedom of speech, and religious tolerance.By Alex Omberg
Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices
Length1h 28m

About this audiobook

His real name was François-Marie Arouet, but the world would come to know him as Voltaire—a name that became a synonym for intellectual rebellion. This guide introduces the most famous, feared, and funny philosopher of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was not a man who built quiet, abstract systems; he was a warrior who used his pen as his sword. You will journey with him from the prisons of the Bastille to the royal courts of Europe and witness his lifelong battle against his great enemy: "l'infâme", the toxic mix of religious fanaticism, intolerance, and superstition that he believed plagued humanity. You will dive into his hilarious and devastating satire, Candide, and see how he used razor-sharp wit to demolish philosophical naivety. Most importantly, you will follow his real-world crusade for justice in the tragic Calas Affair, a fight that made him the conscience of Europe. This is the story of a man who weaponized reason and laughter to change the world.

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.5 (2)
GenreBusiness and Economics, Biography and Memoir
Length1 hr 28 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 9, 2025
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Title Page
2Chapter 1: Inventing Voltaire
3Chapter 2: The English Awakening
4Chapter 3: Letters from the Future
5Chapter 4: The Funniest Tragedy Ever Written
Show all chapters
6Chapter 5: "Crush the Infamous Thing!"
7Chapter 6: From the Pen to the Sword
8Chapter 7: A God Without Dogma
9Chapter 8: The Right to Be Wrong
10Chapter 9: The Case for Coexistence
11Chapter 10: Rewriting the Past
12Chapter 11: The Sage of Ferney
13Chapter 12: The Enduring Flame of Reason

Series

Never Split the DifferenceChris Voss, Tahl Raz8h 7m4.4 (277.7K)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.Benjamin Graham17h 48m4.3 (191.5K)$40 · $0.00
The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsBen Horowitz7h 57m4.2 (134.3K)$26 · $0.00
Boundaries for LeadersHenry Cloud7h 36m4.3 (3.6K)$26 · $0.00
Basic EconomicsThomas Sowell18h 32m4.5 (29.3K)$28 · $0.00
Poor Charlie’s AlmanackGrover Gardener, Charles T. Munger13h 9m4.5 (24.7K)$18 · $0.00
The Ambuja StoryNarotam Sekhsaria13h 59m4.5 (830)$33 · $0.00
The Secret Door to SuccessFlorence Scovel Shinn2h 25m4.5 (2.1K)$1.20 · $0.00
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
Big TrustShadé Zahrai, Fayçal Sekkouah8h 36m4.6 (406)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Third EditionBenjamin Graham, Jason Zweig20h4.4 (156.6K)$46 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
The Antiracist Business BookTrudi Lebrón6h 10m4.6 (275)$17 · $0.00
The FormulaJoshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg10h 41m4.4 (6.9K)$29 · $0.00
Let Them LeadJohn U. Bacon7h 10m4.5 (1.4K)$24 · $0.00
Secrets of the Millionaire MindT. Harv Eker5h 11m4.4 (301.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Person You Mean to BeDolly Chugh9h 6m4.4 (7.2K)$29 · $0.00
BoundlessNick Kostov, Sean McLain9h 17m4.5 (1.1K)$29 · $0.00
Everyday DharmaSuneel Gupta5h 2m4.5 (761)$20 · $0.00
Let's Talk Mutual FundsMonika Halan7h 5m4.4 (2.4K)$16 · $0.00
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$0.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00

You may also like

The Age of ReasonThomas Paine36h 41m4.2 (14.4K)$2 · $0.00
Revolution for DummiesBassem Youssef7h 13m4.3 (3.5K)$24 · $0.00
The Sincere HuronVoltaire7h 7m4.0 (14.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Making of Modern EconomicsMark Skousen19h 50m4.1 (1.1K)$32 · $0.00
MoranifestoCaitlin Moran10h 33m4.1 (5.6K)$29 · $0.00
THREE GUINEASVirginia Woolf9h 29m4.0 (7.7K)$2.99 · $0.00
Areopagitica John Milton1h 53m4.0 (4.1K)Free
2024Vijai Trivedi, Rajdeep Sardesai24h 56m4.1 (465)$53 · $0.00
Common Sense & The Rights of Man - The Voice of the American RevolutionThomas Paine41h 39m4.2 (18.9K)$1 · $0.00
FlatlandEdwin A. Abbott3h 44m4.1 (251.3K)$4.50 · $0.00
Give Me a BreakJohn Stossel5h 40m4.2 (2.1K)$24 · $0.00
EssaysGeorge Orwell25h 11m4.5 (2.7K)$25
Read & RiotNadya Tolokonnikova6h 42m4.2 (1.6K)$24 · $0.00
ANIMAL FARMGeorge Orwell4h 29m4.2 (5M)$1 · $0.00
Revolution 2.0Wael Ghonim11h 54m4.1 (2.6K)$23 · $0.00
On the Duty of Civil DisobedienceHenry David Thoreau1h 10m4.0 (34.2K)$2 · $0.00
The American CrisisThomas Paine38h 16m4.3 (13.6K)$2 · $0.00
The life of Voltaire (Annotated)Evelyn Beatrice Hall19h 52m4.2 (156)$0.99 · $0.00
Irish Wit and HumorAnonymous5h 20m$2 · $0.00
The life of VoltaireEvelyn Beatrice Hall19h 46m$1 · $0.00