Voltaire was the sharpest voice of the French Enlightenment, born François-Marie Arouet in Paris in 1694. These free Voltaire books gather his tales, philosophy, histories, plays and poems in English.
Voltaire was locked in the Bastille, exiled to England and invited to Prussia by Frederick the Great. He turned each of those adventures into books, from Candide (1759) to the Philosophical Dictionary (1764).
Start with Candide if you want to laugh, or with Letters on England to see how he challenged a kingdom. Every book is free to read and download, with no sign-up.
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Novels
Voltaire Novels and Short Stories Books
Voltaire used fiction as a weapon, with short, fast tales where a naive hero runs into the madness of the world. Candide is the most famous, but Zadig, Micromegas and The Huron are just as sharp.
Voltaire's 1759 masterpiece follows young Candide through wars, shipwrecks, the Lisbon earthquake and the Inquisition while his tutor insists this is the best of all possible worlds. The funniest attack on blind optimism ever written.
A wise young Babylonian keeps losing everything he gains, from his bride to his freedom, in this 1747 oriental tale. Voltaire turns each misfortune into a sharp lesson on fate, justice and the folly of judging by appearances.
A giant from the star Sirius and his companion from Saturn land on Earth and are stunned by the pride of its tiny inhabitants. Voltaire's 1752 tale is one of the first works of science fiction and a short lesson in humility.
Voltaire's philosophical tales gathered in one volume: Zadig, Micromegas, The Huron, The White Bull, The Princess of Babylon, The Man of Forty Crowns and more. A complete tour of his fiction, from oriental fable to science fiction satire.
Short tales and dialogues from the 1901 Fleming translation, including Memnon the Philosopher, The Two Comforters and A Conversation with a Chinese. Quick, biting pieces where Voltaire mocks fanaticism, vanity and blind faith.
This is the Voltaire who attacked fanaticism and defended reason. Letters on England and the Philosophical Dictionary were burned in public, and his Treatise on Tolerance answered the Calas affair.
The 24 letters Voltaire wrote after his exile in England, praising its religious tolerance, Newton, Locke and Shakespeare. Published in 1733 and burned in Paris as an attack on the French monarchy.
A wide selection of entries from the dictionary Voltaire published in 1764, from Adultery to Tolerance. Short, witty articles that attack superstition and defend reason, the book that was burned in Geneva and Paris.
Joseph McCabe's translation of the Treatise on Tolerance, written after the execution of Jean Calas, together with the Poem on the Lisbon Disaster and other essays. Voltaire's strongest case against religious persecution.
Voltaire was also a historian, and he wrote about customs, arts and ideas instead of only battles. These books follow Charles XII of Sweden, Peter the Great and the court of Louis XIV.
Voltaire's first great history follows the warrior king of Sweden from his early victories to his defeat by Peter the Great at Poltava. It reads like an adventure novel and made Voltaire's name as a historian.
Voltaire's history of the tsar who dragged Russia into the modern age, written with access to Russian court archives. It covers the founding of Saint Petersburg, the war with Sweden and the reforms that remade an empire.
The first half of Voltaire's portrait of France under the Sun King, from the wars of Europe to the War of the Spanish Succession. A history of a whole civilization rather than a list of battles.
The second half of The Age of Louis XIV turns to life at court, government, trade, the arts and sciences, and the religious quarrels of the reign. The part where Voltaire invents the history of culture.
In his own time Voltaire was famous above all as a playwright and poet, and his tragedies filled the theaters of Paris. Here you'll find Zaïre, Mahomet and Mérope from The Works of Voltaire, plus his epic poem The Henriade.
Three plays in verse translation, led by Zaïre, the tragedy of a Christian captive who loves a Muslim sultan and Voltaire's biggest stage success. With The Death of Caesar and the comedy The Prodigal.
Mahomet, his tragedy about religious fanaticism, alongside Oedipus, the play that launched his career in 1718, Mariamne, Amelia and Socrates. The volume shows Voltaire bringing his fight against intolerance to the stage.
Four tragedies, from Mérope, a mother's struggle to save her son, to The Orphan of China, set at the court of Genghis Khan, and Brutus, a drama of Roman liberty. Each comes with Voltaire's own prefaces and letters.
The complete Henriade, the epic poem in ten cantos about Henry IV and the wars of religion that made Voltaire famous at 30. The volume adds a selection of his letters and miscellaneous pieces.
Voltaire's poetry in English: the Poem on the Lisbon Disaster, The Law of Nature, The Temple of Taste, The Battle of Fontenoy and dozens of shorter verses, epistles and epigrams.
These biographies, written between 1872 and 1906, follow his life from the Bastille to England, Prussia and Ferney. The Friends of Voltaire is where the line "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" first appears.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall's full biography, written as S. G. Tallentyre, follows Voltaire from the Bastille to England, Prussia and Ferney. The most detailed and readable life of Voltaire in English.
Portraits of the thinkers around Voltaire: d'Alembert, Diderot, Galiani, Vauvenargues, d'Holbach, Grimm, Helvétius, Turgot and Beaumarchais. This is the book where the quote 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' first appears.
John Morley's classic critical study weighs Voltaire as a thinker, historian and enemy of the Church. A sharp Victorian reading of what the Enlightenment owed him, still quoted by scholars today.
A short, lively introduction to Voltaire's life and battles, followed by a selection of passages from his writings. A good first step before tackling the longer biographies.
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