The writings of the Marquis de Sade have attained in recent years a widely acclaimed position in the canon of world literature. Sade himself, at one time discussed in horrified whispers, is now often celebrated as a heroic apostle of individual rights, a giant of philosophical thought, and a martyr to freedom of conscience. In Sade: A Biographical Essay, Laurence Bongie puts these claims to a severe test and finds them unfounded and undeserved.