In telling Sartre's life story as a sweeping adventure in the present tense, Cohen-Solal recreates the existentialist crises that made up his life. She delves into the "profound mutation" he underwent after two months in a German prison camp, from which he emerged a militant. She candidly portrays his seduction by Stalinism; his relationship with Simone de Beauvoir, the "linchpin" of his social circle; his political flip-flops and growing isolation in the 1960s and '70s. Includes an Index.

(Key Words: Biography, France, Simone de Beauvoir, Charles de Gaulle, Paul Nizan, Jean-Paul Sartre).