Taking its cues from the references to Eugen Fink and Antoine de Saint-Exupery that respectively begin and end Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception, Bryan Smyth delivers a spell-binding interpretation of Merleau-Ponty's magnum opus. In particular, Smyth argues that it is the problem of method that is most definitive for Merleau-Ponty's work, and, through an analysis of Merleau-Ponty's use of the notion of "heroism," he argues compellingly for the inherently political-and, specifically, Marxist-character of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. In this highly original analysis, Smyth demonstrates the rich relevance of Lukacs' Marxism, Catholic incarnationism and Binswanger's psychology to Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. The work is particularly strong for its emphasis on the themes of death, repression, class consciousness and the "tacit cogito" in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. This is an elegantly and clearly written book of essential importance to any serious student of Merleau-Ponty. John Russon, Professor of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Canada By bringing Merleau-Ponty's reading of Marx's concept of history and Saint Exupery's account of the heroic act together with Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological project, Bryan Smyth has brilliantly and possibly forever altered our way of thinking about Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. Nearly everything we thought we understood in Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception - the nature of pre-objective experience and intersubjectivity, the role of the tacit cogito in the phenomenology of phenomenology, the living subject as producer, the meaning of freedom - is radically reconfigured, leaving the reader breathlessly turning the pages into new world, the thought of a figure so familiar yet so completely new. Dorothea Olkowski, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, USA