Anguish, despair, absurdity, nothingness. Is that what Existentialism is really about?

In this truly unique book Richard Appignanesi goes on a personal quest for Existentialism in its original state.

Camus asked ‘Must life have a meaning to be lived?’ and placed absurdity at the heart of his Existentialism. Sartre believed that Existentialism was ‘the least scandalous, most technically austere’ of all philosophy. Does it even make sense to ask what Existentialism truly is?

Tracing its history from Kierkegaard, Husserl and Nietzsche to the legacy of Nazism and the Cold War, this dazzling tour of Existentialism is told through brilliant illustrations from Oscar Zarate.