One of the foremost French philosophers of the last century, Simone Weil has been described by Andre Gide as ‘the patron saint of all outsiders’ and by Albert Camus as ‘the only great spirit of our time’. In this, her most famous work, she diagnoses the malaise at the heart of modern life: uprootedness, from the past and from community. Written towards the end of World War Two for the Free French Army, Weil’s text is an indispensable and perpetually intriguing text for readers and students of philosophy everywhere.