We are all confronted, at one time or another, with choices as to what sort of life we will lead. So Tzvetan Todorov begins Frail Happiness, an important interpretation of Rousseau, one suffused with Todorov’s own moral seriousness and intellectual depth. While ranging widely through Rousseau’s corpus with skill and scholarly authority, Todorov returns, again and again, to the fragile yet persistent hope for human happiness.