Simone de Beauvoir published a number of philosophical novels and essays before she wrote her ferminist masterwork The Second Sex. In this volume - the first thorough examination of her unique brand of existentialism - the author pays special attention to her important work, The Ethics of Ambiguity, in which Beauvior draws from many thinkers in the continental tradition to argue that one's own freedom is intertwined with that of others. Arp places Beauvoir's ethics within the larger context of her other writing and political views, providing a balanced portrait of Beauvoir's intellectual legacy.