Silence is not simply the absence of noise. It makes possible the inner strength where great writers, thinkers, scholars, and believers have retreated for centuries. An indispensable requirement for contemplation, fantasy, prayer, and creation, silence is the intimate source from which language flows, and it permeates our most private and sacred spaces, from the bedroom to the cathedral. But despite the fundamental role it plays in some of the most profoundly human experiences, silence has been banished from our lives by the incessant bustle of urban spaces and technological devices. In our deafening present, Alain Corbin recovers, through the work of writers, artists, and philosophers who treasured seclusion and calm, the history of a time when words were rare and precious, and thus invites us to rediscover silence or, in other words, the inner life.