Candide presents the eighteenth-century social satire of a gentle and kind man who is thrashed by fate and his fellow man yet continues to believe that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." Zadig is the story of another optimist: young, rich, beautiful, and engaged to a woman he loves. When his early hopes and assets are destroyed, he embarks on a journey that will systematically explore science, religion, and the military, contributing to each, betrayed by all. Through these trials, he will eventually win the kingdom of Babylon.
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