The lectures of Michel Foucault at the College de France have left a lasting impact. This book contains eleven of them (academic year 1974-75).

By exploring many and diverse sources (ecclesiastical, legal, and medical), Foucault examines the issue of those perilous individuals whom the 19th century referred to as "les anormaux," "the abnormal," the non-normals. He distinguishes three main types: the monster, the incorrigible, and the masturbator.

Through the study of these types, and always within the broader context of his problematic relationship between knowledge and power, what interests Foucault is to understand how the concept of non-normativity was shaped in modern Western society.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]