HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT: A GUIDE. By TerryPinkard. Oxford Guides to Philosophy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp. xxv + 342. Cloth, $99.00; paper, $35.00.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is considered one of modern philosophy's most important yet obscure works. While many recognize the indelible mark Hegel's thought has left on modernity, engaging his work can feel daunting or even impossible. Terry Pinkard's new book has provided teachers and students an invaluable resource for understanding Hegel's monumental work. Pinkard begins his commentary with a “Prelude,” in which he discusses how Hegel's work could be organized. His commentary is organized into sixteen chapters, in which Pinkard argues roughly following the pattern of “Consciousness,” “Self-Consciousness,” and “Science.” Pinkard states, “The interpretation of the book being offered here sees Hegel as more or less keeping faith with that original ordering but also as seeing that much more had to be added to it if it were to succeed in what it was setting out to do.” Pinkard's “Prelude” also situates the text within the history of Philosophy and ends with a note on the technical vocabulary of Hegel's work. This final section of the “Prelude” is a helpful reference for those encountering Hegel's idiosyncratic vocabulary for the first time. The rest of the work serves as a line-by-line commentary on Hegel's Phenomenology. Pinkard argues that this work is not a “scholarly book”; rather, it is a “reader's guide,” a “paragraph-by-paragraph conversation” that is meant to “facilitate the conversation, not end it.” To this end, Pinkard's work succeeds in both providing his own incisive reading of the text while allowing room for befuddlement and curiosity. One of the most valuable contributions of this monograph is Pinkard's synopsis of the chapters of his commentary at the end of the book. This allows researchers to easily scan the text for salient aspects of Pinkard's commentary, as well as giving teachers and students a quick overview of portions they may need to skip. Pinkard's conversational tone makes this volume a refreshingly accessible guide for a notoriously perplexing work. Students and teachers alike will find this text an indispensable addition to their library. This text is especially helpful for those planning to introduce Hegel's thoughts to both undergraduate and graduate students.