William Burton works on the history of interactions between philosophy, politics, science, and literature in the French-speaking world in the 18th and 20th centuries. Burton's book project, "The End of Sex," tells the story of Monique Wittig and the materialist feminists who appropriated the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to articulate their revolutionary political project. Burton argues that this feminist interpretation of Rousseau's work compels a new understanding of his infamous sexual politics and troubled relationship with natural history.