Publication

2004 - Knopf, New York, New York (State)

Language

English

Word Count

74,000 words, Guess

Page Count

296 pages

Identifiers

and 3 more
  • Library of Congress Control Number2003060576
  • Goodreads725235
  • LibraryThing160510

Classifications

  • DDC190/.9/033
  • LCCB802 .H65 2004

Description

A keenly argued and thought-provoking history of the British, French and American Enlightenments by one of Gordon Brown's favourite writers, Gertrude Himmelfarb's elegant and eminently readable work, The Roads to Modernity, reclaims the Enlightenment from historians who have downgraded its importance and from scholars who have given preeminence to the Enlightenment in France over concurrent movements in England and America. Contrasting the Enlightenments in the three nations, Himmerlfarb demonstrates the primacy and wisdom of the British, exemplified in such thinkers as Adam Smith, David Hume, and Edmund Burke, as well as the unique and enduring contributions of the American Founders. It is their Enlightenments, she argues, that created a social ethic - humane, compassionate and realistic - that still resonates strongly today.

Description

"The Roads to Modernity reclaims the Enlightenment - an extraordinary time bursting with new ideas about the human condition in the realms of politics, society, and religion - from historians who have downgraded its importance and from scholars who have given preeminence to the Enlightenment in France over concurrent movements in England and America. Contrasting the Enlightenments in the three nations, Gertrude Himmelfarb demonstrates the primacy of the British and the wisdom and foresight of thinkers such as Adam Smith, David Hume, Thomas Paine, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Edward Gibbon, and Edmund Burke, who established its unique character and historic importance. It is this Enlightenment, she argues, that created a moral and social philosophy - humane, compassionate, and realistic - that still resonates strongly today, in America perhaps ever more so than in Europe." "This is a contribution to the history of ideas."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • The roads to modernity: the British, French, and American enlightenmentsKnopf2004-01-01

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