The Enlightenment

An engaging and accessible overview of the Enlightenment as a global phenomenon, with updated material and additional online resources.

Dorinda Outram (Author)

9781108424660, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 June 2019

196 pages, 4 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.4 cm, 0.44 kg

'Happy quarter-century to Outram's The Enlightenment. Still the indispensable one-volume introduction to eighteenth-century currents of thought and academic debate on them, this updated edition continues to surprise with its ease of manner and scope of knowledge. For students and scholars alike, Outram has always read something we've missed.' James Smith, Royal Holloway, University of London

What is the Enlightenment? A period rich with debates on the nature of man, truth and the place of God, with the international circulation of ideas, people and gold. But did the Enlightenment mean the same for men and women, for rich and poor, for Europeans and non-Europeans? In this fourth edition of her acclaimed book, Dorinda Outram addresses these and other questions about the Enlightenment and its place at the foundation of modernity. Studied as a global phenomenon, Outram sets the period against broader social changes, touching on how historical interpretations of the Enlightenment continue to transform in response to contemporary socio-economic trends. Supported by a wide-ranging selection of documents online, this new edition provides an up-to-date overview of the main themes of the period and benefits from an expanded treatment of political economy and imperialism, making it essential reading for students of eighteenth-century history and philosophy.

1. What is Enlightenment?
2. Coffee houses and consumers: the social context of Enlightenment
3. Enlightenment and government
new departure or business as usual?
4. Political economy: profit, trade, empire and an Enlightenment science
5. Exploration, cross-cultural contact, and the ambivalence of the Enlightenment
6. When people are property: the problem of slavery in the Enlightenment
7. Enlightenment thinking about gender
8. Science and the Enlightenment: God's order and man's understanding
9. The rise of modern paganism? Religion and the Enlightenment
10. The end of the Enlightenment: conspiracy and revolution?
Brief biographies
Suggestions for further reading
Electronic sources for further research
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Western philosophy: Enlightenment [HPCD1], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]