The age of ideas : from reaction to revolution in eighteenth-century France
1955, First Edition. New York : Holt. Fine cloth copy in a near fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and sharp-cornered. Item #238423
Physical description; 474 p. : illus. ; 25 cm. Notes; Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents; pt. 1. Transition: How absolute government failed -- The critical spirit of Pierre Bayle -- Fénelon, critic of Louis XIV -- Fontenelle and the spirit of modern science -- pt. 2. Criticism, ferment, repression: The sorry reign of Louis the "well beloved" -- Montesquieu and the satirical "Persian letters" -- Montesquieu's question: Why did Rome fall? -- Montesquieu's "Spirit of laws" -- Montesquieu and America -- Voltaire and the bombshell of the "Philosophical letters" -- Voltaire the historian -- Taking counsel with Candide -- The philosopher of Ferney -- Rousseau and modern progress -- Rousseau and the problem of inequality -- Novelist, educator, and political theorist -- Rousseau and the "Confessions" -- Diderot the man -- Diderot and the "Encyclopedia" -- Diderot's criticism of drama and art -- Diderot, novelist and philosopher -- pt. 3. Explosion: Beaumarchais on the eve of the revolution -- Louis XVI pays the bill. Subjects; Eighteenth century. French literature - 18th century - History and criticism. Philosophers, French - 18th century. Enlightenment - France. Philosophy, French. France - Intellectual life - 18th century. France - History - 18th century. France - Civilization - 18th century.
Price: €28.00