The Enlightenment

'This new edition of Outram's successful synthesis on the Enlightenment has been enriched by a new chapter on the political economy. A long way led from the 'nervus rerum', via mercantilism and cameralism, to the ideas of Adam Smith. In the wider context of colonialism, slavery, trade and science, an excellent summary of the main themes of the Enlightenment has just become even more useful.' Karin Friedrich, University of Aberdeen

'Outram's The Enlightenment has proved its lasting value as a stunningly well-informed introduction to the period, attentive to current concerns - especially about gender and race - and ranging across numerous disciplines, to which this edition adds the Enlightenment's new social science of political economy.' Ritchie Robertson, University of Oxford

'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

Dorinda Outram is Clark Professor Emerita of History at the University of Rochester, New York. Her previous publications include Georges Cuvier: Vocation, Science and Authority in Post-Revolutionary France (1982), Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science, 1789-1979 (1988) and The Body and the French Revolution: Sex, Class and Political Culture (1989).

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.