THE CREATION OF THE MODERN WORLD --- THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BRITISH ENLIGHTENMENT by Roy Porter. W. W. Norton, 2000

    COVER NOTES

      Britain was the true home of modernity. The book reveals how Britain's exuberance, diversity, and power of invention influenced wider developments in continental Europe and throughout the rest of the world. With its representative government, religious tolerance, preconcious industrialization, and pioneering individualism, eighteenth-century Britain was at the cutting edge of political, social, and intellectual innovation.

      The influence of Bacon, Newton, and Locke are cited in the shaping of the British Enlightenment. In addition, the impact of other English essayists and novelists in popularizing modern thought is considered. Also the wild phenomenon of "Anglomania" that swept the continent and took the Enlightenment far beyond Europe's shores is analyzed.

    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (pvii-x)

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (pxi-xii)

    QUOTES (pxiii-xv)

    INTRODUCTION (pxvii-xxiv)

      1) A blind spot? (p1-23)

      2) The birth of an ideology (p24-47)

      3) Clearing the rubbish (p48-71)

      4) Print Culture (p72-96)

      5) Rationalizing religion (p96-129)

      6) The culture of science (p130-135)

      7) Anatomizing human nature (p156-183)

      8) The science of politics (p184-204)

      9) Secularizing (p205-229)

      10) Modernizing (p230-257)

      11) Happiness (p258-275)

      12) From good sense to sensibility (p276-294)

      13) Nature (p295-319)

      14) Did the mind have a sex? (p320-338)

      15) Education --- a panacea? (p339-363)

      16) The vulgar (p364-382)

      17) The pursuit of wealth (p383-396)

      18) Reform (p397-423)

      19) Progress (p424-445)

      20) The revolutionary era --- "Modern Philosophy" (p446-475)

      21) Lasting light? (p476-484)

    NOTES (p485-615)

    BIBLIOGRAPHY (p616-693)

    INDEX (p694-727)

      Roy Porter is professor of the social history of medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Science. Also he is the editor of the Norton History of Science series and the author of the book, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity.

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