A brilliant work of intellectual interpretation by our foremost historian of Enlightenment ideas, this radical re-evaluation shows why, for many at its center, the Enlightenment was a profound failure. By the early eighteenth century, there was widespread hope that Enlightenment ideals could be paired with toleration, commerce, and an end to the fanatic wars of religion ravaging Europe. Central to this was the battle for liberty in free states, with aspirations that absolute monarchies like France and free states like Britain could coexist, respecting civil liberties. However, this vision collapsed as states pursued wealth and empire through war, leading to rampant xenophobia and a perversion of liberty into fanaticism. The narrative traces the evolving perspectives of economists, philosophers, politicians, and polemicists, including figures like David Hume, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Mary Wollstonecraft. They aimed to replace superstition with reason but instead faced terror, revolution, corruption, and rampant colonialism. By revisiting these tumultuous events and ideas, the author offers a lucid exploration of disillusion and intellectual transformation, challenging our assumptions about the past while providing insights into how our world might be structured today, particularly as the issues raised at the end of the Enlightenment persist.
