The enlightenment
Subtitle: a comparative social history 1721-1794
By: Thomas Munck.
Publisher: Arnold; Oxford University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
Subjects: Enlightenment; Europe -- Social conditions -- 18th century
Description: What did the Enlightenment mean for people who were not intellectuals or members of a wealthy elite? In this incisive new book, Thomas Munck shows the profound impact of Enlightenment ideas on a broad range of social groups. Moving beyond traditional treatments, which tend to focus on leading individuals and salon culture, Munck demonstrates that the Enlightenment can be fruitfully studied from the vantage point of ordinary people. He focuses on Paris, London, and Hamburg, but draws comparisons across much of Europe. The book begins with Montesquieu's Persian Letters in 1721 and ends with the changing direction of the French Revolution in 1794, and with a reassessment of enlightened absolutism in the light of changing relationships between state and citizen. It will be an invaluable text for courses on the Enlightenment and provides a valuable new perspective for anyone studying eighteenth-century Europe or the history of ideas
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [224]-239) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Preface vii; title: 1 The enlightenment 1; title: Enlightenment in national context 3; title: Enlightenment and counter-enlightenment 7; title: Nature, man and science 11; title: The 'public sphere' and its limits 14; title: Enlightenment and political power 18; title: 2 Tradition and communication in daily life 21; title: Popular and elite culture 22; title: Rural interaction and peasant action 26; title: Religious observance and beliefs 29; title: Processions, festivals and the use of open space 37; title: Street life, public entertainment and the theatre 40; title: 3 Broadening the horizon: ways and means 46; title: Literacy 46; title: Education 52; title: Prints, pictures and the eye of the beholder 60; title: Venues of contact, conversation and debate 65; title: Political radicalism in the 1790s 72; title: 4 Books and readers 76; title: Book production and distribution 77; title: Copyright and profits 80; title: Censorship before the reforms 84; title: Changing demand for books 89; title: Libraries and book clubs 98; title: The impact of the book: two case studies 99; title: Pamphlets and politics 103; title: 5 The press 106; title: The Tatler and the Spectator 109; title: The growth of press output and readership 111; title: The French-language press before the Revolution 117; title: The press, enlightenment and change 122; title: Revolutionary media 128; title: 6 Reason and the dissolution of certainties 132; title: State legislation on toleration 133; title: The churches under scrutiny 139; title: Censorship reform and state hesitations 142; title: The judiciary and the law 146; title: Crime and punishment 150; title: Treatment of the sick 156; title: 7 Property, the underprivileged and reform 163; title: Taxation 164; title: Political economy, cameralism and the physiocrats 168; title: Rural reform 172; title: Poverty 181; title: Slavery and enlightenment 186; title: 8 State, nation and individual in the late eighteenth century 193; title: Social structure, 'the people' and public consensus 194; title: Nation, homeland and patriotic identity 199; title: Political rights and representation in revolutionary France 203; title: Representing the other half: women and public life 211; title: The revolution of popular politics 214; title: 9 Conclusion 220; title: Select bibliography 224; title: Index 240.