Customer Reviews:
The recipient loved it.......2004-10-22
I bought this as a gift for a friend who helped a great deal with my wedding, advising me of dress styles, hair styles, fashion from this era, dances, music, food, and everything in between, as well as arranging all the flowers for the wedding! She was a godsend! When I gave her the book, her jaw dropped and she was so excited to get it... she said she had been wanting it forever. As I consider her quite knowledgeable about the subject matter of this book, and as it came highly recommended by her, I would say that it's a great book to have if this is something you are interested in as a serious hobby or more.
The best place to start for Elizabethan Costuming.......2003-04-10
This is one of the best books ever written on the subject of Elizabethan Costuming. It mainly contains all of the details of Queen Elizabeth I wardrobe but it has unique points in the society that surrounded the dresses. This book helps to explain the Gloriana image that became so popular and it helps us to understand all the little details that went into the dress of the period. Detailing costumes using portraits and explaining how the fashion progressed makes this book a must for anyone interested in Renaissance Faires and the nobility. The only drawback is that very very few of the portraits and pictures are in color. I think a total of about 7 are in color the rest is in black and white. The only way to make this book more appealing and usable would be to put all of the portraits and pictures in color, but that would make the book even more expensive. After this must have book the 2nd on the shelf should be a J. Hunniset book (the lady who did all the costuming for Elizabeth R and The Six Wives of Henry the VIII produced by BBC). Next, any Janet Arnold book. Last, would be the Norris book: Tudor Costuming and Fashion (although most of this book is very outdated it is nice to look at). All of these are must haves and will make a well rounded library. Dispite the high price of the book it is worth posessing. Enjoy.
Such An Amazing Resource!.......2002-02-12
For the historical costumer focused on 16th century clothing, this is the "bible" hands down. Big, expensive, and filled with the usual detail that is the hallmark of Janet Arnold, this is one very worthwhile investment for the serious costumer. This book has one tiny drawback, in that it focuses entirely on women's fashion in the 16th century as viewed through the wardrobe accounts of Queen Elizabeth I and some of her contemporaries. Therefore, it has nothing to say on the topic of men's clothing, which is an unfortunately neglected aspect of 16th century research.
Much of Janet Arnold's most important contributions to the costuming community are addressed in this book, making it extremely valuable. She presents each section with satisfying detail, raising very few questions that remain unanswered. The photographs accompanying the text are also invaluable, as many of them are not available in other books or to the general public for viewing. If only there were more color images...
If you can afford the book, you won't regret buying it.
Really great book but....there are a few issues.......2001-08-06
For years I heard how this was _the_ book to buy if you were into Elizabethan costuming and wanted authentic items that could be documented. The book is good for that, and I enjoyed the style that Ms.Arnold wrote it in.
But I have two major gripes with the book-both regarding the quality of graphics and images in it.
First off-in the whole book there are only about 5 pages in color. The rest of it-including hundreds of portraits, examples of extant clothing pieces and pieces of embroidery were all in black and white. I complain about that because, with so many of the portraits quoted as examples it would help if they could be seen clearly. (Many of them are too dark to have reproduced well, and a few are quite horrible.) And the photographs....
If they could reprint this book and possibly include more color plates it would be a much much more valuable resource. As it stands now, it is a good source, but not all that I could have hoped for. Instead I have begun a search for color reproductions of the portraits cited in the book. A long tedious job but one that I think over all will make it a much more solid resource for my needs.
The Best source for the Wardrobe of Elizabeth 1st.......2000-05-13
This book is amazing. Huge, and packed full of information. An essential refernce work if you are seriously considering doing anything with elizabethan fashion. The author has poured years of scholarship into this work and it shows. It's not really a coffee table picture book. Instead it is full of carefully culled facts for the serious student or anybody curious about 'real' English Tudor costume.
Book Description
The Dutch Golden Age, the age of Grotius, Spinoza, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and a host of other renowned artists and writers was also remarkable for its immense impact in the spheres of commerce, finance, shipping, and technology. It was in fact one of the most spectacularly creative episodes in the history of the world. Jonathan Israel gives the definitive account of the emergence of the United Provinces as a great power, and explains the subsequent decline in the eighteenth century. He places the thought, politics, religion, and social developments of the Golden Age in their broad context, and examines the changing relationship between the northern Netherlands and the south, which was to develop into modern Belgium.
Customer Reviews:
Truly Splendid.......2005-08-12
This book truly is the difinitive work on Dutch history. The sheer volume and description of detail makes the book very informative. The vivid writing style and the subdivision of the chapters gives the reader the ability to speed through the book in addition to breaking down and digesting each main idea clearly. The maps, charts, and graphs are clear and give the reader an illustration to the detail of the text. Also, the explanation of the Dutch Republican government, which is anything but simple, was clear and precise. I plan on using this book in my classes for reference. A truly great book.
For all of you Dutch I have only one word "READ !!!!!".......2003-02-10
The best historybook I have ever read with no doubt. I think in a small 1300 pages I never learned so much about my own history than I learned in the 2 weeks I spend to read this book. By now I have read it 3 times and if only have time I would pick ip up and read it again and again till I can dream whats in there. The 17th & 18th century is with no doubt one of the most interesting parts in the history of the world. Strangely it was my own country that played the most important role in this very interesting time.
And so many Dutch that earn the right to be named here, so many founders of our nations. Perhaps to them this is the most honarable a man could ever do to them, since they are all named in the book and how !!! I think about John Van Oldenbarnevelt, Hugo De Groot, John & Cornelius De Witt, Micheal De Ruyter, Rembrandt Van Rijn and last but not least Spinoza !!
An amazing achievement that will set out to be THE standard work about the Republic for years to come.
I have read the Dutch version, and that one is a really special one, seperated in 2 books, hardcover !! And everty page printed on photopaper, beautifully released !!! So when you are Dutch you can beter go to a local bookstore to get the Dutch version, since its simply more beautifull, although the price (about $ 130,- is another thing that can keep you away from it.) is worth it every penny !! You will not be regreted.
For non Dutch people, when you want to come over and tour our little nice country, be sure to read this book from beginning till end and back. It will tell you everything you ever need to know to understand our culture & history.
Flawed but Interesting Book.......2001-08-27
This is a frustrating book to review. It is one of the worst-edited books I have read in a long time, yet it contains a wealth of intersting information. It is comprehensive and well-enough explained to interest a lay reader, but it is difficult to read beyond what is necessary given the dryness of the subject matter. First, the good: Israel presents almost a year-by-year discussion of Dutch politics, economics, and demographics. His presentation is highly detailed, generally offering his arguments first, then backing them up with substantial data. Israel has pulled together statistics of population growth, economic activity, and political positions in a wealth of tables. Finally, he defines his terms clearly, then uses them consistently. Now, the bad: This is one of the worst-edited books I can imagine. Israel's excessive use of commas in the most inappropriate places makes reading this work a chore. His meaning is obscured by the incorrect use of punctuation. In short, his editor should [have done a better editing job]. Second, the editing goes downhill toward the end of the book. Whereas the first 2/3 of the text clearly presents the major political events, then follows them with the appropriate economic, social, and demographic consequences, the latter part of the book reverses this presentation. This leaves the reader to infer major political events (like the French invasion of 1792-1794) from the discussion of demographics, economics, or social trends. A consequence of this decline in editing is that the explanation of why the Dutch republic declined is not presented clearly. If the reader pays close attention and has a good grounding in economics, he can understand what must have been going on behind the scenes. But the big story of the sudden decline of one of the major maritime powers in the world is not clearly told. Finally, Israel often uses text where a table would be more appropriate. He will take three pages to go through the voting record of each city in each province, rather than summarize the data in a table. The 1100 pages of the book could easily be reduced by several hundred without impacting the support of Israel's arguments and make the book much more readable in the process.
Comprehensive, learned but dull history.......2000-02-13
Professor Israel's book is the first volume in what is clearly intended to be a new series of definitive texts, Oxford University Press's History of Early Modern Europe. The book is certainly superbly produced (albeit a bit short of maps), and is packed with information on a fascinating subject. No doubt the Dutch achievement in the seventeenth century was amazing - after rebelling from Spain the Dutch turned themselves into a world power,became the freest and most advanced society in Europe (although Dutch freedom had its limits, as Professor Israel makes clear) and produced a galaxy of stunning artists - Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals etc. All this based on nothing but hard work and daring, and founded on a country that Dutchmen made themselves - "God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland", as they say. So a great subject, a magnificent looking book, and a first rate scholar who really knows his stuff and who has published a number of excellent books. And yet, it doesn't quite get there...I don't agree with those who say that this book is in the same league as Simon Schama's. I am a historian, but found the book very hard going. I think one problem was the author's obsessive focus on the internal rivalries of the Dutch provinces and towns. By the time the states of Friesland and the States of Zeeland and the States of Holland and the States-General had all fallen out with themselves yet again for the umpteenth time my eyes were starting to glaze over...I'm sure it's very important to understanding Dutch history but I felt the material on internal rivalries and jealousies needed to be shortened and the issues clarified for the non-specialist. As well as being overburdened with material on internal politics other aspects of the Dutch achievement were covered very sketchily. I was surprised for such a large book to have so little on the Dutch seaborne empire - Israel is mainly interested in the VOC as a factor in Dutch internal politics. There is one chapter on the overseas empire but it is not very detailed and Israel is clearly not especially interested in it. As a citizan of a country named, after all, after a Dutch province and whose first European discoverer was a Dutchman I was disappointed to see so little on the DUtch in North America, Brazil, Ceylon, South Africa and the East Indies. The book is essentially a detailed internal political history of the Seven Provinces in 1100 pages. I also would have liked to know more about art and literature. Perhaps the book basically reflects a tendency in modern European historical writing to focus on internal politics and European affairs and to minimise and downplay the European overseas empires. For a great world seapower like the Netherlands this seems very limiting. Older works on the Dutch empire by C R Boxer and others still remain essential reading.
Not for beginners.......2000-01-27
I am afraid I have to disagree with my fellow readers. Israel's account of the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic is exhaustive and certainly impressive, but it is a difficult read. This book is for only those with a burning interest in the subject and a willingness to tolerate dry, academic prose.
I learned a lot, which was my goal, but not without some, in my judgment, unnecessary frustration. Too often, Israel assumes that the reader has a much deeper knowledge of the subject matter than I believe is warranted. He frequently makes use of terms and refers to historical characters that are not explained until much later in the text. The organization of the chapters within each section does not help. It would have been better, I think, to begin each section with an overview of political events and follow with broader commentary on Dutch society and religious development, for example. This way the reader could put the latter into the context of the former. Israel does this in his section, "The Early Golden Age", but not with "The Later Golden Age." The narrative flow suffers as a result. Someone more expert in Dutch history would not find this a problem, but if this is to be the definitive and most accessible account of the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic, as the professional critic suggests, then it is a serious flaw.
I have a bias towards maps. I think history books should include a lot of them. They help readers place events. This book could use more, but the real problem here is that the maps Oxford's editors did produce for Israel are of poor quality.
In short, this is a book for the serious student of Dutch history and not for those looking for a good, accessible introduction to the subject. Turn to Israel after reading a book that provides such an introduction.
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Humanists and Reformers: A History of the Renaissance and Reformation
Bard Thompson
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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ASIN: 0802836917 |
Customer Reviews:
Thorough and Friendly.......2001-02-05
I have been reading sections of this book for a class in Church History that I am co-teaching this semester, and I love it. Thompson does an inspiring job at making each individual a "real person" for the reader, which is often hard to find in history texts. Also, his in-depth and thorough look at both movements and people never becomes pedantic or tiresome, but rather creates a greater context into which these elements truly make sense. His writing is reachable, clear, humorous - friendly to the casual and professional student of the Reformation. Highly recommended!
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The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation: 4-Volume Set
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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In 1517, Martin Luther's legendary Ninety-five Theses set in motion a chain of events that fundamentally altered European history. The resulting Reformation of the sixteenth century proved to be one of the most important and far-reaching phenomena of an era marked by dramatic religious and social upheaval. A critical chapter in the history of Christian thought, the movement provoked political, social, and cultural transformations that profoundly changed the Western world. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation is the first major reference to cover the immense subject of the Reformation in its entirety. Setting the issues of theology and ecclesiology within the broader context of the social and intellectual history of the time, it is the most authoritative reference available on early modern European society as a whole. The Encyclopedia is a unique compendium of contemporary scholarship focusing on the complete range of religious and social changes wrought by the Reformation-- including not only issues of church polity and theology but also related developments in politics, economics, demographics, art, and literature. It is an unparalleled source of information on the personalities and events of the era, with broad coverage ranging from biographies to extensive treatments of topics such as Lutheranism, women, law, the Augsburg Confession, music, the Holy Roman Empire, peasants, the Bible, persecution, and literacy. Offering exhaustive interdisciplinary and international coverage of all aspects of the Reformation, this is the ultimate reference on the subject. Transcending the bounds of denominational encyclopedias and dictionaries of Reformation history currently available, it offers the only comprehensive picture of western Europe and the British Isles, along with southern Europe, Scandinavia, and east-central Europe in the early modern period. It is the first source scholars, students, and general readers in any discipline will reach for when studying the Reformation.
Book Description
Jonathan Israel presents the first major reassessment of the Western Enlightenment for a generation. Continuing the story he began in the best-selling Radical Enlightenment, and now focusing his attention on the first half of the eighteenth century, he returns to the original sources to offer a groundbreaking new perspective on the nature and development of the most important currents in modern thought. Israel traces many of the core principles of Western modernity to their roots in the social, political, and philosophical ferment of this period: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between on the one hand a generally dominant, anti-democratic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical authority, and on the other a largely repressed democratic, republican, and 'materialist' radical fringe. He also contends that the supposedly separate French, British, German, Dutch, and Italian enlightenments interacted to such a degree that their study in isolation gives a hopelessly distorted picture. A work of dazzling and highly accessible scholarship, Enlightenment Contested will be the definitive reference point for historians, philosophers, and anyone engaged with this fascinating period of human development.
Customer Reviews:
A stunning work.......2007-09-14
No number of stars is enough for this book. The scholarship is amazing, the narrative clear and fascinating from start to finish, the topic more relevant than ever. This book and its predecessor (Radical Enlightenment) are two of the best books I have read in many years, and by far the best on this subject. I am very seldom so enthusiastic about any product. So many books come with the lure of an interesting title or an impressive review, and yet disappoint. Not this one. This was an extremely enjoyable and rewarding read, and a book I shall return to, many times.
Fascinating.......2007-04-29
Actually, I would give it 4.5/5 but Amazon won't let me. Overall it's a fascinating book. The highlights for me are Israel's comments about Locke and Newton. Certainly in my education, Locke has always been presented as, if not the absolute originator of our liberal notion of tolerance, at least its more important forerunner, and Israel arues convincingly something fellow students and I couldn't articulate well enough: that there is a lot lacking from Locke's notion of toleration. The Newtonian dominance at the time and subsequently; especially when one learns of a thinker developing what sounds like the genesis of the theory of relativity only to be forgotten for 200 years. It's a shame that, at least in Canadian universities, we tend to not even think about Spinoza in terms of political theory, to pick just one example of how Israel shows we have missed a lot of what actually went on. His research seems very thorough and though he repeats himself on a number of occasions (in particular with regard to Spinoza and Balye, whom he seems to adore), the argument is significant and definitely worth your time if you're interested in the history of ideas, like I am. My one problem with the book is a matter of personal politics, as I believe that the 'moderate mainstream' wasn't wholly out to lunch. In any case, it is something that is well worth your time and it would be nice if this argument would have some affect on the odd department.
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Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. set)
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0195104307 |
Book Description
Defining the Enlightenment as the "long eighteenth century," the Encyclopedia focuses on the entire range of philosophic and social changes engendered by the Enlightenment. It extends the conventional geographical boundaries of the Enlightenment, covering not only France, England, Scotland, the Low Countries, Italy, English-speaking North America, the German states, and Hapsburg Austria but also Iberian, Ibero-American, Jewish, Russian, and Eastern European cultures. Nor does the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment limit itself to major centers like Paris in France and Edinburgh in Scotland, but shares the rich lode of recent scholarship on "secondary" and "provincial" centers such as Berlin and Geneva; Philadelphia and Milan. The Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment brings a similar spirit of inclusion to the new theoretical and methodological approaches that have flowered in the humanities during the past two decades. Including feminist and various post-modernist reassessments alongside more traditional perspectives, the four volumes offer the broadest possible range of current knowledge. Accessibility combined with scholarly rigor make the Encyclopedia the first choice for researching any aspect of the Enlightenment.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent set.......2007-08-05
This encyclopedia is outstanding in all respects: comprehensive range of coverage, highly-competent content and editing, and beautifully produced. It will be useful to scholars and general audiences alike.
Book Description
How Western Christianity and Eastern philosophy merged to spawn a political movement that had the prohibition of meat at its core.
The Bloodless Revolution is a pioneering history of puritanical revolutionaries, European Hinduphiles, and visionary scientists who embraced radical ideas from the East and conspired to overthrow Western society's voracious hunger for meat. At the heart of this compelling history are the stories of John Zephaniah Holwell, survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and John Stewart and John Oswald, who traveled to India in the eighteenth century, converted to the animal-friendly tenets of Hinduism, and returned to Europe to spread the word. Leading figures of the Enlightenment—among them Rousseau, Voltaire, and Benjamin Franklin—gave intellectual backing to the vegetarians, sowing the seeds for everything from Victorian soup kitchens to contemporary animal rights and environmentalism.
Spanning across three centuries with reverberations to our current world, The Bloodless Revolution is a stunning debut from a young historian with enormous talent and promise. 24 pages of color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A classic!.......2007-08-11
This is one of the most informative and important books that I have ever read. I have worked for a half century in the diet and health research and policy arena and have reluctantly but most assuredly because convinced of the health superiority of a diet comprised of plant-based foods. Along the way I also have become very much aware of the difficulty of communicating this message to the professional and public communities. Although serious interest in this topic is emerging in the last few years, even last few months, I am also aware of a visceral sometimes very hostile reaction against this view from a relatively small but sometimes influential group of people. The gap between the believers and non-believers in this way of eating could hardly be more contentious. Thus I have frequently wondered about the question of whatever happened to rational, civil discourse on a topic such as this, especially at a time when we are getting so much empirical data to support the use of a plant-based diet and so much demand for health care solutions.
This book comes as close as any to providing the explanation that I have sought. Although I am not a professional historian or philosopher, I have long had an avid interest in these disciplines. I strongly believe in that age-old adage that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. However limited my perspective may be, I nonetheless find this book by Tristram Stuart to be an incredible presentation of some events and ideas that really go a long way to help provide an answer to my question.
I am still awed by the depth and sophistication of knowledge that existed among leading scholars and medical people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries concerning the use of a plant-based diet. I am sure that it is possible to quibble about Stuart's selection and interpretation of references, as is true of almost any historical account. Nonetheless, I am impressed with these references, not only because of their number, but also because of Stuart's liberal use of direct quotations--these can be easily confirmed, if necessary. But, more to the point, I found that so many of the views of these early writers, who had limited access to empirical data, to be remarkably well confirmed with the highly technical findings gathered in recent years. With my son, Tom, we write about these findings in our own book, "The China Study. Startling Implications of Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health".
There are many other impressive and largely unknown findings told in this book. I especially enjoyed the views on diet and health of these writers that were at the core of philosophical discussions that were to shape Renaissance thinking, especially on matters that led to political reform.
I highly recommend this book--it is full of enormously impressive content that says so much about what we are now experiencing in this field. Tristram Stuart is a remarkably capable young writer and I very much hope that he will continue writing more such material!
In the meanwhile, we now desperately need some of the courage and creativity of these early writers--a revolution in health could hardly be more needed. Thank you, Tristram Stuart, for sharing your thoughts.
Boring........2007-07-02
I've been a vegetarian for 25 years and was excited to get this book, which would give me insight into the history of 'my people'. Unfortunately, it's a snooze - dry, with references to all kinds of historical figures that I know nothing about, jumping from here to there, with nothing compelling to keep me adrift on a sea of historical mumbo-jumbo. I gave up after less than 100 pages. Sorry - it's obviously well-intentioned, but just not compelling or gripping reading - even for someone who is the core target audience!
Exhaustive, detailed, but sometimes narrow, history.......2007-04-08
There is no doubt that Tristram Stuart has conducted a great deal of research in order to write The Bloodless Revolution. He has a astute eye for minute details unique personalities. Doctors, cranks, religious fanatics, scientists, and others, some famous and some obscure, are rendered with thorough and loving detail. If nothing else, the sheer scope of Stuart's work is illustrative of how broad and diverse a movement vegetarianism is.
Yet sometimes I feel that Stuart was in some ways blinded by his own hypotheses and unwilling to look at alternative views. Stuart believes that European vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture. This is not an indefensible view, but his case for it would have been stronger if he had answered some potential objections to such assertions, rather than ignoring them. Furthermore, literally all of European history between Pythagoras and English Revolution is simply missing. It is perfectly reasonable for Mr. Stuart to focus on a particular era, but readers with some preestablished famniliarity with vegetarian history -- a group likely to comprise a significant portion of The Bloodless Revolution's readers -- are likely to ask questions. For instance, why does St. Francis of Assisi not appear once in the entire book? Why is Leonardo da Vinci only mentioned in a quote comparing him to the Indians? Should the Cathars be ignored? It is one thing to focus on a specific era of history -- the English Revolution to the Second World War -- but it is another to leap straight from Pythagoras to Francis Bacon while ignoring virtually all of the intervening millenia. In short, if Stuart wants to emphasis the critical role of Indian influence on European vegetarianism, he should have investigated earlier indigenous European vegetarian movements or ideas and, if the evidence showed them not to be influential, shown us such evidence, rather than ignoring the whole question.
Second, Stuart often magnifies a dichotomy between animal welfare activists who called for less brutal treatment of domesticated animals and vegetarians who opposed meat consumption. While it is certainly true that there were and are numerous animal welfare activists who sought the reform, rather than abolition, of meat consumption (and vegetarians indifferent to animal welfare), Stuart seems to imply that these were each others' chief opponents. There is little mention of the arguments of those who opposed both animal welfarists and vegetarians. From my impression, it seems that Stuart himself happens to be an animal welfarist who has no problems with meat consumption so long as the animals involved are treated humanely. There is nothing wrong with this viewpoint, but sometimes I wonder whether Stuart's emphasis on welfarists as opponents, rather than allies, of vegetarians, is an attempt to defend his own position against worries about the persuasiveness of ethical vegetarian arguments, and whether Stuart ignores most views less sympathetic to animals than welfarism or vegetarianism because he personally finds them so unpersuasive that he feels they needn't be covered.
Lastly, while Stuart has a brilliant eye for detail and color, he has little time for facts or demographics. Such information may be hard to come by, but could there have been more information? For example, could there be some way of estimating the fraction of vegetarians in the British population from 1600 to modern times? Could we find out the average meat consumption per capita over time? I did not pick this up expecting a book heavy on statistics or demographics, but I nonetheless found the absence of even minimal attention to such matters disappointing.
Nonetheless, The Bloodless Revolution is a thoroughly researched, well-written, and original work. It provides a valuable resource to anyone interested in the history of vegetarianism in the modern era. I found it quite an enjoyable read, and the detailed portraits of the individuals, from meticulous scientists to enthusiastic religious cranks, were all a pleasure to read. I took great pleasure in reading it over several weeks.
Book Description
Arguably the most decisive shift in the history of ideas in modern times was the complete demolition during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - in the wake of the Scientific Revolution - of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief, by the new philosophy and the philosophies, culminating in Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. In this revolutionary process which effectively overthrew all justification for monarchy, aristocracy, slavery, and ecclesiastical authority, as well as man's asendancy over woman and theology's domination over education and study, substituting the modern principles of equality, democracy, and universality, the Radical Enlightenment played a crucially important part. Despite the present-day interest in the revolutions of the late eighteenth century, the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment have been astonishingly little studied, doubtless largely because if its very wide international sweep and the obvious difficulties of fitting it into the restrictive conventions of 'national history' which until recently tended to dominate all historiography. The greatest obstacle to the Radical Enlightenment finding its proper place in modern historical writing is simply that it was not French, British, German, Italian, Jewish or Dutch, but all of these at the same time. In this novel interpretation of the Radical Enlightenment down to La Mettrie and Diderot, two of its key exponents, particular stress is placed on the pivotal role of Spinoza and the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating.......2007-10-07
An interesting and well written history of the radical Enlightenment - the growth of atheism and deism in particular. The author writes engagingly and makes what could otherwise be a tedious subject interesting. I found the descriptions of how philosophy books were literally smuggled into countries as contraband quite intriguing and more than a bit amusing.
Two notes of caution, however: First, be at least somewhat familiar with the basics of western philosophy. Either have taken a college-level course in it or read a basic book on the topic such as Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy. Second (and this is only a minor complaint) the author provides copious quotes, mostly in French, without translation. While it is possible to figure out the gist of most of these from the context, it is somewhat annoying at times. The assumption seems to be that if you're studying philosophy, you must speak French.
I will undoubtedly follow this up with the author's other book on the Enlightenment in this series.
Radical, Contestable.......2007-07-16
Jonathan Israel presents his work as an important new history of the `Early' Enlightenment (1680-1740).
He has two key, inter-related theses. Firstly, that the whole of the early Enlightenment was driven by an engagement with the views of Spinoza (e.g. P.431) and secondly that the whole of the early Enlightenment, across Europe needs to be understood as a single, integrated process.
At one stage (P.456) he draws a comparison betweenSpinozism and Marxism and that gives you a good sense of how he sees Spinoza's movement.
His own background as a specialist in the Enlightenment in the Netherlands comes strongly into play and the book is at its best on this topic. The original growth of Cartesianism is taken as read. Spinoza's breach with Cartesian dualism and his counter arguments for monism are gone into in more detail . The book comes alive when discussing the popularizers of Spinoza such as Leenhof, Van Dale, Bekker, Kuyper, Van Den Enden, Meyer, Beverlaand, Goeree. Other radical figures such as Vauvenarues, de Boulainvilliars, Radicati, le Clerc take on a new significance in this light.
Such figures have been lost to history. It is a paradox of the history of philosophy that the greatest intellectual achievement often resides in defending the indefensible, putting obstacles in the path of progress. Those who championed change often achieved less of lasting intellectual quality, being too busy achieving a different world.
It is for this reason refreshing that Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Voltaire, Leibniz, Malebranche and Rousseau play a support role in this book. Soon we begin to believe that the Enlightenment may indeed have been driven forward by radical deists and atheists elaborating on Spinoza.
The argument goes too far as we slip from the 1670s and 1680s to the 1730s and 1740s. Israel is too keen to amalgamate the whole period. He fails to emphasise sufficiently that whereas Spinoza's own work, with Geulincx and Malebrance and Gassendi was part of a debate about Descartes, what came later was something different. Spinoza may have survived better in the 1730s as an icon than Descartes or Malebranche, but he was no less an historical figure. The new battle, by that time, was - as he says - a three cornered fight. But the third corner with Lockean empiricism and Leibnizian/Wolffian rationalism was an emergent mechanical materialism and not a continuing Spinozism. The two over-lapped, but were not the same.
Furthermore, Israel nowhere recognises the full force of the Newtonian-Lockean and Leibniz-Wollfian critiques of Spinoza - undermining, respectively the epistemology and concept of necessity on which Spinoza relied. The internal tensions and dialogue within Spinozism are also often lost sight of in the repeated insistence on drawing the lineage of continuity. Thus the intellectual origins of 18th century materialism are misplaced and he does not see that the changed treatment of Spinoza in the works of the moderate Enlightenment, such that he came aroudn 1730 to be treated with « meticulous care » (P.658) derives from Spinoza's increasing irrelevance.
The failure to chart as carefully as he might have the changing pattern of influence of the radicalEnlightenment reflects a certain crudity of approach which affects more substantially Israel's unwisely formulated second thesis. The idea that the early Enlightenment was a single trans-European process is simply too crude. Israel's own nation-specific chapters don't even support it. Israel speaks repeatedly of the `Republic of Letters'as an unproblematic trans-European unity. Yet the evidence is of a far more complex set of phenomena, driven not only by the interchange of ideas, but also by the precarious realities of book and manuscript circulation (often via smuggling routes) of erratic patterns of translation and survival of Latin as an international language and of local governmental and institutional politics. We never get any structured treatment of the complex inter-related systems of dialogue in secret discussion circles, in the manuscript circulation of material and in the very different published circulation of material. It is paradoxical that the national and even `local' character of the Enlightenment is so effectively lost in the midst of so sweeping and knowledgeable a survey across Europe.
A very particular and telling problem lies with defining the margins between heterodox Christianity and deist Enlightenment. Israel's account involves drawing figures like Leerhof into the deist fold while evaluating others such as Van Hatten as merely heterodox Christians. Tellingly, at one point we are assured that Stosch's stance was « philosophical not local » (P.641). We see here an artificial distinction that has less grounding in historical reality than in Israels' retrospective schema.
It is strikingly illustrated in this book that when Marx's eleventh thesis on Feuerbach rejected philosophy he was rejecting a substantial, reputable tradition of philosophical militancy against revealed religion. Spinozism was a militant tradition, determined, in its day, by bravery and deception to undermine the established churches.The early Enlightment was also a period of militant deism rampant among the ruling elites, championed by figures such as Federick the Great, the Duc de Noailles and the Earl of Shaftesbury. This combination of dissent from within the ruling elite and isolated radical intellectuals is strikingly strange to us.
Despite the weaknesses of his two specific theses on this period, Israel has written a fascinating work, reminding us of that militancy, of Spinoza's central role in it and of - as so often - how the militant minority drive the moderate as well as the reactionary mainstreams.
Fascinating Intellectual History.......2007-05-12
An utterly fascinating study of intellectual history in Europe, especially Holland, on either side of the turn of the eighteenth century. "Radical Enlightenment" refers to what were perceived as hard-line attacks on authoritarian, particularly religious ideas, specifically the ideas of divine providence, the afterlife, rewards and punishments for behavior. Israel sees Spinoza as the chief philosophical force behind the radical ideas with his concept of a single substance composing the universe, i.e., pantheism is seen as atheism and is either persecuted by church and state or modified by less "radical" thinkers such as Leibniz and Wolff, Locke, and others considered part of the more "moderate" Enlightenment. Anyone interested in the development of modern ideas and the progress of knowledge or philosophy generally would be hard-pressed to find a better written, researched, or more comprehensive source for the period. Israel is obviously writing for intellectuals, but be advised that he quotes frequently from French sources and does not translate, so make sure your French is in order.
A slightly flawed masterpiece.......2005-01-05
Most people, when they think of the Enlightenment, think first of 18th France, of Voltaire and of Diderot. The late Roy Porter, in his spirited Enlightenment (Penguin paperback) claimed that the roots of the Enlightenment were actually in England. Then we have recently had James Buchan's Capital of the Mind, which claims in its subtitle that the philosophers of Edinburgh "changed the world". Jonathan Israel says that these are all parochial approaches, and that the Enlightenment was a movement whose international character he intends to illustrate. He has indeed read prodigiously in international literature: his bibliography gives 26 pages of published primary sources and 31 of secondary literature, and these include titles in Latin, English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and Danish.
Nevertheless, what emerges quite clearly from this book is that he places the origins of the Radical Enlightenment very firmly in 17th century Holland in general and in Spinoza in particular; and although one might perhaps expect this from a historian whose previous book was an equally massive work on the Dutch Republic (OUP), he makes a totally convincing case for this. In the course of it we learn much about many Dutch thinkers. Many of them are scarcely known in this country; and there are some, like Anthonie van Dale and Frederik van Leenhof, who according to Professor Israel are almost unknown even in Holland today.
True, it is a Frenchman, René Descartes, who could be said to have planted the seeds of what would become the Enlightenment, and there is a good deal about him in the book; but the principal theatre for the debate about Descartes is again shown to be Holland, where he had moved for safety in 1628, where the Discours de la Méthode was first published in 1637, and from where it later spread to other countries. Indeed, Spinoza's first published work was The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (1663). I think myself that the title of the book is somewhat misleading. It ought really to have been called Spinoza and the Enlightenment, since it is almost wholly devoted to his influence: all later Enlightenment thinkers of whatever nation are discussed almost exclusively in terms of the extent to which they were in agreement or disagreement with him.
That debate is described in exhaustive - I would say - exhausting - detail, since in fact the various arguments are repeated over and over again. There are principally three parties to this argument: thinkers of the Radical Enlightenment who follow Spinoza more or less all the way; those of the Moderate Enlightenment, who accept a broadly rational approach but stop short of denying a providential deity and the principal mysteries of the Christian faith; and the Conservatives or fideists who demand total acceptance of the traditional doctrines of the churches about such matters as miracles, the existence of Hell and of the Devil. Jonathan Israel patiently gives the arguments of this last group more space than most histories of the Enlightenment would do. Interestingly, many members of even the first group often denied that they were "Spinozists". That label was used by anti-rationalists, right up to eve of the French Revolution in a positively McCarthyist way to discredit even members of the second group, who themselves went out of their way to condemn Spinoza in the strongest terms. The true Spinozists often protected themselves by giving a full statement of the Spinozan positions and then following them with perfunctory or even deliberately feeble objections.
Despite its enormous length and the width of Israel's research, the book does remain rather narrowly focussed. The debates described in the book are largely about religion and about the challenges to deductive rationalism both from the churches and from the pragmatic schools. Such discussion as there is of Enlightenment political thought is again entirely related to the influence of or reaction against Spinoza's unfinished Tractatus Politicus. So, for instance, the debate in France between the thèse royale, the thèse nobiliaire, and democracy does not feature on its own terms. At the end there is an interesting short section on Diderot and his relationship to Spinozism; but there is nothing much of interest on Montesquieu, Voltaire, Helvétius or Holbach, all of whom are considerable figures in the history of the French Enlightenment. And there are just two references to Hume.
There are two other major criticisms: the book takes much previous knowledge for granted (for example, what exactly had been both the psychological and political teaching of Thomas Hobbes). Although there are several references to Malebranche and Malebranchisme, there is nowhere a concise account of what that philosopher taught: the "Occasionalism" for which he is famous has just two references in the index, only one of which links that doctrine with him.
However, Professor Israel has undoubteldy written a most important book which significantly shifts the focus of Enlightenment studies. For that and for his immense scholarship he deserves the praise that reviewers have heaped upon his book.
Good survey.......2003-04-18
It's a good book if you want to have an overview of the general philosophical and cultural atmosphere of the time.
Book Description
The publication of The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road in 1972 marked the birth of the "new military history", which emphasized military organization--mobilization, pay, supply, morale and, above all, logistics--rather than military "events" such as sieges and battles. Constantly cited since its first publication in English (with translations into Spanish and Dutch), this revised updated second edition includes new sources and references but otherwise remains faithful to the original edition. First Edition Hb (1972): 0-521-08462-8 First Edition Pb (1975): 0-521-09907-2
Customer Reviews:
Spain at War.......2006-02-06
This is an internationally-renowned study of Spain's Flanders Army during the 80 year effort to suppress the Dutch Revolt. And justly famous it is too - due to the depth and care with which the anaysis is done, as Parker covers all the logistical problems encountered by early modern Spain, inlcuding finance, supply, recruitment, morale - pretty much everything you would need to know about the difficulties of military organisation in the period.
As such, the book opens a window on the problems mounting any type of large-scale operation by the early modern state: far from being a modern professional fighting force the Flanders Army was a collection of nationalities with which the Spanish government more often than not had to coax or encourage to fight on its behalf - a task complicated by the distance of the Netherlands from Spain and by the constant financial strains faced by the Spanish treasury.
Given such problems, it was a considerable achievement to keep the struggle going for so long, especially bearing in mind other challenges faced by the Spanish Empire, and it does give a lesson on how difficult it was (and remains) to maintain an effective military presence in a country far distant from home and whose inhabitants do not wish you to be there. A lesson which it seems is repeatedly forgotten.
G Rodgers
The last hurrah before Rocroi.......2002-06-13
This is one of those magnificent books for the specialist that stay below the radar of a general readership in History. The short narrative of the attack on the fortress of Maastricht is the stuff of martial legends, and worth the price of the book. G. Parker has become the foremost historian in English of Spain in 16th & 17th Century and specifically of the 30 Years War. This splendid monograph is the gold on the background of the Tercio's banners.
Average customer rating:
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Women, Gender and Enlightenment
Barbara Taylor , and
Sarah Knott
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1403904936
Release Date: 2005-08-11 |
Book Description
Historians long excluded women from the Enlightenment orbit. But modern research shows that "woman" and gender were key categories of Enlightenment thought, and that women themselves--as scientists and salonnieres, bluestockings and governesses, feminists and novelists--contributed much to enlightened intellectual culture. This volume of interdisciplinary essays by forty leading scholars provides a detailed picture of the controversial, innovative role played by women and gender issues in the age of light.
Books:
- Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
- Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom
- Starting from Scratch: One Classroom Builds Its Own Curriculum
- Statistics
- Stone Butterfly (Charlie Moon Mysteries)
- Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic
- Taking Sides: American History, Volume I (Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History)
- Tasha Tudor's Garden
- The Alibi Man
- The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 15671659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)
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