The Age of Voltaire is the penultimate volume in the monumental Durant series chronicling The Story of Civilization, representing almost fifty years of dedicated research, exacting scholarship and creative and inspiring authorship. It is by far the best known, most popular and most comprehensive history of mankind now available, forming a vast panoramic picture of civilization, from the earliest days to the French Revolution. The nine volumes already published, now available in ten languages, have won the authors international acclaim and have become "basic books" in millions of homes the world over, constituting the foundation of a liberal education. It is not just the clarity, the "wisdom winged with wit" of their writing, their brilliant mastery of complex fact, that have won the Durants so great a global readership; it is, above all, their method—for it is the aim of Dr. and Mrs. Durant to present each period of history in total perspective, giving the reader an integrated and unified narrative of all the facets of a given age or culture — including government, economy, religion, morals, manners, literature, art, music, science and philosophy. Their history is not a chronicle of battles, dates, kings and events, though these have their places in it; it is a record of man's great achievements, failures and hopes, in short, the whole vast heritage of countless generations and cultures which we call civilization.
This latest volume, The Age of Voltaire, is, like its predecessors, an independent and self-contained whole. It is the biography of a great man and the great period of history which he embodied, the story of the revolution in thought and spirit mat was the forerunner of the French Revolution.
The volume begins with the youth of Voltaire, and describes the French Regency, a period of corruption and debauchery marching hand in hand with polished manners and elegant art. Here is the saga of John Law, the affable Scots banker whose system plunged France into
Description:
The Age of Voltaire is the penultimate volume in the monumental Durant series chronicling The Story of Civilization, representing almost fifty years of dedicated research, exacting scholarship and creative and inspiring authorship. It is by far the best known, most popular and most comprehensive history of mankind now available, forming a vast panoramic picture of civilization, from the earliest days to the French Revolution. The nine volumes already published, now available in ten languages, have won the authors international acclaim and have become "basic books" in millions of homes the world over, constituting the foundation of a liberal education. It is not just the clarity, the "wisdom winged with wit" of their writing, their brilliant mastery of complex fact, that have won the Durants so great a global readership; it is, above all, their method—for it is the aim of Dr. and Mrs. Durant to present each period of history in total perspective, giving the reader an integrated and unified narrative of all the facets of a given age or culture — including government, economy, religion, morals, manners, literature, art, music, science and philosophy. Their history is not a chronicle of battles, dates, kings and events, though these have their places in it; it is a record of man's great achievements, failures and hopes, in short, the whole vast heritage of countless generations and cultures which we call civilization. This latest volume, The Age of Voltaire, is, like its predecessors, an independent and self-contained whole. It is the biography of a great man and the great period of history which he embodied, the story of the revolution in thought and spirit mat was the forerunner of the French Revolution. The volume begins with the youth of Voltaire, and describes the French Regency, a period of corruption and debauchery marching hand in hand with polished manners and elegant art. Here is the saga of John Law, the affable Scots banker whose system plunged France into