The Enlightenment, Volume 1

The eighteenth-century Enlightenment marks the beginning of the modern age, when the scientific method and belief in reason and progress came to hold sway over the Western world. In the twentieth century, however, the Enlightenment has often been judged harshly for its apparently simplistic optimism. Now a master historian goes back to the sources to give a fully rounded account of its true accomplishments.

"Extraordinary and brilliant." —R. R. Palmer, Journal of Modern History
"Gay's picture of the philosophes is persuasive, put forward with profound scholarship and ease of style." —George L. Mosse, New York Times Book Review

Peter Gay is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University.

1995 / paperback reissue / ISBN 0-393-31302-6 / 592 pages / HISTORY

• Winner of the National Book Award
• Volume Two of Peter Gay's The Enlightenment is also available in a Norton paperback edition.