HIS IS NOT a book for beginners. If you only have a vague knowledge of the Enlightenment, just about know that the French had a revolution, and take most of your facts about the USA’s independence from , you will be lost. Whatmore spares little thought for the amateur enthusiast who would need a thorough glossary to explain Smith’s mercantile system, Hume’s perfect commonwealth, and Rousseau’s social contract, as well as all the pre- and proceeding wars, the monarchy changes, and whatever was going on in the Dutch Republic, Spain and Italy.
