Expanding World - Hardcover

Wright, Esmond

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0890092656 ISBN 13: 9780890092651

Publisher: Book Sales, 1984

Synopsis

Europe in the sixteenth century was in turmoil, the Reformation clashing with the Counter-Reformation. By the end of the eighteenth, revolution had over-turned the old order. The period between these two momentous upheavals was one of exploration and discovery, when man expanded his knowledge of the world, helped by his increasing technical ability. European influence extended both overseas and on land: America was colonized, and Peter the Great westernized Russia. Seventeenth-century advances in science, such as the invention of the telescope and the discovery that the solar system did not revolve around the earth, showed that religion did not necessarily hold the key to the universe. The way was paved for the atheistic doctrines of the eighteenth-century thinkers and the work of such great philosophers as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But it was really the American and French Revolutions that gave birth to the modern age. The Declaration of American Independence (1776) was the first successful challenge to the supremacy of Europe. The French Revolution in 1789 was the first attempt to put into practice the idea of the rights of man. All aspects of this fascinating period are examined by a group of distinguished contributors.

About this edition

• Publisher: Book Sales
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0890092656
• ISBN 13: 9780890092651
• Binding: Hardcover