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Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World
"With this profound and magnificent book, drawing on his deep reservoir of thought and expertise in the humanities, James MacGregor Burns takes us into the fire's center. As a 21st-century philosopher, he brings to vivid life the incandescent personalities and ideas that embody the best in Western civilization and shows us how understanding them is essential for anyone who would seek to decipher the complex problems and potentialities of the world we will live in tomorrow." --Michael Beschloss, New York Times bestselling author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989
"James MacGregor Burns is a national treasure, and Fire and Light is the elegiac capstone to a career devoted to understanding the seminal ideas that made America - for better and for worse - what it is." --Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning author Revolutionary Summer
Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian James MacGregor Burns explores the most daring and transformational intellectual movement in history, the European and American Enlightenment
In this engaging, provocative history, James MacGregor Burns brilliantly illuminates the two-hundred-year conflagration of the Enlightenment, when audacious questions and astonishing ideas tore across Europe and the New World, transforming thought, overturning governments, and inspiring visionary political experiments. Fire and Light brings to vivid life the galaxy of revolutionary leaders of thought and action who, armed with a new sense of human possibility, driven by a hunger for change, created the modern world. Burns discovers the origins of a distinctive American Enlightenment in men like the Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and their early encounters with incendiary European ideas about liberty and equality. It was these thinker-activists who framed the United States as a grand and continuing experiment in Enlightenment principles.
Today the same questions Enlightenment thinkers grappled with have taken on new urgency around the world: in the turmoil of the Arab Spring, in the former Soviet Union, and China, as well as in the United States itself. What should a nation be? What should citizens expect from their government? Who should lead and how can leadership be made both effective and accountable? What is happiness, and what can the state contribute to it? Burns's exploration of the ideals and arguments that formed the bedrock of our modern world shines a new light on these ever-important questions.
"James MacGregor Burns is a national treasure, and Fire and Light is the elegiac capstone to a career devoted to understanding the seminal ideas that made America - for better and for worse - what it is." --Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning author Revolutionary Summer
Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian James MacGregor Burns explores the most daring and transformational intellectual movement in history, the European and American Enlightenment
In this engaging, provocative history, James MacGregor Burns brilliantly illuminates the two-hundred-year conflagration of the Enlightenment, when audacious questions and astonishing ideas tore across Europe and the New World, transforming thought, overturning governments, and inspiring visionary political experiments. Fire and Light brings to vivid life the galaxy of revolutionary leaders of thought and action who, armed with a new sense of human possibility, driven by a hunger for change, created the modern world. Burns discovers the origins of a distinctive American Enlightenment in men like the Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and their early encounters with incendiary European ideas about liberty and equality. It was these thinker-activists who framed the United States as a grand and continuing experiment in Enlightenment principles.
Today the same questions Enlightenment thinkers grappled with have taken on new urgency around the world: in the turmoil of the Arab Spring, in the former Soviet Union, and China, as well as in the United States itself. What should a nation be? What should citizens expect from their government? Who should lead and how can leadership be made both effective and accountable? What is happiness, and what can the state contribute to it? Burns's exploration of the ideals and arguments that formed the bedrock of our modern world shines a new light on these ever-important questions.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2013
111 people are currently reading
775 people want to read
About the author
James MacGregor Burns
76 books79 followersAn award-winning author of presidential and leadership studies, James MacGregor Burns was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his bachelor's degree from Williams College and his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard, and he also attended the London School of Economics. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was past president of the American Political Science Association and the International Society of Political Psychology.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 26, 2024
I thought this was going to be a tribute to the Enlightenment's greatest thoughts, deeds, accomplishments etc., but actually Burns tries to tell the whole story, including the disasters and periods of social or intellectual stagnation. I like how he identifies fundamental shifts. He notes the shift caused when people questioned the ancient assumption that inequalities among people were caused by inborn differences. What if everybody was actually born with similar capacities, and the differences between us were largely functions of training and opportunity? What if we actually all had similar potential? What if some basic dignities were just deserved by all, without having to be “earned”? What would that mean for how we run everything?
This rather explosive series of questions sets off a slowly unfolding chain of upheavals. The story’s complexity is controlled partly by its focus on Britain, the USA, and France. Burns explores the contradictions and tensions among “fundamental” values—order vs freedom, equality vs liberty, individual rights vs communal solidarity. For example, Burns notes Alexis de Tocqueville’s criticisms of democratic America (in the 1830s), where the popular emphasis on individual freedom seems to render people profoundly “alone,” or even “absorbed in downright selfishness.” The devotion to self-reliance seems more like a burden than a liberty. Individuals act as their own highest authorities, and self-interest becomes the measure of all things. The conflicts over values get explosive, especially when notions of “life, liberty, property” start applying even to women, factory laborers, and non-whites.
This rather explosive series of questions sets off a slowly unfolding chain of upheavals. The story’s complexity is controlled partly by its focus on Britain, the USA, and France. Burns explores the contradictions and tensions among “fundamental” values—order vs freedom, equality vs liberty, individual rights vs communal solidarity. For example, Burns notes Alexis de Tocqueville’s criticisms of democratic America (in the 1830s), where the popular emphasis on individual freedom seems to render people profoundly “alone,” or even “absorbed in downright selfishness.” The devotion to self-reliance seems more like a burden than a liberty. Individuals act as their own highest authorities, and self-interest becomes the measure of all things. The conflicts over values get explosive, especially when notions of “life, liberty, property” start applying even to women, factory laborers, and non-whites.
June 2, 2025
James MacGregor Burns And Enlightenment History
The Enlightenment pervasively influenced Western religion, philosophy, science, art, and government. Scholars still try to sort out what the Enlightenment was, when it took place, and the precise nature of its influence. The venerable American historian James Macgregor Burns' new book "Fire and Light: how the Enlightenment Transformed Our World" (2013) offers a broad interpretation of the Enlightenment with a focus on its political impact. Burns (b. 1918), Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, has written widely on American presidents and American history and on the nature of leadership. This study of the Enlightenment, which includes large components of philosophy and intellectual history, thus represents somewhat of a broadening of and shift of focus in Burns' work. Among other honors, Burns has received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
The title, "Fire and Light" alludes in a narrow way to one of the subjects of an early work by Descartes, but in a broad sense it symbolizes Burns' understanding of the Enlightenment. For the author, the Enlightenment burned away obstructions to human thought and development to open the way for the "light" of reason. His book does not define "Enlightenment" which is indeed a difficult task. Instead, Burn's tries to identify the components on Enlightenment thinking. Thus, in his opening chapter Burns describes Enlightenment as a "time of transforming leadership across the widest fields of action, of creative revolutionary thought about human nature and liberty and equality and happiness". Burns finds that Enlightenment broke from a universe "in which God was the final answer to any question" and "moved attention to human beings as the measure of all things." Burns describes Enlightenment as involving a commitment to empirical investigation and science and to reason. In government, it involved a commitment to self-government, liberty, and equality as opposed to the kings and churches. In many respects, Burns' portrayal is similar to the discussion of "Radical" or "Spinozistic" Enlightenment offered in a trilogy of scholarly books by Jonathan Israel, e.g. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750". Burns does not discuss Jonathan Israel, but he offers his own distinction in types of Enlightenment thought.
Burn's study is wide and accessible. It begins with a discussion of Enlightenment philosophers including Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza and Locke before moving to figures more popularly associated with Enlightenment such as Voltaire and Rousseau. Burns appears to take Locke, as opposed to Jonathan Israel's Spinoza, as his pivotal figure. He develops a competing Enlightenment strand in Scotch thinkers including Hutcheson and Hume which emphasizes feelings and moral sense together with the community -- the well-being of all -- over individualism. The tension between community and individualism in understanding Enlightenment is a key theme of Burns' study.
The book moves back and forth between the study of thinkers and the study of history. The historical studies are necessarily brief and simplified. They are worthwhile particularly as they bring the experiences of different countries together for comparison but they also dilute and weaken the book's focus. Burns studies the experience of three countries through about 1830: the United States, Great Britain, and France, to understand the commonalities and differences in how the Enlightenment played out. He gives a great deal of emphasis to the spread of Enlightenment ideas in the United States through the work of Adams, Jefferson, Tom Paine, and Madison in the Revolutionary Era. Burns undertakes the controversial task of showing the impact of Enlightenment on the French Revolution. And he describes Enlightenment in Britain's Glorious Revolution and in its later wars with the United States. Burns stresses throughout that Enlightenment was, in its earlier states, a product of aristocratic and perhaps middle-class thinkers. It ignored and had little to say to the mass of poor people, not to speak of women.
In the latter chapters of his history, Burns carries the impact of the Enlightenment through Jacksonian America, the Napoleonic and Restoration eras in France culminating in the second revolution of 1830, and the broadening of the franchise and the outlawing of the slave trade in Britain in the 1830s. Burns spends much time on the Industrial Revolution, both its impact in improving human life and its impact in impoverishing and diminishing the lives of many. Political discussions are interspersed with the discussion of writers and of intellectual developments. The manner in which the varied and different histories Burns describes illustrates the development of the Enlightenment becomes obscure at times. Burns seems to conflate the Enlightenment with other developments, including the Industrial Revolution, and to ignore counter-trends and other factors. Late in the book, Burns offers a summary of the Enlightenment's impact.
"If the reach and richness of the Enlightenment could be captured in a word, if would be freedom -- the revolutionary assumption that human beings had a natural right to personal liberty, which went hand in hand with Enlightenment thinking about human nature, human autonomy and educability, self-determination, equality. Though, in Lockean principle, all human beings should have the potential to enjoy freedom in its fullness, in practice there were strong, ever gross limitations that reached large numbers of people in Europe and the United States. The debate in Britain over the Reform act and in its compromises, for instance, had exposed the disdain for and fear of the uneducated, impoverished masses who were, in most countries for much of the era, the overwhelming majority of the population."
In his concluding chapter, Burns argues that John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx represent competing visions of Enlightenment thought. His discussion of these two thinkers requires development as it is short and rushed. Burns also argues that in the modern world free, universal public education is both the gift of Enlightenment thought and the sine qua non of its existence. The final pages of the work have a valedictory and to my mind an overly polemic tone.
Burns has written a valuable popular, if sprawling, account of the Enlightenment and its influence. He shows the seminal character of the Enlightenment and its characteristics of continued change and growth. Given Burns' studies over his career of the nature of leadership, he emphasizes the political character of Enlightenment and what he calls the transformative character of Enlightenment leadership. The lessons of the Enlightenment -- what Burns finally describes as "hope and striving" -- continue to play out in a changing world.
Robin Friedman
The Enlightenment pervasively influenced Western religion, philosophy, science, art, and government. Scholars still try to sort out what the Enlightenment was, when it took place, and the precise nature of its influence. The venerable American historian James Macgregor Burns' new book "Fire and Light: how the Enlightenment Transformed Our World" (2013) offers a broad interpretation of the Enlightenment with a focus on its political impact. Burns (b. 1918), Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, has written widely on American presidents and American history and on the nature of leadership. This study of the Enlightenment, which includes large components of philosophy and intellectual history, thus represents somewhat of a broadening of and shift of focus in Burns' work. Among other honors, Burns has received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
The title, "Fire and Light" alludes in a narrow way to one of the subjects of an early work by Descartes, but in a broad sense it symbolizes Burns' understanding of the Enlightenment. For the author, the Enlightenment burned away obstructions to human thought and development to open the way for the "light" of reason. His book does not define "Enlightenment" which is indeed a difficult task. Instead, Burn's tries to identify the components on Enlightenment thinking. Thus, in his opening chapter Burns describes Enlightenment as a "time of transforming leadership across the widest fields of action, of creative revolutionary thought about human nature and liberty and equality and happiness". Burns finds that Enlightenment broke from a universe "in which God was the final answer to any question" and "moved attention to human beings as the measure of all things." Burns describes Enlightenment as involving a commitment to empirical investigation and science and to reason. In government, it involved a commitment to self-government, liberty, and equality as opposed to the kings and churches. In many respects, Burns' portrayal is similar to the discussion of "Radical" or "Spinozistic" Enlightenment offered in a trilogy of scholarly books by Jonathan Israel, e.g. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750". Burns does not discuss Jonathan Israel, but he offers his own distinction in types of Enlightenment thought.
Burn's study is wide and accessible. It begins with a discussion of Enlightenment philosophers including Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza and Locke before moving to figures more popularly associated with Enlightenment such as Voltaire and Rousseau. Burns appears to take Locke, as opposed to Jonathan Israel's Spinoza, as his pivotal figure. He develops a competing Enlightenment strand in Scotch thinkers including Hutcheson and Hume which emphasizes feelings and moral sense together with the community -- the well-being of all -- over individualism. The tension between community and individualism in understanding Enlightenment is a key theme of Burns' study.
The book moves back and forth between the study of thinkers and the study of history. The historical studies are necessarily brief and simplified. They are worthwhile particularly as they bring the experiences of different countries together for comparison but they also dilute and weaken the book's focus. Burns studies the experience of three countries through about 1830: the United States, Great Britain, and France, to understand the commonalities and differences in how the Enlightenment played out. He gives a great deal of emphasis to the spread of Enlightenment ideas in the United States through the work of Adams, Jefferson, Tom Paine, and Madison in the Revolutionary Era. Burns undertakes the controversial task of showing the impact of Enlightenment on the French Revolution. And he describes Enlightenment in Britain's Glorious Revolution and in its later wars with the United States. Burns stresses throughout that Enlightenment was, in its earlier states, a product of aristocratic and perhaps middle-class thinkers. It ignored and had little to say to the mass of poor people, not to speak of women.
In the latter chapters of his history, Burns carries the impact of the Enlightenment through Jacksonian America, the Napoleonic and Restoration eras in France culminating in the second revolution of 1830, and the broadening of the franchise and the outlawing of the slave trade in Britain in the 1830s. Burns spends much time on the Industrial Revolution, both its impact in improving human life and its impact in impoverishing and diminishing the lives of many. Political discussions are interspersed with the discussion of writers and of intellectual developments. The manner in which the varied and different histories Burns describes illustrates the development of the Enlightenment becomes obscure at times. Burns seems to conflate the Enlightenment with other developments, including the Industrial Revolution, and to ignore counter-trends and other factors. Late in the book, Burns offers a summary of the Enlightenment's impact.
"If the reach and richness of the Enlightenment could be captured in a word, if would be freedom -- the revolutionary assumption that human beings had a natural right to personal liberty, which went hand in hand with Enlightenment thinking about human nature, human autonomy and educability, self-determination, equality. Though, in Lockean principle, all human beings should have the potential to enjoy freedom in its fullness, in practice there were strong, ever gross limitations that reached large numbers of people in Europe and the United States. The debate in Britain over the Reform act and in its compromises, for instance, had exposed the disdain for and fear of the uneducated, impoverished masses who were, in most countries for much of the era, the overwhelming majority of the population."
In his concluding chapter, Burns argues that John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx represent competing visions of Enlightenment thought. His discussion of these two thinkers requires development as it is short and rushed. Burns also argues that in the modern world free, universal public education is both the gift of Enlightenment thought and the sine qua non of its existence. The final pages of the work have a valedictory and to my mind an overly polemic tone.
Burns has written a valuable popular, if sprawling, account of the Enlightenment and its influence. He shows the seminal character of the Enlightenment and its characteristics of continued change and growth. Given Burns' studies over his career of the nature of leadership, he emphasizes the political character of Enlightenment and what he calls the transformative character of Enlightenment leadership. The lessons of the Enlightenment -- what Burns finally describes as "hope and striving" -- continue to play out in a changing world.
Robin Friedman
October 16, 2015
Burns provides a pretty straightforward, liberal interpretation of the Enlightenment that I happen to agree with. The first half of the book mainly deals with major thinkers and critics in the Enlightenment: Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Hutcheson, Wollstonecraft, Paine, Burke, Jefferson, Voltaire, Rousseau, and others. These biographies do a solid job of linking their ideas to their lives and explaining the essence of their philosophies. He brings in a few people, like Hutcheson, who usually don't show up on the normal Enlightenment radar.
Not all of the book is thrilling, and those who are familiar with major Enlightenment philosophers will probably not learn too much new stuff from these mini-biographies. While Burns isn't very good at explaining the contextual causes of the Enlightenment, he is much more nuanced and interesting in his analysis of the effects. He traces the influence of Enlightenment ideas in the American and French Revolutions (pretty standard) but also early 19 century French, American, and British politics, as well as reform movements like abolitionism. The discussions of political reform in this period was where I really learned a lot from this book. Burns argues that both socialism and liberalism were children of the Enlightenment, drawing on somewhat different ideas, and that their struggle shaped much of French and British politics in the first half of the 1800's.
I'm still looking for a good book that is a little more critical of the Enlightenment so I can get an idea of what that argument is. I've read a few versions (Empire of Civilization by Brett Bowden), but I found that these post-modernist or far left critics throw out the good with the bad or try to link every bad thing that has happened since 1800 to the application of Enlightenment ideas rather than their distortion or inconsistent misapplication. I'm still a passionate believer that the Enlightenment was a major breaking point in Western history, so I agree with Burns' argument that it challenged entrenched power, empowered people of all ranks and races with ideas of equality, human rights, and liberty, undermined religious superstition, and ultimately, if incrementally, made the world a better place: more free, more respect for the human individual, more democratic, more knowledgeable, more reasonable, more humane. I also believe, as Burns does, that Enlightenment, which at its essence is the use of reason and humane principles to improve society and increase human happiness, is an ongoing process. I suppose this makes me a somewhat old school liberal, but I think the ideas these figures promulgated and the ways that ordinary people seized upon, sometimes changed, and deployed them dramatically changed the world, mostly for the better.
Not all of the book is thrilling, and those who are familiar with major Enlightenment philosophers will probably not learn too much new stuff from these mini-biographies. While Burns isn't very good at explaining the contextual causes of the Enlightenment, he is much more nuanced and interesting in his analysis of the effects. He traces the influence of Enlightenment ideas in the American and French Revolutions (pretty standard) but also early 19 century French, American, and British politics, as well as reform movements like abolitionism. The discussions of political reform in this period was where I really learned a lot from this book. Burns argues that both socialism and liberalism were children of the Enlightenment, drawing on somewhat different ideas, and that their struggle shaped much of French and British politics in the first half of the 1800's.
I'm still looking for a good book that is a little more critical of the Enlightenment so I can get an idea of what that argument is. I've read a few versions (Empire of Civilization by Brett Bowden), but I found that these post-modernist or far left critics throw out the good with the bad or try to link every bad thing that has happened since 1800 to the application of Enlightenment ideas rather than their distortion or inconsistent misapplication. I'm still a passionate believer that the Enlightenment was a major breaking point in Western history, so I agree with Burns' argument that it challenged entrenched power, empowered people of all ranks and races with ideas of equality, human rights, and liberty, undermined religious superstition, and ultimately, if incrementally, made the world a better place: more free, more respect for the human individual, more democratic, more knowledgeable, more reasonable, more humane. I also believe, as Burns does, that Enlightenment, which at its essence is the use of reason and humane principles to improve society and increase human happiness, is an ongoing process. I suppose this makes me a somewhat old school liberal, but I think the ideas these figures promulgated and the ways that ordinary people seized upon, sometimes changed, and deployed them dramatically changed the world, mostly for the better.
November 22, 2013
Rippling Enlightenment
Burns covers an amazing about of history in very few pages. He begins with the roots of the Enlightenment and follows with its flowering in the 18th century. He alternates between how it blossoms in Great Britain, France and the US illustrating how these new ideas rippled back and forth and uniquely played out in each society citing the divergent outlooks inherent in each of the three nations. I was struck once again by amazing the visionaries that founded our country, America. Among the many things I learned was that there was another layer of enlightened souls beyond the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Adams's, and Franklins, the B team so to speak, who also had a large impact. They quietly supported the big names as cabinet members, advisors, speech writers, policy makers, etc. but distinguished themselves by bringing the disparate factions together so they could act as one and form the nation.
Burns discusses the irony of a nation purportedly formed with the ideals of liberty and equality though they held slaves, persecuted the Native Americans, and determined that women were lesser beings than men. The dream was for white, educated, middle class or higher men. ALL the early presidents except Adams held slaves. All were highly educated and owned property, often quite a bit of property. Jefferson especially was a big proponent of education espousing the right to at least three years of public education for all. In practice, unfortunately, this meant only white people and only males.
Of course I was familiar with the Enlightenment prior to reading "Fire and Light" but after reading it came away with a much better understanding of its principles. Burns is an intelligent writer but dispenses with the customary academic style that so many intellectuals rely on. The result is a clear, sweeping overview with a surprising about of specificity. The interplay between the three countries helps put the overriding ideas in perspective and provides a cause and effect that is truly enlightening.
This review is based on an advance reader's copy provided by the publisher.
(Disclaimer given as required by the FTC.)
Burns covers an amazing about of history in very few pages. He begins with the roots of the Enlightenment and follows with its flowering in the 18th century. He alternates between how it blossoms in Great Britain, France and the US illustrating how these new ideas rippled back and forth and uniquely played out in each society citing the divergent outlooks inherent in each of the three nations. I was struck once again by amazing the visionaries that founded our country, America. Among the many things I learned was that there was another layer of enlightened souls beyond the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Adams's, and Franklins, the B team so to speak, who also had a large impact. They quietly supported the big names as cabinet members, advisors, speech writers, policy makers, etc. but distinguished themselves by bringing the disparate factions together so they could act as one and form the nation.
Burns discusses the irony of a nation purportedly formed with the ideals of liberty and equality though they held slaves, persecuted the Native Americans, and determined that women were lesser beings than men. The dream was for white, educated, middle class or higher men. ALL the early presidents except Adams held slaves. All were highly educated and owned property, often quite a bit of property. Jefferson especially was a big proponent of education espousing the right to at least three years of public education for all. In practice, unfortunately, this meant only white people and only males.
Of course I was familiar with the Enlightenment prior to reading "Fire and Light" but after reading it came away with a much better understanding of its principles. Burns is an intelligent writer but dispenses with the customary academic style that so many intellectuals rely on. The result is a clear, sweeping overview with a surprising about of specificity. The interplay between the three countries helps put the overriding ideas in perspective and provides a cause and effect that is truly enlightening.
This review is based on an advance reader's copy provided by the publisher.
(Disclaimer given as required by the FTC.)
August 17, 2015
Pulitzer prize winning academician was 90 when he wrote this: a lifetime of knowledge. It drew together a thousand historical fragments for me, particularly placing the American Founding Fathers in a western world-wide context. And this is a history book that has awareness of women, Africans and Asians in telling an important part of western development.
August 31, 2021
Not bad
One hesitates to criticize a Pulitzer Prize winner and I had no problems with it, enjoyed it until they very end when the author launched into a screed on the importance of public education. All the bad guys are on the right. In the good olde days great writers didn’t end great works by pontification.
One hesitates to criticize a Pulitzer Prize winner and I had no problems with it, enjoyed it until they very end when the author launched into a screed on the importance of public education. All the bad guys are on the right. In the good olde days great writers didn’t end great works by pontification.
October 8, 2018
A highly readable study of the Enlightenment and its implications for France, Britain, and the United States.
November 17, 2014
I generally feel like I need to know more about The Enlightenment, so when I was ready for a new audiobook this one popped up on Audible and I downloaded it pretty much sight unseen.
It covered both more and less than I expected it too. More because Mr. Burns took pains to put everything in a historical context, so I wound up getting a bunch of French, English, and early American history thrown in as a bonus. Plus, he extended The Enlightenment all the way through Marx. And the book covered less because this additional ground would necessary have less detail.
I was really only interested in the early guys: Hobbes, Bacon, Descartes, and Spinoza. And I wanted to confirm that I wasn't misspeaking when I refer to certain former employers as “Hobbesian nightmares.”
The history was an added bonus, especially early-American and the French Revolution. Also, I learned (though I shouldn’t have been surprised) that Benjamin Franklin had many detractors — religious, natch — who condemned his experiments with electricity.
I started to lose interest once the book veered into workers rights and women’s suffrage (Two very important issues but hey, it’s my commute time.) I’m always up for hypocrisy-exposing, so I liked the way Mr. Burns took extra pains to show how “Goddess reason” got twisted to defend the indefensible, especially with slavery. My mind is much more comfortable in Utopia (in the literal sense of “no place”) and separated Cartesian-stype from the affairs of the body.
The book ends rather abruptly (since I was on an Audible copy, I had no idea it was coming) with a discussion of public education as a major legacy of The Enlightenment and one that is under attack and must be preserved. Okay sure, but what does that have to do with the death of Robespierre?
It covered both more and less than I expected it too. More because Mr. Burns took pains to put everything in a historical context, so I wound up getting a bunch of French, English, and early American history thrown in as a bonus. Plus, he extended The Enlightenment all the way through Marx. And the book covered less because this additional ground would necessary have less detail.
I was really only interested in the early guys: Hobbes, Bacon, Descartes, and Spinoza. And I wanted to confirm that I wasn't misspeaking when I refer to certain former employers as “Hobbesian nightmares.”
The history was an added bonus, especially early-American and the French Revolution. Also, I learned (though I shouldn’t have been surprised) that Benjamin Franklin had many detractors — religious, natch — who condemned his experiments with electricity.
I started to lose interest once the book veered into workers rights and women’s suffrage (Two very important issues but hey, it’s my commute time.) I’m always up for hypocrisy-exposing, so I liked the way Mr. Burns took extra pains to show how “Goddess reason” got twisted to defend the indefensible, especially with slavery. My mind is much more comfortable in Utopia (in the literal sense of “no place”) and separated Cartesian-stype from the affairs of the body.
The book ends rather abruptly (since I was on an Audible copy, I had no idea it was coming) with a discussion of public education as a major legacy of The Enlightenment and one that is under attack and must be preserved. Okay sure, but what does that have to do with the death of Robespierre?
October 22, 2013
This is a book about the Enlightenment movement and the effect it has had on three countries. England, France and United States. There is a lot of information in this book. It starts before the revolution and goes through to 1850. Right before our civil war (10 years). Frist let me say it difficult to put all of what he talked about into a review. But I will say that at each moment in our young nation beginnings we had the men who saw the need for more. For the Bill of Rights, the checks and balances of each branch of government. The willingness to listen and to compromise on different issues. To have men that we don’t even mention Samauel Adams, James Otis, John Hancock, Monroe, Madison, Hamilton along with many others who fought for states right but also that a government does not over power the people. Yet they thought that there should be free education along with many other things. The big thing he talks about is slavery and how England did away with it without having a war. That would have been nice. There is a lot of information and a lot of history which is great.
September 25, 2016
A nice summary of the Enlightenment, although the author's focus is primarily upon the political impact of Enlightenment values and principles upon American, English and French history, politics and economies. I thought the narratives of the French Revolution and industrialization to be especially valuable. He is an apologist for the Enlightenment, and for the superiority of public education under the control of Enlightenment values, i.e., political correctness. He is clearly hostile to religion, although he recognizes its role in history and society.
If you'd like a better history of the Enlightenment, I recommend Will & Ariel Durant's The Age of Voltaire and Rousseau and Revolution.
If you'd like a better history of the Enlightenment, I recommend Will & Ariel Durant's The Age of Voltaire and Rousseau and Revolution.
October 1, 2019
This was an excellent review and analysis of the way Enlightenment thinking and values played out in Britain, France and the U.S. during the 18th and 19th centuries. Band his short summary looked at its ongoing influence today. I gave it a three because it seemed he could have done as excellent an analysis with some less detail of perhaps a simplification of language. It began to read more text book than book. Still, a good read!
February 24, 2021
An engrossing, penetrating history of Enlightenment thought
One of the best books I have ever read. In depth enough to clearly explicate the Enlightenment development while general enough to be compelling and interesting. Burns has highlighted connections among thinkers and politicians that I had not known of. The only missing part might be the absence of any treatment of positivism as a counterpoint to and in opposition to E light ment thinking.
One of the best books I have ever read. In depth enough to clearly explicate the Enlightenment development while general enough to be compelling and interesting. Burns has highlighted connections among thinkers and politicians that I had not known of. The only missing part might be the absence of any treatment of positivism as a counterpoint to and in opposition to E light ment thinking.
March 19, 2016
The were parts where this book was really interesting and parts where it was pretty boring (i.e. 1820's English Reform movement). In the beginning I liked it and just got less interested in picking it up. Maybe it was just too many pages on the subject.
February 7, 2014
Intriguing, interesting subject, but cannot be coherently covered in 400 pages, and isn't.
December 24, 2015
Good historical info, terrible conclusion.
March 13, 2017
A fantastic overview, well organized and easy to read. Just the kind of historical reference work I find both useful (as a teacher of history) and enjoyable (as a lover of history).
January 3, 2018
It starts well but ends with the same liberal faux-solutions.
November 7, 2018
A nice, bite-sized survey of the Enlightenment. I liked how the author spent time discussing the impact of Enlightenment thought in the 19th century from multiple perspectives.
February 9, 2016
Despite the undeniably beneficial and long-lasting effect the Enlightenment has had on…well, just about everything, I’m not entirely sure everyone appreciates how transformational this time was. This may be due, ironically, to how successful it was. Unfortunately, Burns doesn’t provide a chapter defining the Enlightenment in his book, so I’ll try to make up for that omission with a brief description.
Most references will tell you that the Enlightenment was a philosophical or intellectual movement of the 18th century (or the 17th-18th centuries). It was a new way of thinking gave primary emphasis to reason and the individual over tradition and authority. Several Enlightenment philosophers voiced these ideas in their writings, and though they profoundly disagreed on a great many things, they established the notion that tradition and belief could and should be subjected to rational argument. This period is also sometimes called the Age of Reason or included as part of the Scientific Revolution. By whatever name, the ideas that emerged during this time have had a profound impact that defines Western (and much of global) society to this day.
To appreciate how significant these ideas were requires a brief look at the culture prior to the Enlightenment. In the 17th century, most Europeans knew that commoners were intellectually and morally inferior to nobles; that non-Europeans (i.e. dark-skinned people) were intellectually and morally inferior to European commoners; and that women were intellectually and physically inferior to males of their race and class. This was simply common sense to them. Kings held their authority by the will of God, the nobility was entitled to their privileges, religion provided absolute Truth, and everyone—nobles, merchants, peasants, and slaves—were all in their proper places due their inherent virtues. These things were unquestionable….
Until Enlightened philosophers questioned them.
Anything, they said, could be subjected to rational inquiry, and they proceeded to do just that. Descartes, famously, even questioned his own existence, finally concluding cogito ergo sum—I think, therefor I am. Since he was obviously thinking, he must exist as the one doing the thinking. (I won’t go into why this may not be entirely valid because it’s not relevant to this discussion.) This, briefly, is the core idea that changed the world. Challenge assumptions. Question beliefs. Use reason and experience to determine what is true and what is not. This grand idea is epitomized by the moto of Royal Society of London (founded in 1660) nullius in verba, which can be loosely translated as ‘don’t take anyone’s word for it’.
When these philosophers questioned the unquestionable, they debated whether the king really sat on the throne by divine right. What if different races and social classes weren’t inherently different? Maybe it wasn’t fate or the will of God that made them what they were, but simply a matter of their circumstances. If this was the case, shouldn’t the working classes have the same rights as the nobility? Would commoners be just as capable as their betters if they had access to similar education? Shouldn’t everyone have the freedom to make of themselves what they could through their own achievement? Was the authority of Church and State truly legitimate? Shouldn’t people have the liberty to choose such things for themselves? Perhaps, rather than the vast majority of the population working for the benefit of the aristocracy, the government should work for the benefit of the common people.
This aspect of the Enlightenment is primarily what Burns addresses in this book. It is about how emerging thoughts about human rights and the purpose of government transformed Britain and France, and helped create the United States, in the 18th century. He also briefly discusses how Enlightenment ideals are still challenged by ideological and moneyed interests striving to be more equal than others.
Burns shows us that Enlightenment philosophers heavily influenced the founders of the new American republic. They read their works, corresponded with them, even met them in person. Jefferson, for example, was especially well acquainted with their books and is said to have always carried a picture of Francis Bacon with him wherever he went. Benjamin Franklin, in 1756, became one of the few 18th century Americans elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Paine, and other architects of the American experiment were important Enlightenment thinkers in their own right.Fire-Light2
The United States was the first government purposely founded on the principles of the Enlightenment. The U.S. Constitution permitted no king, no aristocracy, no fixed social classes, and no state religion. It established unprecedented rights of free speech, a free press, and freedom of religion. Unlike the monarchies of Europe, its leaders did not hold their positions by the grace of God but by the will of the people…well, some of the people. More than most. Freeing slaves and equal rights and opportunities for women remained goals for the future. We shouldn’t be overly critical of the founding fathers because they couldn’t solve all societal ills in one blow. What they did achieve was, quite literally, revolutionary for the time and an inspiration for others to follow.
Things did not go quite as well when the people of France overthrew their monarch in an effort to institute a bright new age of reason. Burns discusses why the situation there was so different, why it took longer, and why it was bloodier…and why similar changes in Britain were less disruptive.
I found the book interesting, but it may suffer from its divided focus. The subject matter could probably fill four separate books that focus on each of the three nations he talks about plus an additional volume for the Enlightenment itself, to include a few chapters on why it remains a work in progress. The 18th century was a pivotal time in history, though, and the thoughts expressed by Enlightenment thinkers have shaped human civilization ever since. They are well worthy of the attention Burns provides in this book.
Most references will tell you that the Enlightenment was a philosophical or intellectual movement of the 18th century (or the 17th-18th centuries). It was a new way of thinking gave primary emphasis to reason and the individual over tradition and authority. Several Enlightenment philosophers voiced these ideas in their writings, and though they profoundly disagreed on a great many things, they established the notion that tradition and belief could and should be subjected to rational argument. This period is also sometimes called the Age of Reason or included as part of the Scientific Revolution. By whatever name, the ideas that emerged during this time have had a profound impact that defines Western (and much of global) society to this day.
To appreciate how significant these ideas were requires a brief look at the culture prior to the Enlightenment. In the 17th century, most Europeans knew that commoners were intellectually and morally inferior to nobles; that non-Europeans (i.e. dark-skinned people) were intellectually and morally inferior to European commoners; and that women were intellectually and physically inferior to males of their race and class. This was simply common sense to them. Kings held their authority by the will of God, the nobility was entitled to their privileges, religion provided absolute Truth, and everyone—nobles, merchants, peasants, and slaves—were all in their proper places due their inherent virtues. These things were unquestionable….
Until Enlightened philosophers questioned them.
Anything, they said, could be subjected to rational inquiry, and they proceeded to do just that. Descartes, famously, even questioned his own existence, finally concluding cogito ergo sum—I think, therefor I am. Since he was obviously thinking, he must exist as the one doing the thinking. (I won’t go into why this may not be entirely valid because it’s not relevant to this discussion.) This, briefly, is the core idea that changed the world. Challenge assumptions. Question beliefs. Use reason and experience to determine what is true and what is not. This grand idea is epitomized by the moto of Royal Society of London (founded in 1660) nullius in verba, which can be loosely translated as ‘don’t take anyone’s word for it’.
When these philosophers questioned the unquestionable, they debated whether the king really sat on the throne by divine right. What if different races and social classes weren’t inherently different? Maybe it wasn’t fate or the will of God that made them what they were, but simply a matter of their circumstances. If this was the case, shouldn’t the working classes have the same rights as the nobility? Would commoners be just as capable as their betters if they had access to similar education? Shouldn’t everyone have the freedom to make of themselves what they could through their own achievement? Was the authority of Church and State truly legitimate? Shouldn’t people have the liberty to choose such things for themselves? Perhaps, rather than the vast majority of the population working for the benefit of the aristocracy, the government should work for the benefit of the common people.
This aspect of the Enlightenment is primarily what Burns addresses in this book. It is about how emerging thoughts about human rights and the purpose of government transformed Britain and France, and helped create the United States, in the 18th century. He also briefly discusses how Enlightenment ideals are still challenged by ideological and moneyed interests striving to be more equal than others.
Burns shows us that Enlightenment philosophers heavily influenced the founders of the new American republic. They read their works, corresponded with them, even met them in person. Jefferson, for example, was especially well acquainted with their books and is said to have always carried a picture of Francis Bacon with him wherever he went. Benjamin Franklin, in 1756, became one of the few 18th century Americans elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Paine, and other architects of the American experiment were important Enlightenment thinkers in their own right.Fire-Light2
The United States was the first government purposely founded on the principles of the Enlightenment. The U.S. Constitution permitted no king, no aristocracy, no fixed social classes, and no state religion. It established unprecedented rights of free speech, a free press, and freedom of religion. Unlike the monarchies of Europe, its leaders did not hold their positions by the grace of God but by the will of the people…well, some of the people. More than most. Freeing slaves and equal rights and opportunities for women remained goals for the future. We shouldn’t be overly critical of the founding fathers because they couldn’t solve all societal ills in one blow. What they did achieve was, quite literally, revolutionary for the time and an inspiration for others to follow.
Things did not go quite as well when the people of France overthrew their monarch in an effort to institute a bright new age of reason. Burns discusses why the situation there was so different, why it took longer, and why it was bloodier…and why similar changes in Britain were less disruptive.
I found the book interesting, but it may suffer from its divided focus. The subject matter could probably fill four separate books that focus on each of the three nations he talks about plus an additional volume for the Enlightenment itself, to include a few chapters on why it remains a work in progress. The 18th century was a pivotal time in history, though, and the thoughts expressed by Enlightenment thinkers have shaped human civilization ever since. They are well worthy of the attention Burns provides in this book.
June 30, 2018
An excellent overview of Western Enlightenment thinking, mostly focusing on the 18th & 19th century, on politics, society, the economy, liberty, self-determination, etc that has very much made the world what it is today. At 270pages, it's a fairly short read on a very big topic.
June 7, 2023
pencerahan berdasarkan waqie dan masa itu penting
January 19, 2014
1/19/2014
“Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment transformed the world,” bt James MacGregor Burns (Thomas Dunn, 2013). A relatively quick (270) run from the 1660s to today, including political, imperial and colonial, but mostly of philosophical trends and developments. Starts with Hobbes, then with brief but clear descriptions of the movement of philosophical ideas, about how society is organized, about how humans function alone and in societies. The primary argument: Europeans concluded that reason was the best way to understand the world; that empirical observation and induction were better ways to work than deduction and tradition. He spends time in Amsterdam, speaks of the foundational importance of Spinoza (Leibniz is barely mentioned), Bacon, Descartes and on. He moves primarily among France, Britain and America (once the Revolution), comparing the differences among how they worked. Talks quite a bit about the Scottish Enlightenment, the spread of literacy, the effect of the Industrial Revolution. How very slowly the ideas grew that the individual was important, that merchants and the middle classes began to grow and gain power, how for many years there was no consideration of the poor, the uneven spread of wealth. I wish my mind were strong enough to describe all the areas and people he deals with. His accounts of what happened in Britain and France, why they were different---the British were able to compromise and not resort to violence, while the French, with their grand ideas about mankind were so rigid, their positions were immovable, they killed one another. He spends good time on the Americans, the tension between equality and property, how the Americans were able to turn over government from Adams to Jefferson, very different ideas about how to govern. Marx and John Stuart Mill as epitomes of Enlightenment thought, with Marx focusing on economics and conflict, Mill on individual development and happiness. His final pages deal with the situation in the US today---he takes a swipe at the Supreme Court declaring corporations to be citizens, the pressure of religion and bigotry on reason. A wonderful quote from Jefferson about the purpose of education: to enable citizens to govern themselves. For some reason I had a lot of trouble reading it---kept putting it down and going somewhere else. Although well written and clear, I found it boring. My problem.
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November 13, 2013
This is a great read for history buffs and the intellectually curious!
In Fire and Light noted historian James Burns MacGregor has written a stimulating account of the last 500 years of Western history using the theme of the Enlightenment and its influence on the many revolutions that produced modern society.
The motivation for the book is an intellectual history, but it covers much more than the ideas themselves and devotes most of the content to wars, politics, industrialization, etc., and how these were influenced by the Enlightenment. In addition to the expected familiar events such as the American and French Revolutions and the Glorious Revolution in Great Britain, it also brings in less well-known developments like Restoration Christianity, the post-Napolean movement to restore the powers of the Church and monarchy and impede liberal calls for reform.
Although the emphasis is on major events and ideas, MacGregor does not neglect individual figures like John Locke, Adam Smith, Rene Descartes, and Thomas Hobbes and important but lesser-known people like the pre-Revolution Boston Leader Thomas Hutchinson. The portrayals of the lives and relationships of these men were my favorite parts of the book. For example, I learned that Francis Bacon’s scientific curiosity caused his death. He was investigating whether snow, as well as salt, might be used to preserve meat and caught a fatal chill while gathering some snow to stuff a bird and test his theory. The source of this story? Thomas Hobbes, who had met Bacon through his patrons, the wealthy and influential Cavendish family.
MacGregor is a historian, and it is natural that his emphasis is on the past, but in his conclusion he says that the Enlightenment” offered a set of transcending ideas and…a structure of conflict. Some conflicts, as between authority and liberty and between liberty and equality, are fundamental, everlasting across a host of dimensions. Others, like that between sectarianism and secularism, ebb and flow in intensity. Still others originate through new circumstances, as between liberalism and socialism, a conflict which, because the terms of debate have themselves undergone changes without losing their Enlightenment roots, remain highly relevant today”. The book includes some discussion of current events, but I would love to hear him elaborate more on that topic. After all, he’s only 95, and from every indication, he’s not ready to slow down.
In Fire and Light noted historian James Burns MacGregor has written a stimulating account of the last 500 years of Western history using the theme of the Enlightenment and its influence on the many revolutions that produced modern society.
The motivation for the book is an intellectual history, but it covers much more than the ideas themselves and devotes most of the content to wars, politics, industrialization, etc., and how these were influenced by the Enlightenment. In addition to the expected familiar events such as the American and French Revolutions and the Glorious Revolution in Great Britain, it also brings in less well-known developments like Restoration Christianity, the post-Napolean movement to restore the powers of the Church and monarchy and impede liberal calls for reform.
Although the emphasis is on major events and ideas, MacGregor does not neglect individual figures like John Locke, Adam Smith, Rene Descartes, and Thomas Hobbes and important but lesser-known people like the pre-Revolution Boston Leader Thomas Hutchinson. The portrayals of the lives and relationships of these men were my favorite parts of the book. For example, I learned that Francis Bacon’s scientific curiosity caused his death. He was investigating whether snow, as well as salt, might be used to preserve meat and caught a fatal chill while gathering some snow to stuff a bird and test his theory. The source of this story? Thomas Hobbes, who had met Bacon through his patrons, the wealthy and influential Cavendish family.
MacGregor is a historian, and it is natural that his emphasis is on the past, but in his conclusion he says that the Enlightenment” offered a set of transcending ideas and…a structure of conflict. Some conflicts, as between authority and liberty and between liberty and equality, are fundamental, everlasting across a host of dimensions. Others, like that between sectarianism and secularism, ebb and flow in intensity. Still others originate through new circumstances, as between liberalism and socialism, a conflict which, because the terms of debate have themselves undergone changes without losing their Enlightenment roots, remain highly relevant today”. The book includes some discussion of current events, but I would love to hear him elaborate more on that topic. After all, he’s only 95, and from every indication, he’s not ready to slow down.
June 8, 2014
I am, and always have been, a big fan of the Enlightenment and the transformation that occurred in society. To be born into this awesome time we live in is indeed a great gift and, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of those thinkers and philosophers who led the charge. As I was reading Burns' take on the whole affair, I was caught up again in the thrill of the ride that all of those great people were on. But, when I made my way to the last few paragraphs of the very last chapter, Burns brings it all to an astonishing conclusion; education, public education, is the grandest result of Enlightenment thought. I was blown away by what I read. Here are some of the most brilliant thoughts that Burns shares:
. . . now more than ever, schools and their curricula are under attack on narrow religious and ideological grounds. Textbooks are being rewritten to undermine science or promote a partisan view of American history. (p. 267)
. . . We can't allow the education of children to divide us along class or ideological lines. We can't afford the decimation of public schools. Let us recall that they are the fruit of many centuries of strife and striving against the forces of blind authority and obscurantism. Only if we build on their remarkable successes, if we improve and expand public education, will we be able together, as one people, to think our way out of the dilemmas and crises we face now and those that lie ahead. (p. 268)
. . . Governments build and own the classrooms and fund what happens inside them. But where dictators might use this to control teachers and their teachings, democracies leave control in the hands of teachers, administrators, and local school board members, who can be held responsible. The democratic aim is not to indoctrinate and repress but to enlighten and empower. (italics mine) (p. 267)
April 30, 2014
I received this book free as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
Fire and Light is an ambitious book and, for the most part, it achieves its lofty goals. Burns sets out to show the linkages between Enlightenment thinkers in three countries -- England, France and the United States -- and how their ideas fueled the specific political 'revolutions' in each country. The risk in a relatively short book (270 pages not counting the extensive footnotes) is that it becomes a 'Plato to NATO' survey that barely touches on the complex themes. Burns avoids this trap -- he has a felicitous writing style that lets him dig deeply into a topic with a minimum of words -- though there were times I wished he had spent a little more time with a few ideas, thinkers and events and a little less time with the intricacies of party politics. It is clear that Burns is a strong proponent of the two party system -- which marks him as an American more than anything else in the book -- which I think limits his ability to project the true measure of the impacts of the Enlightenment on, particularly, European thought. I also felt his emphasis on the importance of leadership and the (false) dichotomy between transactional vs transformational leadership diminished the book's analysis of the effect cultural and economic factors on political and revolutionary outcomes.
Still, the book is both an excellent introduction to Enlightenment ideas (and a great refresher for those of us whose academic years are well behind them). I think Burns could have spent more time analyzing the potential for a new American Enlightenment -- but that could well be the topic of his next volume.
Fire and Light is an ambitious book and, for the most part, it achieves its lofty goals. Burns sets out to show the linkages between Enlightenment thinkers in three countries -- England, France and the United States -- and how their ideas fueled the specific political 'revolutions' in each country. The risk in a relatively short book (270 pages not counting the extensive footnotes) is that it becomes a 'Plato to NATO' survey that barely touches on the complex themes. Burns avoids this trap -- he has a felicitous writing style that lets him dig deeply into a topic with a minimum of words -- though there were times I wished he had spent a little more time with a few ideas, thinkers and events and a little less time with the intricacies of party politics. It is clear that Burns is a strong proponent of the two party system -- which marks him as an American more than anything else in the book -- which I think limits his ability to project the true measure of the impacts of the Enlightenment on, particularly, European thought. I also felt his emphasis on the importance of leadership and the (false) dichotomy between transactional vs transformational leadership diminished the book's analysis of the effect cultural and economic factors on political and revolutionary outcomes.
Still, the book is both an excellent introduction to Enlightenment ideas (and a great refresher for those of us whose academic years are well behind them). I think Burns could have spent more time analyzing the potential for a new American Enlightenment -- but that could well be the topic of his next volume.
March 13, 2016
An exhaustive overview of the Age of Enlightenment. We get the usual suspects of Hobbes, Locke, Descartes and Espinoza, as well as the American, French and Industrial Revolutions. The book could also be seen as a history of two steps forward, three steps back. With every advancement of freedoms, there were also authorities consolidating more power. But the core of this intellectual movement could still eventually poke through. I appreciated how the book connected different historical movements, such as how the abolitionist movement also led to women’s suffrage.
The tenets of the Enlightenment included individual freedom for proprietary advancement which led to the Industrial Revolution. But the same tenets inspired freedom from mechanization (and its’ exploitation of labor), which eventually led to Karl Marx, an appropriate place to end this book.
The author sometimes gets bogged down in describing the beats within each movement, which in the case of the Industrial Revolution, got a bit tedious. But these details could inspire further research into certain moments: the rise of Andrew Jackson’s populist politics, the English experiments with Workhouses or how the Enlightenment inspired scientific advancements. For that last one I’d recommend The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, a beautiful account of the era’s scientific and creative progress.
The tenets of the Enlightenment included individual freedom for proprietary advancement which led to the Industrial Revolution. But the same tenets inspired freedom from mechanization (and its’ exploitation of labor), which eventually led to Karl Marx, an appropriate place to end this book.
The author sometimes gets bogged down in describing the beats within each movement, which in the case of the Industrial Revolution, got a bit tedious. But these details could inspire further research into certain moments: the rise of Andrew Jackson’s populist politics, the English experiments with Workhouses or how the Enlightenment inspired scientific advancements. For that last one I’d recommend The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, a beautiful account of the era’s scientific and creative progress.
June 15, 2016
Sebuah buku yang penting untuk ditelaah sekurang-kurangnya buat diri aku sendiri. Setidak-tidaknya buku ini sedikit sebanyak menjawab persoalan yang telah lama bermain di dalam fikiran aku tentang bagaimanakah aturan-aturan negara bangsa - ekonomi, undang-undang, sistem kemasyarakatan, budaya dan seni telah bergerak dan menjadi satu faham yang sejagat atau dipanggil dunia moden yang juga diterima pakai akhirnya oleh seluruh umat manusia.
Burns telah memberi rentetan awal bagaimana Pencerahan berlaku sejak pengakhiran penguasaan Gereja di Barat. Projek Pencerahan tidak akan berjaya tanpa tulang belakangnya. Akibat dari kekuasaan Gereja yang mencengkam kebebasan manusia di Barat, manusia-manusia hebat muncul menjadi arkitek untuk membawa perubahan pemikiran serta membebaskan masyarakat dari dibelenggu hegemoni.
Banyak peristiwa-peristiwa sejarah yang dihamparkan Burns yang bahkan penting untuk ditelaah sebagai iktibar serta untuk memahami bagaimana gerakan-gerakan politik ini digerakkan? Atas dasar apa ianya terjadi dan dikiblatkan. Pada pandangan aku, aku tidaklah berapa memahami seluruh isi buku ini, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya memberi sedikit faham bagaimana sistem aturan ekonomi-politik hari ini terjadi yang telah menjadi keresahan dalam kotak fikiran aku sejak kebelakangan ini.
Buku yang tebal ini aku cadangkan korang untuk baca dan sama-samalah kita baca, agar kita boleh membaiki kefahaman kita untuk mendepani cabaran-cabaran yang bakal berlaku kelak.
Burns telah memberi rentetan awal bagaimana Pencerahan berlaku sejak pengakhiran penguasaan Gereja di Barat. Projek Pencerahan tidak akan berjaya tanpa tulang belakangnya. Akibat dari kekuasaan Gereja yang mencengkam kebebasan manusia di Barat, manusia-manusia hebat muncul menjadi arkitek untuk membawa perubahan pemikiran serta membebaskan masyarakat dari dibelenggu hegemoni.
Banyak peristiwa-peristiwa sejarah yang dihamparkan Burns yang bahkan penting untuk ditelaah sebagai iktibar serta untuk memahami bagaimana gerakan-gerakan politik ini digerakkan? Atas dasar apa ianya terjadi dan dikiblatkan. Pada pandangan aku, aku tidaklah berapa memahami seluruh isi buku ini, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya memberi sedikit faham bagaimana sistem aturan ekonomi-politik hari ini terjadi yang telah menjadi keresahan dalam kotak fikiran aku sejak kebelakangan ini.
Buku yang tebal ini aku cadangkan korang untuk baca dan sama-samalah kita baca, agar kita boleh membaiki kefahaman kita untuk mendepani cabaran-cabaran yang bakal berlaku kelak.
October 8, 2015
FINISHED THIS BOOK FINALLY. THE SECOND PARAGRAPH IS WHAT I WROTE SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. I AM HAPPY I REVISITED THE BOOK; IT WAS A GOOD SYNTHESIS OF ENLIGHTENMENT THINKING AND REFLECTIONS OF IT IN ACTION ACROSS THE LAST FEW CENTURIES. PROVOKES THINKING ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR POLITICAL AND CULTURAL WORLDS TODAY...
Perhaps I have already read enough re: this period of intellectual history or I am simply unimpressed right now by Burns...but I had a hard time reading Fire and Light. Burns, as usual, covers both a a large thematic and chronological period. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award so I am sure the failure to appreciate his work lies with this reader. As the subtitle, "How the Enlightenment Transformed the World", communicates, Burns connects the social, economic and political thinking of the 18th and 19th centuries across England, France and the United States. I wanted to enjoy this book; I love tomes that attempt to synthesize across borders, cultures, and time. Maybe I will need to try to read this again in a few months.
Perhaps I have already read enough re: this period of intellectual history or I am simply unimpressed right now by Burns...but I had a hard time reading Fire and Light. Burns, as usual, covers both a a large thematic and chronological period. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award so I am sure the failure to appreciate his work lies with this reader. As the subtitle, "How the Enlightenment Transformed the World", communicates, Burns connects the social, economic and political thinking of the 18th and 19th centuries across England, France and the United States. I wanted to enjoy this book; I love tomes that attempt to synthesize across borders, cultures, and time. Maybe I will need to try to read this again in a few months.
November 16, 2016
There is a tremendous amount of information packed into this relatively short (270 pages) book, "Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World". Prize-winning and world-recognized author James MacGregor Burns takes us through the Enlightenment (late 17th to mid 19th century) in England, France, and America. We witness the transition from feudalism to republicanism in all its messy fits and starts. Burns tells us about the many leading political philosophers of the period in all three nations; from John Locke to Karl Marx. While excellently cited, well researched, and written by one of the world's leading experts, the book is very dense. I found it necessary to take frequent breaks. I also had to re-read passages in order to comprehend their full meaning. So, while the book will not be for everyone, if you are interested in our political and philosophical underpinnings, this book will be a major resource for you.
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