Modern history

Rousseau and Revolution

Rousseau and Revolution

Durant's purpose in writing The Story of Civilization was not to create a definitive scholarly production but to make a large amount of information accessible and comprehensible to the educated public in the form of a comprehensive "composite history." Given the massive undertaking in creating these 11 volumes over 50 years, errors and incompleteness have occurred; yet for an attempt as large in breadth of time and scope as this, there are no similar works to compare. As Durant says in the preface to his first work, Our Oriental Heritage: I wish to tell as much as I can, in as little space as I can, of the contributions that genius and labor have made to the cultural heritage of mankind - to chronicle and contemplate, in their causes, character and effects, the advances of invention, the varieties of economic organization, the experiments in government, the aspirations of religion, the mutations of morals and manners, the masterpieces of literature, the development of science, the wisdom of philosophy, and the achievements of art. I do not need to be told how absurd this enterprise is, nor how immodest is its very conception ... Nevertheless I have dreamed that despite the many errors inevitable in this undertaking, it may be of some use to those upon whom the passion for philosophy has laid the compulsion to try to see things whole, to pursue perspective, unity and time, as well as to seek them through science in space. ... Like philosophy, such a venture [as the creation of these 11 volumes] has no rational excuse, and is at best but a brave stupidity; but let us hope that, like philosophy, it will always lure some rash spirits into its fatal depths.

BOOK I: PRELUDE

Chapter I. ROUSSEAU WANDERER: 1712-56

I. The Confessions

II. Homeless

III. Maman

IV. Lyons, Venice, Paris

V. Is Civilization a Disease?

VI. Paris and Geneva

VII. The Crimes of Civilization

VIII. The Conservative

IX. Escape from Paris

Chapter II. THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR: 1756–63

I. How to Start a War

II. The Outlaw

III. From Prague to Rossbach

Chapter III. THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY: 364–451

IV. The Fox at Bay

V. The Making of the British Empire

VI. Exhaustion

VII. Peace

BOOK II: FRANCE BEFORE THE DELUGE:1757-74

Chapter III. THE LIFE OF THE STATE

I. The Mistress Departs

II. The RecoVery of France

III. The Physiocrats

IV. The Rise of Turgot

V. The Communists

VI. The King

VII. Du Barry

VIII. Choiseul

IX. The ReVolt of the Parlements

X. The King Departs

Chapter IV. THE ART OF LIFE

I. Morality and Grace

II. Music

III. The Theater

IV. Marmontel

V. The Life of Art

VI. The Great Salons

Chapter V. VOLTAIRE PATRIARCH: 1758-78

I. The Good Lord

II. The Scepter of the Pen

III. Voltaire Politicus

IV. The Reformer

V. Voltaire Himself

Chapter VI. ROUSSEAU ROMANTIC: 1756-62

I. In the Hermitage

II. In Love

III. Much Ado

IV. The Break with the Philosophes

V. The New Héloïse

Chapter VII. ROUSSEAU PHILOSOPHER

I. The Social Contract

II. Émile

Chapter VIII. ROUSSEAU OUTCAST: 1762–67

I. Flight

II. Rousseau and the Archbishop

III. Rousseau and the Calvinists

IV. Rousseau and Voltaire

V. Boswell Meets Rousseau

VI. A Constitution for Corsica

VII. Fugitive

VIII. Rousseau in England

BOOK III: THE CATHOLIC SOUTH: 1715-89

Chapter IX. Italia Felix: 1715-59

I. The Landscape

II. Music

III. Religion

IV. From Turin to Florence

V. Queen of the Adriatic

VI. Rome

VII. Naples

Chapter X. PORTUGAL AND POMBAL: 1706-82

I. John V

II. Pombal and the Jesuits

III. Pombal the Reformer

IV. The Triumph of the Past

Chapter XI. SPAIN AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT: 1700-88

I. Milieu

II. Philip V

III. Ferdinand VI

IV. The Enlightenment Enters

V. Charles III

VI. The Spanish Character

VII. The Spanish Mind

VIII. Spanish Art

IX. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

Chapter XII. Vale, Italia: 1760-89

I. Farewell Tour

II. Popes, Kings, and Jesuits

III. The Law and Beccaria

IV. Adventurers

V. Winckelmann

VI. The Artists

VII. I Musici

VIII. Alfieri

Chapter XIII. THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN AUSTRIA: 1756-90

I. The New Empire

II. Maria Theresa

III. Joseph Growing

IV. Mother and Son

V. The Enlightened Despot

VI. The Emperor and the Empire

VII. Atra Mors

Chapter XIV. MUSIC REFORMED

I. Christoph Willibald Gluck

II. Joseph Haydn

Chapter XV. MOZART

I. The Wonderful Boy

II. Adolescence

III. Music and Marriage

IV. In Paris

V. Salzburg and Vienna

VI. The Composer

VII. Spirit and Flesh

VIII. Apogee

IX. Nadir

X. Requiem

BOOK IV: ISLAM AND THE SLAVIC EAST: 1715-96

Chapter XVI. ISLAM:1715-96

I. The Turks

II. African Islam

III. Persia

Chapter XVII. RUSSIAN INTERLUDE: 1725-62

I. Work and Rule

II. Religion and Culture

III. Russian Politics

IV. Elizabeth Petrovna

V. Peter and Catherine

VI. Peter III

Chapter XVIII. CATHERINE THE GREAT: 1762-96

I. The Autocrat

II. The Lover

III. The Philosopher

IV. The Statesman

V. The Economist

VI. The Warrior

VII. The Woman

VIII. Literature

IX. Art

X. Journey’s End

Chapter XIX. THE RAPE OF POLAND: 1715-95

I. Polish Panorama

II. The Saxon Kings

III. Poniatowski

IV. The First Partition

V. The Polish Enlightenment

VI. Dismemberment

BOOK V: THE PROTESTANT NORTH: 1756-89

Chapter XX. FREDERICK‘S GERMANY: 1756-86

I. Frederick Victorious

II. Rebuilding Prussia

III. The Principalities

IV. The German Enlightenment

V. Gotthold Lessing

VI. The Romantic Reaction

VII. Sturm und Drang

VIII. The Artists

IX. After Bach

X. Der Alte Fritz

Chapter XXI. KANT: 1724-1804

I. Prolegomena

II. Critique of Pure Reason

III. Critique of Practical Reason

IV. Critique of Judgment

V. Religion and Reason

VI. The Reformer

VII. Posthumous

Chapter XXII. ROADS TO WEIMAR: 1733-87

I. The Athens of Germany

II. Wieland

III. Goethe Prometheus

IV. Herder

V. Schiller’s Wanderjahre

Chapter XXIII. WEIMAR IN FLOWER: 1775-1805

I. Wieland Sequel

II. Herder and History

III. Goethe Councilor

IV. Goethe in Italy

V. Goethe Waiting

VI. Schiller Waiting

VII. Schiller and Goethe

Chapter XXIV. GOETHE NESTOR: 1805—32

I. Goethe and Napoleon

II. Faust: Part I

III. Nestor in Love

IV. The Scientist

V. The Philosopher

VI. Faust: Part II

VII. Fulfillment

Chapter XXV. THE JEWS: 1715-89

I. The Struggle for Existence

II. The Mystic Solace

III. Moses Mendelssohn

IV. Toward Freedom

Chapter XXVI. FROM GENEVA TO STOCKHOLM

I. The Swiss: 1754-98

II. The Dutch: 1715-95

III. The Danes: 1715-97

IV. The Swedes: 1718-97

BOOK VI: JOHNSON’S ENGLAND: 1756-89

Chapter XXVII. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

I. Causes

II. Components

III. Conditions

IV. Consequences

Chapter XXVIII. THE POLITICAL DRAMA: 1756-92

I. The Political Structure

II. The Protagonists

III. The King Versus Parliament

IV. Parliament Versus the People

V. England Versus America

VI. England and India Revolution

VII. England and the French

VIII. The Heroes Retire

Chapter XXIX. THE ENGLISH PEOPLE: 1756-89

I. English Ways

II. English Morals

III. Faith and Doubt

IV. Blackstone, Bentham, and the Law

V. The Theater

VI. London

Chapter XXX. THE AGE OF REYNOLDS: 1756-90

I. The Musicians

II. The Architects

III. Wedgwood

IV. Joshua Reynolds

V. Thomas Gainsborough

Chapter XXXI. ENGLAND’S NEIGHBORS: 1756-89

I. Grattan’s Ireland

II. The Scottish Background

III. The Scottish Enlightenment

IV. Adam Smith

V. Robert Burns

VI. James Boswell

Chapter XXXII. THE LITERARY SCENE:1756-89

I. The Press

II. Laurence Sterne

III. Fanny Burney

IV. Horace Walpole

V. Edward Gibbon

VI. Chatterton and Cowper

VII. Oliver Goldsmith

Chapter XXXIII. SAMUEL JOHNSON:1709-84

I. Deformative Years

II. The Dictionary

III. The Charmed Circle

IV. Ursus Major

V. The Conservative Mind

VI. Autumn

VII. Release

VIII. Boswell Moriturus

BOOK VII: THE COLLAPSE OF FEUDAL FRANCE: 1774-89

Chapter XXXIV. THE FINAL GLORY:1774-83

I. The Heirs to the Throne

II. The Government

III. The Virgin Queen

IV. Le Roi Bonhomme

V. The Ministry of Turgot

VI. Necker’s First Ministry

VII. France and America

Chapter XXXV. DEATH AND THE PHILOSOPHERS: 1774-1807

I. Voltaire Finale

II. Rousseau Epilogue

III. Marche Funèbre

IV. The Last Philosophe

V. The Philosophers and the Revolution

Chapter XXXVI. ON THE EVE: 1774-89

I. Religion and the Revolution

II. Life on the Edge

III. The Salonnières

IV. Music

V. Art under Louis XVI

VI. Literature

VII. Beaumarchais

Chapter XXXVII. THE ANATOMY OF REVOLUTION:1774-89

I. The Nobles and the Revolution

II. The Peasants and the Revolution

III. Industry and the Revolution

IV. The Bourgeoisie and the Revolution

V. The Gathering of the Forces

Chapter XXXVIII. THE POLITICAL DEBACLE:1783-89

I. The Diamond Necklace

II. Calonne

III. Loménie de Brienne

IV. Necker Again

V. Enter Mirabeau

VI. The Last Rehearsal

VII. The States-General

VIII. To the Bastille

ENVOI

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE

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