The Riddle of the Modern World
Of Liberty, Wealth and Equality
Published on 11. July 2000
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-0-333-79270-4 (ISBN)
Description
What conditions the chances of liberty, wealth and equality at the start of the third Christian millennium? Why did human civilizations develop so slowly for thousands of years, and then transform themselves during the last 300? This study of four great thinkers who lived between 1689 and 1995, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, De Tocqueville, and Ernest Gellner, weaves their lives and works together and through their own words shows how they approached the question of the nature of man, his past and his future.
Reviews / Votes
'No one who wishes to understand the great modern transformation of the industrialized world - the immense rise in human wealth even with an increase in population - can do so without studying the remarkable scholarship of the great British historian and anthropologist Alan Macfarlane. In The Riddle of the Modern World Alan Macfarlane looks at three thinkers - Montesquieu, Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville - who were alive when the great change took place to see if they, from direct observation, could explain what happened. - James Q. Wilson, Wall Street JournalMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Basingstoke
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
index, references
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-333-79270-4 (9780333792704)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2000
Palgrave Macmillan
€42.79
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
07/2000
Palgrave Macmillan
€39.99
Available for download
Person
ALAN MACFARLANE is Professor of Anthropological Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1986. His previous books include Marriage and Love in England 1300-1840 (1986), The Culture of Capitalism (1987), The Savage Wars of Peace (1997).
Content
Acknowledgements References, Conventions and Measures The Riddle of the Modern World LIBERTY Baron de Montesquieu's Life and Vision Liberty and Despotism The Defence of Liberty WEALTH Adam Smith's Life and Vision Growth and Statis Of Wealth and Liberty From Predation to Production EQUALITY Alexis de Tocqueville's Life and Vision 'America' as a Thought Experiment Liberty, Wealth and Equality AN ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE? Ernest Gellner and the Conditions of the Exit The Riddle Resolved? Index