Richard Whatmore Livres

In 1798, members of the United Irishmen faced massacre by the British at the Genevan Barracks, a site linked to an experimental community of Calvinist republican rebels who fled Europe in 1782. Inspired by the French Revolution, these Irish republicans sought liberty, but their ideals were crushed by imperial might. The British initially believed the industriousness of these imported revolutionaries would positively influence the Irish, but the experiment faltered as the Calvinists demanded greater autonomy and funding. This narrative illustrates the transformation of a utopian vision into a battleground where those fighting for liberty were extinguished. Richard Whatmore vividly depicts an era marked by the intervention of powerful states like Britain and France in smaller nations, often justifying their actions as necessary to combat perceived threats from anarchists and terrorists. Meanwhile, the Genevans and Irish rebels viewed themselves as champions of republican virtue, willing to sacrifice for liberty and the public good. The events at Genevan Barracks symbolize the decline of a diverse political landscape in Europe and herald the rise of dominant states pursuing empire and markets, marking a significant shift in the Enlightenment's legacy.

What is intellectual history? Those who practice intellectual history have described themselves as eavesdroppers upon the conversations of the past, explorers of alien ideological worlds, and translators between historic societies and our own, while their critics have often derided them as narrow- mindedly studying the ideas of dead white men.

A brilliant work of intellectual interpretation by our foremost historian of Enlightenment ideas, this radical re-evaluation shows why, for many at its center, the Enlightenment was a profound failure. By the early eighteenth century, there was widespread hope that Enlightenment ideals could be paired with toleration, commerce, and an end to the fanatic wars of religion ravaging Europe. Central to this was the battle for liberty in free states, with aspirations that absolute monarchies like France and free states like Britain could coexist, respecting civil liberties. However, this vision collapsed as states pursued wealth and empire through war, leading to rampant xenophobia and a perversion of liberty into fanaticism. The narrative traces the evolving perspectives of economists, philosophers, politicians, and polemicists, including figures like David Hume, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Mary Wollstonecraft. They aimed to replace superstition with reason but instead faced terror, revolution, corruption, and rampant colonialism. By revisiting these tumultuous events and ideas, the author offers a lucid exploration of disillusion and intellectual transformation, challenging our assumptions about the past while providing insights into how our world might be structured today, particularly as the issues raised at the end of the Enlightenment persist.

Richard Whatmore examines the diverse, interconnected relationships between political history, theory, and action. Considering the work of Michel Foucalt, John Pocock, Quentin Skinner and other key theorists, this book highlights the connections between past and present political systems, and the ongoing relevance of the field today.