Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind - Couverture souple

Buchan, James

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 006055889X ISBN 13 : 9780060558895

Editeur : Harper Perennial, 2004

Synopsis

Book by Buchan James

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

In the early eighteenth century, Edinburgh was a filthy backwater town synonymous with poverty and disease. Yet by century's end, it had become the marvel of modern Europe, home to the finest minds of the day and their breathtaking innovations in architecture, politics, science, the arts, and economics—all of which continue to echo loudly today.

Adam Smith penned The Wealth of Nations. James Boswell produced The Life of Samuel Johnson. Alongside them, pioneers such as David Hume, Robert Burns, James Hutton, and Sir Walter Scott transformed the way we understand our perceptions and feelings, sickness and health, relations between the sexes, the natural world, and the purpose of existence.

In Crowded with Genius, James Buchan beautifully reconstructs the intimate geographic scale and boundless intellectual milieu of Enlightenment Edinburgh. With the scholarship of a historian and the elegance of a novelist, he tells the story of the triumph of this unlikely town and the men whose vision brought it into being.

Revue de presse

“A vivid, gripping account ... An involving tale of cerebral passion and humanist achievement.” (Edmund White)

“James Buchan tells the extraordinary story with a novelist’s narrative zip and brilliant flashes of detail...[A] marvellous book.” (Ferdinand Mount, The Sunday Times)

“Hugely readable and comprehensive...an utterly compelling and captivating work...An absolute joy to read.” (Irvine Welsh, The Guardian)

“A sparkling and cleverly written book.” (Arthur Herman, The Scotsman)

“Entertainingly drawn...Buchan makes difficult subjects accessible and, sometimes, poetic.” (Economist)

“An extraordinary story...lovingly narrated and superbly depicted by Buchan in this elegant, authoritative work.” (The Observer)

“Buchan writes well and does a fine job arguing for Edinburgh’s disproportionately large impact on 18th century intellectual history.” (Publishers Weekly)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Harper Perennial
• Date d'édition: 2004
• ISBN 10: 006055889X
• ISBN 13: 9780060558895
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 464