Description
Book SynopsisTaking up a whole spectrum of positions about Darnton’s work, they attempt an answer based on deep reflection or assiduous source-research or both.
In a coda to the volume Robert Darnton responds robustly to the various readings of his work.
Trade Review'Darnton at his best [...] adds new and often vivid evidence to support arguments he has advanced before. The book isno Festschrift...; a commentary on the impact on his chosen field of an original mind and a distinguished stylist.'
Times Literary Supplement
'This excellently conceived volume reflects the centrality of Darnton's achievement to the historical orientation of eighteenth-century scholarship in the second half of the twentieth century by bringing together the views of twelve distinguished specialists. The collection concludes with a reaction to the debate by Darnton himself. Not all the contributors are pro-Darnton enthusiasts, and the volume is far more than just a tribute to the work of a great scholar. It offers thoughtful reflections on, and a vigorous critical engagement with, the way Darnton addresses the past.'
Modern Language Review
Table of ContentsList of illustrations
Foreword
D.F McKenzie, Trading places? England 1689-France 1789
Roland Mortier, Le savant, le chat et le cataplasme
Francois Moureau, Le rendez-vous manqué de Bougainville: du voyage au livre
Carla Hesse, French women in print, 1750-1800: an essay in historical bibliography
Jonathan Rose, The history of books: revised and enlarged
Jeremy D. Popkin, Robert Darnton’s alternative (to the) Enlightenment
Daniel Gordon, The great Enlightenment massacre
Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, Bypassing the Enlightenment: taking an underground route to revolution
David A. Bell, Why books caused a revolution: a reading of Robert Darnton
Thomas E. Kaiser, Enlightenment, public opinion and politics in the work of robert Darnton
Dominique Varry, Pour de nouvelles approches des archives de la Société Typographique de Neuchâtel
Robert Darnton, Two paths through the social history of ideas
Works by Robert Darnton cited in this volume
Index of persons and publications
