The Business of Enlightenment

Author: Robert Darnton
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-12-01
Features: The author won the Leo Gershoy Award from the American Historical Association in 1979 for this book.
Robert Darnton's account of the history of publishing is more vivid and lively than we could expect. The Business of Enlightenment is a major achievement in American scholarship and a first-class work that has changed our understanding of French history in the past two decades. — The New York Review of Books
Robert Darnton's story is highly engaging. He meticulously sorts through complex, disorganized, and obscure historical materials, narrating with elegance, precision, and wisdom. He possesses a novelist's eye for detail and offers clear and insightful analysis of the historical significance. — Modern History
Robert Darnton's work has achieved remarkable accomplishments: elucidating the nature of encyclopedic knowledge in the late 18th century and its application to science, tracing the history of the most important works of the century, and revealing the real lives of printers, workshops, publishers, and even (to some extent) readers. This is an extraordinary achievement, and Darnton's work possesses all the qualities to become a classic. The Encyclopédie has found a historian worthy of its reputation. — Les Ises
This book is composed of an introduction: The Biography of a Book, The Beginning of a Speculative Business, Magic-Like Various Editions, Piracy and Commercial Warfare, The Making of Books, Dissemination, Liquidation, and Finally, The Encyclopédie, Encyclopédism, Capitalism and Revolution.