In The First European: A History of Alexander in the Age of Empire, Pierre Briant examines the revival and rewriting of the history of Alexander the Great in 18th-century Europe. To Enlightenment thinkers Alexander exemplified the West and Europe, especially in his role as the conqueror of Asia. Classical texts, ancient history, and the new science of archaeology were all deployed in the service of European empire-building. Alexander was of interest...

The three-quarters of a century between 1715 and 1789 are often seen as the last years of Europe's old order. But a dramatic rise in Europe's population, the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Britain, and the unprecedented challenges of the Enlightenment began to shake the foundations of the old regime well before 1789. Drawing on the best contemporary scholarship, especially the innovations of French social history, Isser Woloch paints an...

Flaherty describes how information about shamanism entered the intellectual mainstream of the eighteenth century, and suggests that certain extraordinary people, whether called shaman, artist, or genius, are vital parts of every society.