Reviews for The changing of the gods

The average rating for The changing of the gods based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-02 00:00:00 Brian Carruthers This is the best single volume summary of European 18th century cultural, intellectual and political life. Nicolson's own intelligence, graceful writing style, wit, and - I emphasise - deep reading and study of the 18th century - makes this survey a joy to read, from beginning to end. In The Age of Reason, Nicolson not only captures, but also qualifies the intellectual, philosophical, political, religious and cultural events and most significant figures of the 18th century. As a one-volume accomplishment, I know no better, that summarises, captures, describes and questions the glorious, confabulated life of the eighteenth century. There really is no better achievement of narrative, or one more beautifully written, than Nicolson's brilliant, succinct, clever elucidations of the most important figures of the 18th century, including: Voltaire, Frederick the Great, The 'Salons', Horace Walpole, Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin, The Encylopedie (Diderot, et al), Samuel Johnson, Tom Paine, Rousseau and many others, besides.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-02-09 00:00:00 Ruben Orozco A lively survey of 18th century culture in the form of brief biographies of major figures in British, French and German philosophy, literature, and politics. The underlying theme is that many of these "rational" people and their ideas were quirky and even loony.