"The author clearly explains concepts and adds interesting facts that other readers do not cover. The documents she has chosen are both significant and fascinating."
— Jana Pisani, Ferris State University

"In this book, Margaret Jacob provides a lucid introduction to the transformation in science that occurred in Europe between 1500 and 1750. While acknowledging the importance of political, social, and economic factors, Jacob rightly emphasizes the intellectual developments that led to the modern mechanical and quantitative world views. A carefully chosen set of documents allows the reader to grapple firsthand with these heady changes."
— Brian Ogilvie, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"The introduction and headnotes are excellent. The documents are very well organized and clearly trace the progression of the Scientific Revolution."
— Constantina Gaddis, Onondaga Community College

"This is an excellent collection. The clear and elegant introduction usefully discusses many current topics of interest regarding the Enlightenment, including the role of religion, the cultural processes of criticism, the social and gender status of the 'enlightened,' and attitudes toward non-European societies and peoples. The well-chosen documents, combined with the author's fine introduction, should make this a very effective text for use in the classroom."
— John Marshall, Johns Hopkins University

“Jacob’s introduction provides an original understanding of the Enlightenment, in particular through its exceptionally international treatment that explores England, France, and deeper into the continent. The author is also very successful at merging more traditional intellectual history with newer approaches. The selection of documents gives the reader an excellent sense of the range of issues that absorbed the philosophes.”
— Jack R. Censer, George Mason University

"The author clearly explains concepts and adds interesting facts that other readers do not cover. The documents she has chosen are both significant and fascinating."

— Jana Pisani, Ferris State University

"In this book, Margaret Jacob provides a lucid introduction to the transformation in science that occurred in Europe between 1500 and 1750. While acknowledging the importance of political, social, and economic factors, Jacob rightly emphasizes the intellectual developments that led to the modern mechanical and quantitative world views. A carefully chosen set of documents allows the reader to grapple firsthand with these heady changes."

— Brian Ogilvie, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"The introduction and headnotes are excellent. The documents are very well organized and clearly trace the progression of the Scientific Revolution."

— Constantina Gaddis, Onondaga Community College