In 1926 Will Durant achieved world-wide renown by his now classic Story of Philosophy. Thirty-seven years and two million copies later, he and his wife have won still greater acclaim by their Story of Civilization— the series on which they have labored together since 1921 and which has been published in ten languages. They have applied philosophy to history by their "integral method" of seeing each period in "total perspective" (which is their definition of philosophy): i.e., presenting in one integrated narrative all the facets of an age — government, economy, religion, morals, manners, literature, art, music, science, and philosophy.
In 1935 Volume I appeared as Our Oriental Heritage; since then, volumes on Greece, Rome, the Age of Faith, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the age of Elizabeth I have appeared; and now comes Volume VIII, The Age of Louis XIV. Like its predecessors, this book is an independent and self-contained whole; it is the biography of a period (1648-1715) which Spengler considered the apex of modern European civilization. "Some centuries hence," Frederick the Great correctly predicted to Voltaire, "they will translate the good authors of the time of Louis XIV as we translate those of the Age of Pericles or Augustus." Those authors are lovingly treated here: Pascal and Fénelon, Racine and Boileau, Mme. de Sévigné and Mme. de La Fayette, and, above all, the philosopher-dramatist Molière, exposing the vices and hypocrisies of the age.
The "Sun King" himself is the subject of a character study that runs through seven chapters, revealing the flesh and blood beneath the purple and the crown. He is seen at his worst in his struggle with Jansenists and Huguenots; at his best in his patronage of literature and art; and at his most human in his love affairs with Henrietta Anne of Orléans, Louise de La Vallière, Mme. de Montespan, and Mme. de Maintenon.
From France the narrative passes to the Netherlands, stops at the domestic idyls of Vermeer, and sees the Dutch opening their dikes to save their land from Louis XIV, and sending their Stadholder to England to become its king.
In England we study the strange character of Cromwell, watch him struggling with the socialists in his army, and contemplate the heyday of virtue under the Puritans. We see Milton's passionate career as a literary aspect of the effort to prevent the Stuart Restoration. We find Charles II a lustily "Merry Monarch," with more manners than morals.
We attend some boisterous Restoration plays, skim the diaries of Evelyn and Pepys, and trace the trajectory of Jonathan Swift from Stella to Vanessa, from genius to insanity.
Crossing the North Sea we follow the tragic heroism of Charles XII, and the attempt of Peter the Great to lead Russia from barbarism to civilization. We accompany the noble Sobieski to his rescue of Vienna from the Turks.
We visit Italy again, and Spain. We see the Jews proscribed and impoverished, rising to riches in Amsterdam, and following Sabbatai Zevi in a desperate hope of regaining Palestine and freedom.
All this forms the background for the "intellectual adventure" of the European mind in this age — its passage from superstition, mythology, and intolerance to education, science, and philosophy.
This was the age when Newton and Leibniz gave simultaneous birth to calculus, and when Newton bound the planets and the stars with a chain of universal gravitation. Toward the end of the volume the authors spread themselves out on their favorite subject — philosophy — and devote a full chapter, with special love and care, to Spinoza.
As the book began with the Sun King ascendant and triumphant, so, after a tour of ten countries, ten sciences, and a hundred geniuses, it ends with the sunset of Le Roi Soleil, the twilight of a god: Louis punished for his aggressions by a swarm of enemies gathering around him; fighting till his people are destitute and disillusioned, till his treasury and his heart are empty; dying defeated and repentant, begging his grandson and successor not to imitate his taste for splendor and war; and followed in his funeral by the insults of the crowd.
Unwittingly he had prepared for Voltaire and the Revolution.
In 1926 Will Durant achieved world-wide renown by his now classic Story of Philosophy. Thirty-seven years and two million copies later, he and his wife have won still greater acclaim by their Story of Civilization— the series on which they have labored together since 1921 and which has been published in ten languages. They have applied philosophy to history by their "integral method" of seeing each period in "total perspective" (which is their definition of philosophy): i.e., presenting in one integrated narrative all the facets of an age — government, economy, religion, morals, manners, literature, art, music, science, and philosophy.
In 1935 Volume I appeared as Our Oriental Heritage; since then, volumes on Greece, Rome, the Age of Faith, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the age of Elizabeth I have appeared; and now comes Volume VIII, The Age of Louis XIV. Like its predecessors, this book is an independent and self-contained whole; it is the biography of a period (1648-1715) which Spengler considered the apex of modern European civilization. "Some centuries hence," Frederick the Great correctly predicted to Voltaire, "they will translate the good authors of the time of Louis XIV as we translate those of the Age of Pericles or Augustus." Those authors are lovingly treated here: Pascal and Fénelon, Racine and Boileau, Mme. de Sévigné and Mme. de La Fayette, and, above all, the philosopher-dramatist Molière, exposing the vices and hypocrisies of the age.
The "Sun King" himself is the subject of a character study that runs through seven chapters, revealing the flesh and blood beneath the purple and the crown. He is seen at his worst in his struggle with Jansenists and Huguenots; at his best in his patronage of literature and art; and at his most human in his love affairs with Henrietta Anne of Orléans, Louise de La Vallière, Mme. de Montespan, and Mme. de Maintenon. From France the narrative passes to the Netherlands, stops at the domestic idyls of Vermeer, and sees the Dutch opening their dikes to save their land from Louis XIV, and sending their Stadholder to England to become its king.
In England we study the strange character of Cromwell, watch him struggling with the socialists in his army, and contemplate the heyday of virtue under the Puritans. We see Milton's passionate career as a literary aspect of the effort to prevent the Stuart Restoration. We find Charles II a lustily "Merry Monarch," with more manners than morals.
We attend some boisterous Restoration plays, skim the diaries of Evelyn and Pepys, and trace the trajectory of Jonathan Swift from Stella to Vanessa, from genius to insanity. Crossing the North Sea we follow the tragic heroism of Charles XII, and the attempt of Peter the Great to lead Russia from barbarism to civilization. We accompany the noble Sobieski to his rescue of Vienna from the Turks.
We visit Italy again, and Spain. We see the Jews proscribed and impoverished, rising to riches in Amsterdam, and following Sabbatai Zevi in a desperate hope of regaining Palestine and freedom. All this forms the background for the "intellectual adventure" of the European mind in this age — its passage from superstition, mythology, and intolerance to education, science, and philosophy.
This was the age when Newton and Leibniz gave simultaneous birth to calculus, and when Newton bound the planets and the stars with a chain of universal gravitation. Toward the end of the volume the authors spread themselves out on their favorite subject — philosophy — and devote a full chapter, with special love and care, to Spinoza. As the book began with the Sun King ascendant and triumphant, so, after a tour of ten countries, ten sciences, and a hundred geniuses, it ends with the sunset of Le Roi Soleil, the twilight of a god: Louis punished for his aggressions by a swarm of enemies gathering around him; fighting till his people are destitute and disillusioned, till his treasury and his heart are empty; dying defeated and repentant, begging his grandson and successor not to imitate his taste for splendor and war; and followed in his funeral by the insults of the crowd.
Unwittingly he had prepared for Voltaire and the Revolution.