Enlightenment

In the 18th century the existence of extraterrestrial life went from debatable hypothesis to fundamental tenet of Enlightenment thought.

A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic by Francis D. Cogliano explores a relationship more complex than that of comrades turned rivals.

The earthquake that hit Lisbon in 1755 toppled buildings and shook the foundations of the Enlightenment. Was God punishing humanity, or was the disaster man-made?

Was the Earth flatter around the poles or the Equator? In 1735 two expeditions set out to settle a matter of national pride.

For centuries, scientists and philosophers used phantom limbs to unravel the secrets of the human mind. While we know phantom pain exists, we still don’t know why.

Richard Whatmore’s The End of Enlightenment: Empire, Commerce, Crisis takes the ideals of the 18th century on their terms.

In the age of enlightenment, the public developed a taste for sheer spectacle. Suitably awe-inspiring, dazzling versions of the world’s most famous volcano, Vesuvius, could soon be found across Europe and North America.

During the Enlightenment, Alexander the Great was reinvented as an esoteric ideal.

Enlightenment ideas have always faced resistance, but they continue to be relevant and are vital to our understanding of the modern world.

“What is the American, this new man?,” Franklin seemed to provide the answer to this question first asked in 1784.