Books by Jonathan Israel
Jonathan Israel is Professor Emeritus, Modern European History, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a leading historian of early modern Europe.
Spinoza: Life and Legacy
by Jonathan Israel
Spinoza: Life and Legacy is a new biography of the 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, by historian Jonathan Israel. Israel is a leading historian of early modern Europe, and an expert on the Dutch Republic, the tolerant—by 17th-century standards—world in which Spinoza grew up. His parents had fled Portugal because of the Inquisition and, as Israel points out, that "dark Iberian context was a crucial factor in Spinoza's background, early life, and formation and likewise an essential dimension for understanding his thought generally." The book builds on Steven Nadler's biography of Spinoza, and at more than 1,200 pages is absolutely not for beginners. Rather, it's for those seeking to think deeply—and disagree with Israel at times, no doubt—about Spinoza and his life and thought.
(If you're looking for a more introductory approach to Spinoza, our interview about him is with Steven Nadler)
“I think it’s a very important work, one of the major milestones in the history of Enlightenment scholarship. I would place Israel alongside Ernst Cassirer, who came first, then Peter Gay in the 1960s with his Enlightenment: an Interpretation (2 vols), then Jonathan Israel in the first 20 years of the 21st century, with his four massive volumes. “ Read more...
The best books on The Age of Revolution
Paschalis Kitromilides, Historian
The Expanding Blaze: How the American Revolution Ignited the World, 1775-1848
by Jonathan Israel
For many people, the American Revolution is purely about America achieving independence from Britain, but it had much, much deeper reverberations globally. This is the story that Jonathan Israel, one of the most exciting historians of early modern Europe, tells in The Expanding Blaze. This is an intellectual history, more than 700 pages in length, but Israel's prose is highly readable, so don't be too intimidated.
You can also read our interview with Jonathan Israel on the Enlightenment.
“The Radical Enlightenment is the key to understanding universal human rights.” Read more...
The best books on The Enlightenment
Jonathan Israel, Historian
Radical Enlightenment
by Jonathan Israel
The first in a magnificent trilogy, through which Israel rethinks the history of the Enlightenment and its impact upon the modern world
The Anglo-Dutch Moment
by Jonathan Israel
Israel was the first person to break the consensus about the un-revolutionary nature of the English Revolution of 1688-9
Interviews with Jonathan Israel
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1
The Crisis of the European Mind
by Paul Hazard -
2
The Enlightenment in America
by Henry May -
3
The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture
by Louis Dupré -
4
The Religious Enlightenment
by David Sorkin -
5
Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights, 1750-1790
by Jonathan Israel
The best books on The Enlightenment, recommended by Jonathan Israel
The best books on The Enlightenment, recommended by Jonathan Israel
Which are the best books on the Enlightenment? Jonathan Israel, one of the leading historians of early modern Europe, recommends his top five.
Interviews where books by Jonathan Israel were recommended
The best books on The Glorious Revolution, recommended by Steven Pincus
When William of Orange came from Holland to take the English throne in 1688, was it a foreign invasion, or a revolution from within? Yale historian, Steven Pincus, talks us through the conflicting views on the Glorious Revolution and argues for a new perspective.
The best books on Morality Without God, recommended by Kenan Malik
Religion is often presented as the guardian of moral values. The problem with this, says the author and broadcaster, is that it diminishes what it means to be human. He picks the best books on morality without God.
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1
The Crisis of the European Mind
by Paul Hazard -
2
The Enlightenment in America
by Henry May -
3
The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture
by Louis Dupré -
4
The Religious Enlightenment
by David Sorkin -
5
Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights, 1750-1790
by Jonathan Israel
The best books on The Enlightenment, recommended by Jonathan Israel
The best books on The Enlightenment, recommended by Jonathan Israel
Which are the best books on the Enlightenment? Jonathan Israel, one of the leading historians of early modern Europe, recommends his top five.
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1
The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848
by Eric Hobsbawm -
2
Europe Between the Revolutions 1815-1848
by Jacques Droz -
3
A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution
by François Furet & Mona Ozouf -
4
Revolution and the Republic: A History of Political Thought in France Since the Eighteenth Century
by Jeremy Jennings -
5
The Enlightenment That Failed
by Jonathan Israel
The best books on The Age of Revolution, recommended by Paschalis Kitromilides
The best books on The Age of Revolution, recommended by Paschalis Kitromilides
The American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 upended the political order on both sides of the Atlantic. The battle of Waterloo in 1815 did not bring things to a close. Revolutionary activity continued in Europe and Latin America with varying degrees of success right through to 1848. Here political scientist Paschalis Kitromilides, Professor Emeritus at the University of Athens, discusses the various forces that drove the ‘age of revolution.’
