Enlightenment :

For generations the traditional focus for those wishing to understand the roots of the modern world has been France on the eve of the Revolution. Porter certainly acknowledges France's importance, but here makes an overwhelming case for consideringBritain the true home of modernity - a country driven by an exuberance, diversity and power of invention comparable only to twentiet...

For generations the traditional focus for those wishing to understand the roots of the modern world has been France on the eve of the Revolution. Porter certainly acknowledges France's importance, but here makes an overwhelming case for consideringBritain the true home of modernity - a country driven by an exuberance, diversity and power of invention comparable only to twentieth-century America. Porter immerses the reader in a society which, recovering from the horrors of the Civil War and decisively reinvigorated by the revolution of 1688, had emerged as something new and extraordinary - a society unlike any other in the world.

罗伊·波特（Roy Porter，1946—2002），英国社会科学院院士、著名历史学家，主要研究领域为近代思想史、医学史、身体史等，曾在剑桥大学任教，后在伦敦大学学院惠康医学史研究所任社会史教授及所长。罗伊·波特著作等身，撰写与主编书籍百余部，除本书外，其代表作还有《18世纪的英国社会》《疯癫简史》《理性时代的肉体》《启蒙运动》等，主编有《剑桥科学史》（第四卷）和《剑桥医学史》等。